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
The University of Tennessee Knoxville Knoxville, Tennessee	42%
University of West Alabama Livingston, Alabama	43%
University of South Florida Tampa, Florida	43%
Chicago State University Chicago, Illinois	43%
New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology Socorro, New Mexico	44%
Texas A & M International University Laredo, Texas	44%
Grambling State University Grambling, Louisiana	45%
University of Maryland College Park College Park, Maryland	45%
Alcorn State University Alcorn State, Mississippi	45%
University of Wisconsin Madison Madison, Wisconsin	45%
Auburn University Auburn, Alabama	46%
California State University Long Beach Long Beach, California	46%
Coppin State University Baltimore, Maryland	46%
Delaware State University Dover, Delaware	47%
Governors State University University Park, Illinois	48%
CUNY Bernard M Baruch College New York, New York	48%
Stony Brook University Stony Brook, New York	49%
North Carolina A & T State University Greensboro, North Carolina	50%

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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.