Sonoma State University Acceptance Rate & Admissions

Sonoma State University admits 93.4% of applicants, a rate that sits above the median of 85.9% for comparable institutions (same type and size). The university's admission rate reflects broad access rather than narrow selectivity.

An estimated 48.8% of students at Sonoma State University arrive as transfer students, a share that coincides with 35.9% of undergraduates receiving Pell Grants, a measure of financial access. The university enrolls 5,166 undergraduates.

That mix indicates a student body where many students began college elsewhere and financial need is widespread across the undergraduate population. The university therefore serves a population that combines students continuing from other institutions with a substantial share of undergraduates who depend on need-based federal aid.

Pell-eligible applicants and prospective transfers should ask how the university supports students who enter from other institutions or with substantial financial need.

Students who start at Sonoma State University persist and complete at rates that run ahead of comparable institutions. The first-year retention rate is 79.2%, against a peer median of 73.7%.

The six-year graduation rate for the first-time full-time cohort is 57.6%, compared to a peer median of 49.1%. Pell Grant recipients in that cohort complete at a rate of 59.1%, which is 1.5 percentage points above the overall rate.

Enrolled students can expect a university where persistence runs ahead of the norm and where Pell recipients finish at a rate that exceeds the broader first-time full-time cohort.