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Some colleges are extremely tough to get into. Others, such as many community colleges and for-profit institutions, believe in open admissions. If you want to earn a degree without worrying about being denied, consider applying for a public or private institution with a high acceptance rate.
Using data from fall 2019, U.S. News & World Report has compiled a list of colleges with the highest rates of acceptance. With additional college ranking data from Niche, here is a list of the 50 colleges surveyed by U.S. News & World Report that are easiest to get into.
Academy of Art University
The Academy of Art University is located in San Francisco and is one of the largest private art and design schools in the country. This image is from one of the graduation shows put on by fashion students at the for-profit school.
Acceptance rate: 100%.
American Samoa Community College
ASCC was established in 1970 as a liberal arts college. It has a 100% acceptance rate, as long as you are a resident of American Samoa, an unincorporated territory of America about 2,500 miles southwest of Hawaii. This image shows the coastline of Tutuila, the American Samoa island where the campus is located.
Acceptance rate: 100%.
Boston Architectural College
The BAC is located in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston and is entirely devoted to architecture and design. According to the school’s website, 97 percent of students are employed in their field by the day they graduate.
Acceptance rate: 100%.
Broward College
Broward College is located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Its most popular major is liberal arts and humanities.
Acceptance rate: 100%.
Cameron University
Cameron University is a public school in Lawton, Oklahoma. Its most popular majors are business and information technology. This image is from its annual French film festival.
Acceptance rate: 100%.
Dickinson State University
DSU is located in Dickinson, North Dakota. As colleges go, Niche ranks it as the fourth-best value in its state.
Acceptance rate: 100%.
Dixie State University
Dixie State is a public university in Saint George, Utah. It holds an enrollment of about 6,100 total undergraduate students.
Acceptance rate: 100%.
Feather River College
Feather River College is a public, two-year college in Quincy, California that offers a bachelor’s degree in equine and ranch management. The average cost of tuition after aid is about $10,000 per year, which is $5,000 below the national average.
Acceptance rate: 100%.
Glenville State College
GSC is a four-year public college in Glenville, West Virginia. It has about 1,000 undergraduate students and its most popular major is liberal arts and humanities.
Acceptance rate: 100%.
Goddard College
Goddard College is a small private college in Plainfield, Vermont. Washington Monthly ranked it behind only Harvard and Yale as providing the best bang for the buck for non-wealthy students to earn a valuable degree at an affordable price.
Acceptance rate: 100%.
Granite State College
Granite State is a small public college located in Concord, New Hampshire. Its most popular major is business.
Acceptance rate: 100%.
Herzing University
Herzing is a private university in Akron, Ohio that only enrolls about 260 total students. Its most popular majors are nursing and medical insurance coding.
Acceptance rate: 100%.
Lake-Sumter State College
Lake-Sumter is a public college in Florida that was founded in 1962. It has campuses in Leesburg, Clermont and Sumterville.
Acceptance rate: 100%.
Lake Washington Institute of Technology
Lake Washington Tech is located in Kirkland, Washington. Niche graded it as an A-minus for student life and an A for safety.
Acceptance rate: 100%.
Lewis-Clark State College
Lewis-Clark State is a four-year Idaho college that is popular for liberal arts, nursing and business students.
Acceptance rate: 100%.
Maharishi International University
MIU is a college in Fairfield, Iowa that focuses on internal growth as much as education. It teaches transcendental meditation techniques to all of its students.
Acceptance rate: 100%.
Mary Baldwin University
MBU is a university in Staunton, Virginia with just under 1,000 undergraduate students. It was initially a women’s college but has expanded to allow men.
Acceptance rate: 100%.
Montana State University-Billings
MSUB is a public university in Billings, Mont. Its most popular major is business.
Acceptance rate: 100%.
Montana State University-Northern
MSUN is another public university in Montana. It was established in 1929 and enrolls fewer than 1,000 undergraduate students each year.
Acceptance rate: 100%.
New England College
NEC is a public college in Henniker, New Hampshire. It boasts a 10-to-1 student-teacher ratio.
Acceptance rate: 100%.
NewSchool of Architecture and Design
NewSchool is a design-centered for-profit education program in San Diego. Students can earn a four-year degree in programs such as architecture, product design, graphic design and interactive media.
Acceptance rate: 100%.
North Florida College
North Florida is a public college in Madison, Florida. Niche graded it an A in value. The tuition after financial aid averages out to about $3,500 a year.
Acceptance rate: 100%.
Rochester University
Rochester is a Christian university in Rochester Hills, Michigan. Its most popular majors are business and early childhood education.
Acceptance rate: 100%.
South Florida State College
South Florida is a public college located in Avon Park, Florida with just under 3,000 undergraduates. U.S. News & World Report ranks it as the sixth-best public school among regional institutions in the South.
Acceptance rate: 100%.
St. Petersburg College
SPC is located in St. Petersburg along the west coast of Florida. Niche ranks it as the 15th safest college campus in America.
Acceptance rate: 100%.
University of Maryland Global Campus
UMGC is in Adelphi, Maryland. It serves approximately 45,000 total undergraduate students.
