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 California Los Angeles Los Angeles, California	9%
United States Naval Academy Annapolis, Maryland	9%
University of California Berkeley Berkeley, California	11%
United States Military Academy West Point, New York	12%
United States Air Force Academy USAF Academy, Colorado	14%
Georgia Institute of Technology Main Campus Atlanta, Georgia	14%
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, North Carolina	15%
University of Michigan Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, Michigan	16%
University of Virginia Main Campus Charlottesville, Virginia	17%
Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University Tallahassee, Florida	21%
United States Coast Guard Academy New London, Connecticut	22%
Citadel Military College of South Carolina Charleston, South Carolina	23%
Florida State University Tallahassee, Florida	24%
University of Florida Gainesville, Florida	24%
University of California San Diego La Jolla, California	27%
The University of Texas at Austin Austin, Texas	27%
University of California Irvine Irvine, California	29%
University of Virginia's College at Wise Wise, Virginia	29%

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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.