Admissions & selectivity
California State University-Bakersfield Acceptance Rate & Admissions
What is the acceptance rate at CSU Bakersfield?
CSU Bakersfield’s reported acceptance rate is 93.9%.
- Acceptance rate · Fall 2024
- 93.9%
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: California State University-Bakersfield Common Data Set 2025-26, C1 · first-time, first-year students.
How to interpret the acceptance rate
California State University-Bakersfield admits 93.8% of applicants, well above the median of 85.9% for comparable institutions (same type and size). In its 2025-26 Common Data Set, the university reported 14,532 applicants, 12,230 admitted, and 1,366 enrolled first-year students.
What SAT and ACT scores do CSU Bakersfield students report?
SAT and ACT ranges are not available for CSU Bakersfield in the data shown here. Missing scores do not establish whether tests are required, optional or excluded from review.
Figures cover fall 2024.
Who enrolls at CSU Bakersfield?
- Pell Grant recipients
- 60.7%
- Entering students outside the first-time, full-time group
- 50.0%
- First-year retention
- 78.8%
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.
California State University-Bakersfield enrolls 8,577 undergraduates, with an estimated 50.0% of students transferring in. Pell Grant recipients make up 60.7% of undergraduates, reflecting broad financial access.
In its 2025-26 Common Data Set, the university reported 14,532 first-year applicants and 12,230 admitted students, with 1,366 enrolling. For transfer students, it reported 4,782 applicants and 3,394 admitted, with 1,284 enrolling.
The composition suggests a university that serves a large share of students who begin elsewhere or qualify for federal need-based aid.
California State University-Bakersfield reports a first-year retention rate of 78.8% among its full-time bachelor's-seeking cohort, exceeding the peer median of 73.7% for comparable institutions. For the first-time full-time cohort, the six-year graduation rate reaches 49.8%, above the peer median of 49.1%.
Pell recipients in the first-time full-time cohort complete at 30.6%, below the overall six-year rate of 49.8% by 19.2 percentage points. Enrolled students can expect a public university with first-year persistence above the peer median for comparable institutions and a six-year graduation rate near that benchmark.
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.