Admissions & selectivity
Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus Acceptance Rate & Admissions
What is the acceptance rate at Penn State?
Penn State’s reported acceptance rate is 60.6%.
- Acceptance rate · Fall 2024
- 60.6%
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: Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus Common Data Set 2025-26, C1 · first-time, first-year students.
How to interpret the acceptance rate
Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus admitted 60.6% of applicants in its most recent cycle, well above the median of 78.1% for comparable institutions (same type and size). In its 2025-26 Common Data Set, the university reported 106,547 applicants, 58,952 admitted, and 9,148 enrolled first-year students.
What SAT and ACT scores do enrolled Penn State students report?
In its 2025-26 Common Data Set, the university reported that the middle half of enrolled first-year students who submitted SAT scores earned between 1280 and 1410. Only 29% of the entering class submitted SAT scores, so the range describes a small slice of the cohort.
For the 5% who submitted ACT scores, the middle half ranged from 28 to 32. Among enrolled first-year students with a reported class rank, 37% graduated in the highest tenth of their high school class and 74% in the highest quarter.
These shares describe the students who reported a rank, not the whole entering class. Applicants can use these ranges as context for the scores of recent enrolled students, not as admission cutoffs.
The figures show where the middle of the enrolled pool landed, and the low submitter shares mean the ranges reflect only those who chose to send scores.
The ranges below describe enrolled students who submitted test scores at Penn State. Use them as academic context, then check the university’s current testing policy for your application cycle.
29% of entering students submitted SAT scores
- 25th percentile
- 1280
- Median
- 1340
- 75th percentile
- 1410
CDS 2025-26 · enrolled first-year score submitters. This range is not an admission cutoff.
5% of entering students submitted ACT scores
- 25th percentile
- 28
- Median
- 30
- 75th percentile
- 32
CDS 2025-26 · enrolled first-year score submitters. This range is not an admission cutoff.
Source: Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus Common Data Set 2025-26, C9 · Enrolled first-time, first-year score submitters.
Who enrolls at Penn State?
- Pell Grant recipients
- 13.9%
- Entering students outside the first-time, full-time group
- 3.9%
- First-year retention
- 92.6%
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.
Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus enrolled 42,284 undergraduates. Pell Grant recipients make up 13.9% of undergraduates, though this figure covers the institution's federal-aid reporting units, not this campus alone.
An estimated 3.9% of undergraduates entered as transfers or part-time students. In its 2025-26 Common Data Set, the university reported 1,508 degree-seeking transfer applicants, 925 admitted, and 379 enrolled.
The large transfer presence and the Pell share suggest a student body that draws heavily from students changing institutions and from moderate-income families. Applicants who are Pell-eligible or who plan to transfer should confirm how their credits and aid will apply at this campus specifically, given the multi-unit reporting structure.
Students who start full-time at Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus persist and complete at rates that sit above the medians for comparable institutions. 92.6% return for a second year, against a peer median of 83.1%.
The six-year graduation rate is 86.1%, compared to a peer median of 65.0%. The picture shifts for Pell recipients.
Their six-year completion rate is 54.6%, which is 31.5 percentage points below the overall rate. The retention and graduation figures describe the cohort as a whole, not any one student's path.
The gap between Pell and overall completion is a fact of the data worth keeping in view.
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.