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 at Albany Albany, New York	69%
Middle Tennessee State University Murfreesboro, Tennessee	69%
Kennesaw State University Kennesaw, Georgia	69%
Northern Illinois University Dekalb, Illinois	70%
University of Michigan Flint Flint, Michigan	70%
SUNY Oneonta Oneonta, New York	70%
Tennessee State University Nashville, Tennessee	70%
University of South Alabama Mobile, Alabama	71%
University of Delaware Newark, Delaware	71%
Western Illinois University Macomb, Illinois	71%
Ramapo College of New Jersey Mahwah, New Jersey	71%
Rutgers University Newark Newark, New Jersey	71%
SUNY Brockport Brockport, New York	71%
Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania	71%
Virginia Military Institute Lexington, Virginia	71%
University of Minnesota Rochester Rochester, Minnesota	71%
Valdosta State University Valdosta, Georgia	72%
Bowie State University Bowie, Maryland	72%

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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.