Admissions & selectivity
Bowie State University Acceptance Rate & Admissions
What is the acceptance rate at Bowie State University?
Bowie State University’s reported acceptance rate is 72.4%.
- Acceptance rate · Fall 2024
- 72.4%
Source: College Scorecard · Fall 2024 admissions. Acceptance rates can change from year to year; this figure does not predict the current or next admission cycle.
Source: Bowie State University Common Data Set 2025-26, C1 · first-time, first-year students.
How to interpret the acceptance rate
Bowie State University admits 72.4% of applicants, a rate that sits below the median of 85.9% for comparable institutions (same type and size). In its 2025-26 Common Data Set, the university reported 5,842 first-year applicants, 4,814 admitted students, and 877 who enrolled.
What SAT and ACT scores do enrolled Bowie State University students report?
In its 2025-26 Common Data Set, Bowie State University reported that 4% of its entering class submitted SAT scores. The middle half of those SAT submitters scored from 895 to 1208.
Most entering students did not submit SAT scores, so the SAT range describes a minority of the class.
The ranges below describe enrolled students who submitted test scores at Bowie State University. Use them as academic context, then check the university’s current testing policy for your application cycle.
4% of entering students submitted SAT scores
- 25th percentile
- 895
- Median
- 1025
- 75th percentile
- 1208
CDS 2025-26 · enrolled first-year score submitters. This range is not an admission cutoff.
Source: Bowie State University Common Data Set 2025-26, C9 · Enrolled first-time, first-year score submitters.
Who enrolls at Bowie State University?
- Pell Grant recipients
- 44.4%
- Entering students outside the first-time, full-time group
- 32.7%
- First-year retention
- 68.2%
Retention source: College Scorecard; full-time first-year retention.
About these student measures
The entering-student group includes part-time entrants as well as other attendance patterns.
44.4% of undergraduates at Bowie State University receive Pell Grants, and an estimated 32.7% arrive as transfers or part-time students. Among the 5,043 undergraduates, that combination places students with financial need and students continuing from other colleges at the center of the campus.
The profile points to a student body where financial need and transfer pathways are both common. In its 2025-26 Common Data Set, the university reported 1,397 degree-seeking transfer applicants, of whom 1,235 were admitted and 439 enrolled.
68.2% of full-time first-year students at Bowie State University return for a second year. That result falls short of the 73.7% median for comparable institutions (same type and size).
For the first-time full-time entering cohort, the six-year graduation rate is 38.2%, which is also below the peer median of 49.1%. The completion rate for Pell recipients in that entering cohort is 31.9%, trailing the overall rate by 6.3 percentage points.
Data & methodology
Sources and reporting periods: methodology.
Analysis and methodology by Daniel Rogers, founder of College Azimuth.
Explanatory text is AI-assisted drafting checked against those figures; it is not an additional data source.
Admission rates describe past applicants, not an individual’s chance of admission; confirm requirements and deadlines with the institution.
Figure notes link to sources and limitations. About College Azimuth.