Admissions & selectivity
University at Buffalo Acceptance Rate & Admissions
What is the acceptance rate at UB?
UB’s reported acceptance rate is 74.2%.
- Acceptance rate · Fall 2024
- 74.2%
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: University at Buffalo Common Data Set 2025-26, C1 · first-time, first-year students.
How to interpret the acceptance rate
The University at Buffalo admits 74.2% of applicants, a rate that sits close to the median of 78.1% for comparable institutions (same type and size). In its 2025-26 Common Data Set, the university reported 45,607 applicants, 36,758 admitted students, and 5,155 enrolled first-year students.
What SAT and ACT scores do UB students report?
Enrolled students who submitted SAT scores posted a middle range from 1,210 to 1,380. For those who submitted ACT scores, the middle range ran from 27 to 32.
These figures show the twenty-fifth and seventy-fifth percentiles of recent score submitters, not a minimum for admission. Applicants can place their own scores alongside the university's ranges: 1,210 to 1,380 on the SAT and 27 to 32 on the ACT.
The ranges describe enrolled students who chose to submit scores, not every enrolled student.
The ranges below describe enrolled students who submitted test scores at UB. Use them as academic context, then check the university’s current testing policy for your application cycle.
- Approximate lower endpoint
- 1210
- Approximate upper endpoint
- 1380
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
- 27
- 75th percentile
- 32
Enrolled students who submitted scores. This range is not an admission cutoff.
Figures cover fall 2024.
Who enrolls at UB?
- Pell Grant recipients
- 33.1%
- Entering students outside the first-time, full-time group
- 25.4%
- First-year retention
- 85.2%
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.
University at Buffalo enrolls a large undergraduate population that combines significant financial need with a major transfer presence. The university serves 20,112 undergraduates, of whom 33.1% receive Pell Grants and an estimated 25.4% arrive as transfers or part-time students.
That composition suggests a campus that welcomes students from varied financial and academic starting points. The scale of the undergraduate body, alongside these shares, points to a university that integrates students from many backgrounds into the same campus.
Pell-eligible and transfer applicants should contact the financial aid and transfer advising offices early to understand how their credits and grants apply toward a degree.
Students who enroll at University at Buffalo tend to persist and graduate at rates above those of comparable institutions. 85.2% of first-year students return for a second year, which is higher than the peer median of 83.1%.
The six-year graduation rate for the first-time full-time cohort is 75.2%, a figure that sits above the peer median of 65.0%. Among Pell Grant recipients in that entering cohort, the six-year completion rate is 64.6%, below the overall rate by 10.6 percentage points.
Students who enroll should expect strong first-year retention and overall six-year graduation results that run ahead of comparable institutions, while recognizing that Pell recipients complete at a lower share.
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.