Admissions & selectivity
Bowling Green State University-Main Campus Acceptance Rate & Admissions
What is the acceptance rate at Bowling Green State University-Main Campus?
Bowling Green State University-Main Campus’s reported acceptance rate is 81.0%.
- Acceptance rate · Fall 2024
- 81.0%
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.
How to interpret the acceptance rate
Bowling Green State University-Main Campus admits 81.0% of applicants, a rate that sits close to the median of 78.1% for comparable institutions (same type and size). The university is broadly accessible, and the admission rate reflects that posture.
What SAT and ACT scores do Bowling Green State University-Main Campus students report?
Enrolled students at Bowling Green State University-Main Campus arrive with a broad band of test scores, reflecting a student body drawn from across the academic spectrum. For the SAT, the middle half of enrolled students who submitted scores—covering the 25th to 75th percentile—fell between 1,000 and 1,210.
On the ACT, enrolled students who submitted scores posted a comparable range from 19 to 26. These figures depict the spectrum of recent entering students, not cutoff requirements.
Applicants can weigh their own results against those ranges, recognizing that scores near either end are both represented in the current student body.
The ranges below describe enrolled students who submitted test scores at Bowling Green State University-Main Campus. Use them as academic context, then check the university’s current testing policy for your application cycle.
- Approximate lower endpoint
- 1000
- Approximate upper endpoint
- 1210
Enrolled students who submitted scores. This range is not an admission cutoff. The endpoints add section percentiles; they are not verified composite-score percentiles. A separate SAT-equivalent average is not plotted as a median. Source: College Scorecard; sum of section 25th/75th percentiles; enrolled score-submitters.
- 25th percentile
- 19
- 75th percentile
- 26
Enrolled students who submitted scores. This range is not an admission cutoff.
Figures cover fall 2024.
Who enrolls at Bowling Green State University-Main Campus?
- Pell Grant recipients
- 23.1%
- Entering students outside the first-time, full-time group
- 12.8%
- First-year retention
- 81.6%
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.
Bowling Green State University-Main Campus is a public university in Bowling Green, Ohio, with 12,812 undergraduates. Its admission rate of 81.0% is near the median of 78.1% for comparable institutions (same type and size), meaning most applicants are offered a place.
The student body reflects a mix of traditional and transfer pathways: 23.1% of undergraduates receive Pell Grants, and an estimated 12.8% enter as transfers or part-time students. For applicants who are Pell-eligible or coming from another institution, the university's advising and support services can help smooth the transition and keep degree progress on track.
Of full-time bachelor's-seeking entrants, 81.6% return for a second year and 63.7% finish within six years. Both figures sit just below the medians for comparable institutions (same type and size), where retention is 83.1% and the six-year graduation rate is 65.0%.
Pell Grant recipients in that cohort complete at 49.6%, which is 14.1 percentage points below the overall rate. A student who enrolls should expect a university where most return for a second year and the majority finish, but where the experience for Pell recipients diverges from the average.
The gap is a fact about the institution's outcomes, not a prediction for any one student.
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.