Michigan State acceptance rate and admissions statistics
Michigan State admitted 52,411 of 62,965 first-year applicants in its 2025-26 Common Data Set, an official acceptance rate of 83.2%. Every number below comes from the college’s own Common Data Set, each year linked to its document; a figure the college leaves blank says “Not published”, and the notes at the foot of the page say where a total is the sum of rows the college printed.
What did admitted applicants have? How to get into Michigan State counts the grades, scores and activities they posted.
Michigan State acceptance rate by year
| CDS year | Applied | Admitted | Acceptance rate | Enrolled | Yield |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-26 | 62,965 | 52,411 | 83.2% | 9,355 | 17.8% |
| 2024-25 | 62,138 | 52,690 | 84.8% | 9,652 | 18.3% |
| 2023-24 | 56,767 | 49,414 | 87.0% | 9,371 | 19.0% |
Acceptance rate is admitted divided by applied; yield is enrolled divided by admitted. Both are computed by Aristo Scholars from the two counts printed beside them.
Early decision at Michigan State
Early decision counts: Not published. Michigan State’s Common Data Set prints no early decision applicant or admit counts (section C21) for any year shown.
Michigan State waitlist
Michigan State SAT and ACT scores
What Michigan State says matters in admission
In section C7 each college rates its own admission factors as Very Important, Important, Considered or Not Considered. These are the factors Michigan State rated in the top two tiers.
- 2025-26
- Very important: Academic GPA
- Important: Rigor of secondary school record, Application essay, Extracurricular activities
- 2024-25
- Very important: Academic GPA
- Important: Rigor of secondary school record, Application essay, Extracurricular activities
- 2023-24
- Very important: Academic GPA, Application essay
- Important: Rigor of secondary school record, Extracurricular activities, Talent/ability, Character/personal qualities, Geographical residence, Level of applicant's interest
Michigan State testing policy for students applying in 2026-27
Test optional: first-year applicants choose on the application whether to have SAT/ACT considered. Admitted students who self-report must send official scores before orientation. Fall 2027 application is open.
From Michigan State’s admissions site, read 2026-11-05. Policies change; the college’s page is the authority.
How these numbers were read
MSU has no early decision plan. The 2025-26 C2 leaves the number accepting a waitlist place blank. The 2023-24 C1 total row prints 0, so that year's totals are the sums of the gender rows.
Michigan State acceptance rate questions
- What is the Michigan State acceptance rate?
- Michigan State's Common Data Set for 2025-26 reports 62,965 first-year applicants and 52,411 admitted, an acceptance rate of 83.2%. It was 84.8% in 2024-25 and 87.0% in 2023-24.
- What SAT scores do Michigan State students have?
- In 2025-26, the middle half of enrolled first-year students who submitted the SAT scored 1100 to 1310, and ACT submitters scored 25 to 31. 51.5% of enrolled students submitted an SAT score.
- How many students get off the Michigan State waitlist?
- In 2025-26, Michigan State offered 4,241 applicants a place on the waitlist; the number who accepted is not published, and 2,254 were admitted from it.
- Does Michigan State require the SAT or ACT for students applying in 2026-27?
- Test optional: first-year applicants choose on the application whether to have SAT/ACT considered. Admitted students who self-report must send official scores before orientation. Fall 2027 application is open.
Applying to Michigan State?
An acceptance rate describes the whole pool, not one student. A Specialist can read your student’s file against what Michigan State says it weighs.
Source: Michigan State Common Data Set, sections C1, C2, C7, C9 and C21, each year linked above, read 2026-11-05. Aristo Scholars is not affiliated with Michigan State. All official acceptance rates