Admissions & selectivity
Virginia State University Acceptance Rate & Admissions
What is the acceptance rate at Virginia State University?
Virginia State University’s reported acceptance rate is 88.6%.
- Acceptance rate · Fall 2024
- 88.6%
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
Virginia State University admits 88.6% of applicants, a rate that sits close to the median of 85.9% for comparable institutions (same type and size). The university is broadly accessible by the numbers, and the admission rate alone does not signal a narrow gate.
What SAT and ACT scores do enrolled Virginia State University students report?
In its 2025-26 Common Data Set, the university reported a 2.97 average high-school GPA among enrolled first-year students, based on the 83.0% who reported a GPA. This is an average, not a cutoff.
Among enrolled first-year students who submitted SAT scores, the middle half scored from 838 to 1010; only 2% submitted SAT scores. For ACT submitters, the middle half ranged from 14 to 19.
These ranges describe enrolled students who sent scores, not every enrolled student or a minimum for admission. Of the 17% of the entering class who reported a high-school class rank, 10% placed in the highest tenth and 23% in the highest quarter.
Applicants can use the university's own SAT range of 838 to 1010 and ACT range of 14 to 19 as context for recent score submitters, rather than as a minimum.
The ranges below describe enrolled students who submitted test scores at Virginia State University. Use them as academic context, then check the university’s current testing policy for your application cycle.
2% of entering students submitted SAT scores
- 25th percentile
- 838
- Median
- 920
- 75th percentile
- 1010
CDS 2025-26 · enrolled first-year score submitters. This range is not an admission cutoff.
- 25th percentile
- 14
- Median
- 18
- 75th percentile
- 19
CDS 2025-26 · enrolled first-year score submitters. This range is not an admission cutoff.
Source: Virginia State University Common Data Set 2025-26, C9 · Enrolled first-time, first-year score submitters.
Who enrolls at Virginia State University?
- Pell Grant recipients
- 72.1%
- Entering students outside the first-time, full-time group
- 15.5%
- First-year retention
- 69.4%
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.
Most undergraduates at Virginia State University receive federal grant aid, and a smaller estimated share arrive after starting elsewhere. The university enrolls 5,074 undergraduates.
72.1% receive Pell Grants, and an estimated 15.5% enter as transfers or part-time students. That composition means the student body is made up largely of aid-eligible students, alongside a notable number of people continuing coursework begun at another institution.
Those shares describe the enrolled population, not how the admissions office selects students or the likelihood for any one applicant. Pell-eligible and transfer applicants should both run the cost calculator for their own net price and ask how transfer credits will apply.
For full-time bachelor's-seeking students who start at Virginia State University, 69.4% return for a second year and 39.4% finish within six years. Both rates trail the medians for comparable institutions, where retention is 73.7% and completion is 49.1%.
Pell recipients in that first-time full-time cohort complete at 39.5%, which is 0.1 percentage points above 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.