Admissions & selectivity
Murray State University Acceptance Rate & Admissions
What is the acceptance rate at Murray State University?
Murray State University’s reported acceptance rate is 85.7%.
- Acceptance rate · Fall 2024
- 85.7%
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
At 85.7%, Murray State University admitted most applicants in the reported entering class, giving a broad view of the admissions outcome for that pool. The rate sits just below the median of 85.9% for comparable institutions (same type and size).
The figure summarizes a past applicant pool and cannot forecast an individual admission decision.
What SAT and ACT scores do Murray State University students report?
The middle half of enrolled students who submitted SAT scores fell between 940 and 1,170. For the ACT, the middle range among submitters ran from 19 to 26.
These figures describe the twenty-fifth and seventy-fifth percentiles of scores from recent enrolled students who chose to report them, not a minimum the university sets for admission. An applicant whose SAT score sits between 940 and 1,170 falls within the middle range of enrolled students who submitted that test.
A student with an ACT score between 19 and 26 is in the same position for that exam. Comparing your own results with these ranges offers a sense of where recent score submitters landed, rather than a cutoff.
The ranges below describe enrolled students who submitted test scores at Murray State University. Use them as academic context, then check the university’s current testing policy for your application cycle.
- Approximate lower endpoint
- 940
- Approximate upper endpoint
- 1170
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 Murray State University?
- Pell Grant recipients
- 33.3%
- Entering students outside the first-time, full-time group
- 25.6%
- First-year retention
- 75.6%
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.
Murray State University enrolls 6,688 undergraduates through more than one route into undergraduate study. Pell Grant recipients account for 33.3% of undergraduates, describing the share receiving this federal grant aid.
An estimated 25.6% of undergraduates entered as transfers or part-time students, placing students with prior college coursework alongside those who began as first-year entrants. The enrollment mix includes both federal grant recipients and a visible transfer population.
Completion runs above the comparable-institution benchmark, though Pell recipients complete at a lower rate than the overall cohort. The first-time full-time cohort has a six-year graduation rate of 61.3%, above the peer median of 49.1%, the middle value for comparable institutions in the same type and size.
Pell recipients in that cohort have a six-year completion rate of 47.9%, below the overall rate by 13.4 percentage points. First-year retention is 75.6% for full-time bachelor’s-seeking entrants returning, above the peer median of 73.7%.
Enrolled students can expect these published rates to describe cohorts rather than guarantee an individual timeline. Above-peer retention and completion point in the same direction, while Pell completion remains below the overall rate.
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.