Acceptance rate: 100%.
University of Pikeville
The University of Pikeville, commonly known as UPIKE, is a Christian university in Pikeville, Kansas. Its most popular major is nursing.
Acceptance rate: 100%.
University of Texas-El Paso
UTEP is a public university with approximately 20,000 undergraduate students. Niche grades it as an A-minus for campus and athletics.
Acceptance rate: 100%.
Utah Valley University
UVU is located in Orem, Utah. It is the largest public university in Utah, serving more than 40,000 undergraduate students.
Acceptance rate: 100%.
Wayne State College
Wayne State is a college in Wayne, Nebraska. Its most popular majors are business and elementary education.
Acceptance rate: 100%.
Wilmington University
Wilmington University is located in New Castle, Delaware. It recently became one of the growing number of colleges to offer an official esports program.
Acceptance rate: 100%.
Adams State University
Adams State is a public university in Alamosa, Colorado. It enrolls about 1,500 students and has a 12:1 student-to-teacher ratio.
Acceptance rate: 99%.
Central Christian College of Kansas
Central Christian College is located in McPherson, Kansas. It’s a small school with approximately 650 undergraduate students. Its most popular major is criminal justice and law-enforcement administration.
Acceptance rate: 99%.
Florida National University
FNU is a for-profit university in Hialeah, Florida, near Miami. It has a total enrollment of about 3,000 undergraduates with a graduation rate of 60%.
Acceptance rate: 99%.
La Roche University
La Roche is a Catholic university in Pittsburgh. It enrolls more than 1,000 undergraduates who most often major in management sciences and information systems, nursing or psychology.
Acceptance rate: 99%.
Martin Methodist College
Martin Methodist is a Christian institution founded in 1870 in Pulaski, Tennessee. It is a small school that enrolls about 800 students.
Acceptance rate: 99%.
Milligan College
Milligan is a Christian college in Elizabethton, Tennessee. It carries under 1,000 undergraduate students and has a 9-1 student-teacher ratio.
Acceptance rate: 99%.
Naropa University
Naropa is a four-year private university in Boulder, Colorado. It has a small enrollment of around 400 undergraduate students. Its most popular major is psychology.
Acceptance rate: 99%.
Northeastern State University
NSU is a public institution in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. It originated as a seminary for Cherokee women in 1846 and officially became known as Northeastern State University in 1978. Today it is Oklahoma’s fourth-largest public four-year university.
Acceptance rate: 99%.
Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico-Arecibo
Pontifical is a private, Catholic university in Domingo Ruíz Barrio, Puerto Rico. Its most popular majors are biomedical sciences and molecular medicine and biology. In this photo, students visit the Kennedy Space Center.
Acceptance rate: 99%.
Shawnee State University
Shawnee State is a public university that was founded on 62 acres of Portsmouth, Ohio in 1986. Niche ranks it as having the fourth-best college dormitories in Ohio.
Acceptance rate: 99%.
Universidad Adventista-Antillas
Universidad Adventista-Antillas is a Christian college in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. Its most popular major is nursing.
Acceptance rate: 99%.
University of Maine at Fort Kent, Machias and Presque Isle
The University of Maine in Orono, Maine has an acceptance rate of 90%, but its locations in Fort Kent, Machias and Presque Isle all grant acceptance to 99% of applying students.
Acceptance rate: 99%.
Berkeley College-Woodland Park
Berkeley College at Woodland Park is a for-profit college in New Jersey just outside New York City. One of its most popular majors is fashion and apparel merchandising.
Acceptance rate: 98%.
Concordia University-St. Paul
Concordia University-St. Paul is a Christian university that was founded in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1893. Niche ranks it as the second-safest college campus in America.
Acceptance rate: 98%.
Covenant College
Covenant is a Christian college that has a campus on Lookout Mountain, Georgia. It enrolls about 1,000 undergraduate students.
Acceptance rate: 98%.
Eastern Oregon University
Eastern Oregon University is a public institution located in La Grande, Oregon. Its mascot is Monty the Mountaineer, who won a fan vote for the Cascade Collegiate Conference’s best mascot in 2019.
Acceptance rate: 98%.
The Evergreen State College
Evergreen State is a public college in Olympia, Washington. Its most popular major is liberal arts and humanities followed by natural sciences.
Acceptance rate: 98%.
National Louis University
National Louis is a private university in Chicago. Niche grades it as an A-plus for location and an A for student life.
Acceptance rate: 98%.
Nyack College
Nyack College is a private, Christian institution in New York City. Its most popular major is organizational behavior studies.
Acceptance rate: 98%.
good universities with high acceptance rates
It’s easier for prospective international students to gain admission to some U.S. colleges than others. Among the 117 ranked National Universities that received at least 500 international applicants and reported this data to U.S. News, the average acceptance rate for international students was 43.8% for fall 2020. But at some institutions, the acceptance rate was significantly higher, 99.85% in one case. For prospective international students interested in studying in the U.S. and curious about where they might have a good chance of getting in, here are the 13 ranked National Universities – institutions that are often research-oriented and offer bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees – including ties, with the highest acceptance rates for international undergraduate applicants.
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