What is the Average Acceptance Rate?
The acceptance rate is a percentage of applicants to accept a school in college admission. In general, the high ranked colleges and special purpose schools have low acceptance rate to recruit competitive students. The acceptance rate at a school does not change dramatically. So when you apply to the school, the previous year's rate can be used as an important factor.
The average acceptance rate of U.S. colleges is 72.99%. Total 8,730,565 students have accepted out of 14,755,857. By gender, the acceptance rate of female students is 73.72% and male students' rate is 71.50%
The next schools are the top 5 U.S. colleges that have the lowest acceptance rate. California Institute of Technology has the lowest acceptance rate of 2.57% among U.S. colleges. Minerva University and Stanford University also have low acceptance rate of 3.04% and 3.61% respectively. The top schools are selected with an minimum number of new students (first-time students) of 100. You can view more schools at U.S. colleges with lowest acceptance rate.
- California Institute of Technology Acceptance rate: 2.57%, Yield: 61.24%
- Minerva University Acceptance rate: 3.04%, Yield: 43.64%
- Stanford University Acceptance rate: 3.61%, Yield: 81.91%
- Harvard University Acceptance rate: 3.65%, Yield: 83.60%
- Yale University Acceptance rate: 3.87%, Yield: 69.78%
The following table summarizes the average acceptance rate in United States by school type and level.
| Total | Public | Private (not-for-profit) | Private (for-profit) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 years colleges | 72.48% | 78.04% | 69.05% | 81.39% |
| Applicants | Accepted | Acceptance Rate | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 14,755,857 | 8,730,565 | 72.84% |
| Female | 8,329,422 | 5,113,136 | 73.72% |
| Male | 6,342,868 | 3,579,721 | 71.50% |
The Average Acceptance Rate By State
The following table summarizes the The Average Acceptance Rate by state and school type. You can sort the table by a column by touching/clicking the column name.
| State | Acceptance Rate | Applicants | Accepted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 75% | 15,165 | 10,252 |
| Alaska | 63% | 346 | 219 |
| Arizona | 83% | 43,290 | 37,831 |
| Arkansas | 78% | 7,859 | 5,880 |
| California | 73% | 46,611 | 23,315 |
| Colorado | 86% | 15,999 | 13,247 |
| Connecticut | 81% | 11,496 | 7,705 |
| Delaware | 59% | 24,220 | 16,086 |
| District of Columbia | 0% | 0 | 0 |
| Florida | 49% | 32,962 | 13,031 |
| Georgia | 74% | 13,806 | 7,604 |
| Hawaii | 81% | 6,599 | 5,538 |
| Idaho | 83% | 11,204 | 9,254 |
| Illinois | 72% | 15,236 | 9,732 |
| Indiana | 78% | 17,529 | 12,176 |
| Iowa | 88% | 18,742 | 16,223 |
| Kansas | 91% | 7,971 | 7,176 |
| Kentucky | 84% | 12,648 | 10,714 |
| Louisiana | 76% | 10,110 | 6,934 |
| Maine | 87% | 4,002 | 3,608 |
| Maryland | 75% | 14,350 | 9,438 |
| Massachusetts | 77% | 7,002 | 5,360 |
| Michigan | 77% | 25,788 | 16,560 |
| Minnesota | 78% | 7,423 | 5,922 |
| Mississippi | 87% | 11,088 | 9,689 |
| Missouri | 76% | 4,959 | 3,852 |
| Montana | 92% | 8,603 | 7,496 |
| Nebraska | 88% | 10,790 | 9,460 |
| Nevada | 86% | 10,746 | 8,954 |
| New Hampshire | 87% | 8,462 | 7,469 |
| New Jersey | 78% | 20,059 | 14,190 |
| New Mexico | 78% | 4,869 | 4,323 |
| New York | 69% | 13,961 | 8,886 |
| North Carolina | 70% | 19,512 | 11,717 |
| North Dakota | 75% | 3,574 | 2,899 |
| Ohio | 84% | 16,450 | 12,585 |
| Oklahoma | 74% | 7,071 | 5,352 |
| Oregon | 87% | 11,726 | 9,994 |
| Pennsylvania | 87% | 6,715 | 5,046 |
| Rhode Island | 82% | 16,201 | 12,224 |
| South Carolina | 69% | 13,119 | 7,637 |
| South Dakota | 92% | 3,335 | 3,179 |
| Tennessee | 77% | 14,475 | 9,094 |
| Texas | 84% | 15,934 | 11,616 |
| Utah | 87% | 22,258 | 19,322 |
| Vermont | 73% | 15,334 | 10,302 |
| Virginia | 72% | 17,128 | 10,447 |
| Washington | 84% | 16,847 | 10,706 |
| West Virginia | 85% | 3,768 | 3,416 |
| Wisconsin | 84% | 10,746 | 7,335 |
| Wyoming | 97% | 6,217 | 6,023 |
| American Samoa | - | - | - |
| Federated States of Micronesia | 87% | 1,322 | 1,151 |
| Guam | 0% | 0 | 0 |
| Marshall Islands | - | - | - |
| Northern Marianas | - | - | - |
| Palau | - | - | - |
| Puerto Rico | 68% | 1,210 | 661 |
| Virgin Islands | 99% | 977 | 967 |