United States Public Colleges Ranked by Lowest Acceptance Rate

Below is a ranking of the 633 public colleges in the United States with the lowest acceptance rate for freshman undergraduate applications. University of California Los Angeles leads the list by accepting 9% of high school students that applied.

Acceptance rate is a measure of the competitiveness of a school. Lower acceptance rates are more competitive and may require a higher GPA, SAT/ACT score, and other factors to be considered for admission.

List of United States Public Colleges Ranked by Lowest Acceptance Rate
College Acceptance Rate

Salt Lake City, Utah

86%

Newport News, Virginia

86%

Whitewater, Wisconsin

86%

Augusta, Georgia

86%

Florence, Alabama

87%
87%
87%

Boise, Idaho

87%
87%
87%

Salisbury, Maryland

87%

Fitchburg, Massachusetts

87%
87%

Lincoln, Nebraska

87%

Durham, North Carolina

87%

Shippensburg, Pennsylvania

87%
87%

Fairfax, Virginia

87%

This list is updated annually based on the latest data from the National Center for Education Statistics.
Last updated: August 2026

Data source: IPEDS 2025 survey for academic year 2024/2025 - National Center for Education Statistics.