Portland State University Acceptance Rate & Admissions

For applicants, Portland State University presents a relatively open admission outcome, with an admission rate of 90.9%. The figure is above the median of 78.1% for comparable institutions (same type and size), indicating that its reported applicant-pool outcome was less restrictive than the peer midpoint.

Portland State University has an undergraduate population shaped heavily by transfer entry: an estimated 61.1% of undergraduates are transfers. Pell Grant recipients account for 41.6% of undergraduates, placing financial access alongside a large share of students who began college elsewhere.

Undergraduate enrollment is 13,182 undergraduates. This composition suggests a campus serving both aid recipients and people continuing a prior college path.

Pell-eligible applicants and prospective transfers should gather their aid records and prior-course information before applying. The transfer estimate and Pell share describe different routes into the undergraduate population.

Completion data point to a tougher path from enrollment to a degree at Portland State University. The six-year graduation rate for the first-time full-time cohort is 52.7%, below the 65.0% peer median for comparable institutions.

First-year retention is 76.1%, also below the comparable-institution median of 83.1%. Pell recipients in the cohort have a 48.9% six-year completion rate, below the overall rate by 3.8 percentage points.

Enrolled students can expect the school to track returning for the second year separately from completing a degree within six years. Both the retention and completion measures trail their peer medians, with Pell completion lower than the overall rate.