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
Washington State University Pullman, Washington	87%
University of Wisconsin Oshkosh Oshkosh, Wisconsin	87%
University of Connecticut Waterbury Campus Waterbury, Connecticut	87%
Nevada State University Henderson, Nevada	87%
University of Alabama at Birmingham Birmingham, Alabama	88%
Georgia Southern University Statesboro, Georgia	88%
Lewis Clark State College Lewiston, Idaho	88%
Illinois State University Normal, Illinois	88%
Bridgewater State University Bridgewater, Massachusetts	88%
Worcester State University Worcester, Massachusetts	88%
Oakland University Rochester Hills, Michigan	88%
Minnesota State University Mankato Mankato, Minnesota	88%
University of Minnesota Crookston Crookston, Minnesota	88%
University of New Hampshire Main Campus Durham, New Hampshire	88%
Plymouth State University Plymouth, New Hampshire	88%
Montclair State University Montclair, New Jersey	88%
University of Oregon Eugene, Oregon	88%
Dakota State University Madison, South Dakota	88%

Search and filter all 633 colleges

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.