Admissions & selectivity
University of Houston Acceptance Rate & Admissions
What is the acceptance rate at UH?
UH’s reported acceptance rate is 73.9%.
- Acceptance rate · Fall 2024
- 73.9%
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 of Houston Common Data Set 2025-26, C1 · first-time, first-year students.
How to interpret the acceptance rate
The University of Houston admits 73.9% of applicants, a rate that sits below the median of 78.1% for comparable institutions (same type and size). The university serves a large undergraduate population of 38,380 students, and its admission rate reflects broad access alongside a substantial transfer pipeline.
What SAT and ACT scores do enrolled UH students report?
In its 2025-26 Common Data Set, University of Houston reported that 55% of its entering class submitted SAT scores. The middle half of those SAT submitters scored from 1140 to 1310.
Among the 7% who submitted ACT scores, the middle half scored from 22 to 28. Far more of the entering class submitted SAT scores than ACT scores, so the SAT range describes more of the class.
The ranges below describe enrolled students who submitted test scores at UH. Use them as academic context, then check the university’s current testing policy for your application cycle.
55% of entering students submitted SAT scores
- 25th percentile
- 1140
- Median
- 1220
- 75th percentile
- 1310
CDS 2025-26 · enrolled first-year score submitters. This range is not an admission cutoff.
7% of entering students submitted ACT scores
- 25th percentile
- 22
- Median
- 25
- 75th percentile
- 28
CDS 2025-26 · enrolled first-year score submitters. This range is not an admission cutoff.
Source: University of Houston Common Data Set 2025-26, C9 · Enrolled first-time, first-year score submitters.
Who enrolls at UH?
University of Houston admitted 73.9% of applicants in the Fall 2024 reporting period. Its ACT range was 23–29 among enrolled students who submitted scores.
The SAT endpoints shown below, 1,160 and 1,340, are sums of section percentiles rather than verified composite-score percentiles. These figures describe past applicants and enrolled score submitters; they are not admission cutoffs.
The student profile adds a different view of Houston: 41.6% of undergraduates received Pell Grants in 2023–24. The historical first-generation share was 40.5%, drawn from pooled 2015–16 and 2016–17 cohorts.
Those percentages describe different groups and periods, so they cannot establish how many current students belong to both groups.
Houston’s entering-student measure was 46.5% in Fall 2024. It includes students outside the first-time, full-time group, including part-time entrants, and should not be read as a transfer-enrollment share.
First-year retention was 87.0% for the Fall 2023 cohort. Transfer applicants should check the university’s current transfer requirements rather than use the entering-student measure to infer a pathway or admission chance.
- Pell Grant recipients
- 41.6%
- Entering students outside the first-time, full-time group
- 46.5%
- First-year retention
- 87.0%
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.
The University of Houston is a public university that serves 38,380 undergraduates. Pell Grant recipients make up 41.6% of undergraduates, and an estimated 46.5% of students enter as transfers or part-time students, reflecting the university's role as a broad-access institution in Houston.
In its 2025-26 Common Data Set, the university reported 8,358 degree-seeking transfer applicants, of whom 7,390 were admitted and 4,415 enrolled. Pell-eligible applicants can expect a campus where a substantial share of peers share that background.
Prospective students with prior college credit should treat the transfer pathway as a well-established route to a bachelor's degree.
The University of Houston retains 87.0% of its first-time, full-time students into a second year, above the peer median of 83.1%. In its 2025-26 Common Data Set, the university reported a retention rate of 87% for the first-time, full-time fall 2024 entering class.
The six-year graduation rate for the first-time, full-time cohort is 64.6%, below the peer median of 65.0%. The university's 2025-26 Common Data Set shows a six-year rate of 65.7% for the first-time, full-time fall 2019 entering class.
Pell recipients in that cohort completed at 63.5%, below the overall rate. Pell Grant recipients overall complete at 61.7%, which is below the overall six-year rate by 2.9 percentage points.
Enrolled students can expect a large public university where first-year persistence runs ahead of comparable institutions and where graduation outcomes for Pell recipients closely track the overall rate.
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.