Admissions & selectivity
Tennessee State University Acceptance Rate & Admissions
What is the acceptance rate at Tennessee State University?
Tennessee State University’s reported acceptance rate is 70.1%.
- Acceptance rate · Fall 2024
- 70.1%
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 Tennessee State University, applicants were admitted at a rate of 70.1% in the reported entering-class pool. That rate is below the median of 85.9% for comparable institutions (same type and size).
It describes an applicant-pool outcome rather than a forecast for any individual.
What SAT and ACT scores do Tennessee State University students report?
The middle half of enrolled students who submitted SAT scores scored between 880 and 1,050. For ACT submitters, the corresponding range is 16 to 21.
These ranges describe the scores of recent enrolled students who chose to submit them, not a minimum for admission. Applicants can compare their own results with Tennessee State University's 880 to 1,050 SAT range and 16 to 21 ACT range. The figures reflect only the students who submitted scores.
The ranges below describe enrolled students who submitted test scores at Tennessee State University. Use them as academic context, then check the university’s current testing policy for your application cycle.
- Approximate lower endpoint
- 880
- Approximate upper endpoint
- 1050
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
- 16
- 75th percentile
- 21
Enrolled students who submitted scores. This range is not an admission cutoff.
Figures cover fall 2024.
Who enrolls at Tennessee State University?
- Pell Grant recipients
- 51.1%
- Entering students outside the first-time, full-time group
- 23.0%
- First-year retention
- 33.5%
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.
Access is a central feature of Tennessee State University: 51.1% of undergraduates receive Pell Grants. Undergraduate enrollment is 4,848, and an estimated 23.0% entered as transfers or part-time students.
The composition includes many students using federal grant aid alongside students continuing study begun elsewhere, rather than a single entry path. These figures describe enrolled undergraduates and entry routes, not admission priorities or an individual applicant’s odds.
The published outcomes suggest that staying enrolled through a degree can be difficult at Tennessee State University. Its six-year graduation rate for the first-time full-time cohort is 34.0%, below the peer median of 49.1%, the middle value for comparable institutions (same type and size).
Pell recipients in that cohort have a six-year completion rate of 33.5%, below the overall rate by 0.5 percentage points. The first-year retention rate is 33.5% for full-time bachelor’s-seeking entrants, compared with 73.7% at comparable institutions.
Enrolled students can expect these cohort rates to make continued enrollment and degree progress worth tracking from the start. Retention and completion both sit below their peer medians.
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.