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
University of Pittsburgh Bradford Bradford, Pennsylvania	89%
Texas A & M University Corpus Christi Corpus Christi, Texas	89%
Texas State University San Marcos, Texas	89%
Virginia State University Petersburg, Virginia	89%
West Virginia University Morgantown, West Virginia	89%
University of Wisconsin Green Bay Green Bay, Wisconsin	89%
University of Wisconsin Platteville Platteville, Wisconsin	89%
Arizona State University Tempe, Arizona	90%
Northern Arizona University Flagstaff, Arizona	90%
Fort Hays State University Hays, Kansas	90%
Haskell Indian Nations University Lawrence, Kansas	90%
Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts North Adams, Massachusetts	90%
Central Michigan University Mount Pleasant, Michigan	90%
Mississippi University for Women Columbus, Mississippi	90%
Keene State College Keene, New Hampshire	90%
William Paterson University of New Jersey Wayne, New Jersey	90%
Appalachian State University Boone, North Carolina	90%
University of Houston Downtown Houston, Texas	90%

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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.