NC State acceptance rate and admissions statistics
NC State admitted 19,514 of 49,351 first-year applicants in its 2025-26 Common Data Set, an official acceptance rate of 39.5%. 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 NC State counts the grades, scores and activities they posted.
NC State acceptance rate by year
| CDS year | Applied | Admitted | Acceptance rate | Enrolled | Yield |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-26 | 49,351 | 19,514 | 39.5% | 5,906 | 30.3% |
| 2024-25 | 44,043 | 18,201 | 41.3% | 5,837 | 32.1% |
| 2023-24 | 39,822 | 15,750 | 39.6% | 5,556 | 35.3% |
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 NC State
Early decision counts: Not published. NC State’s Common Data Set prints no early decision applicant or admit counts (section C21) for any year shown.
NC State waitlist
NC State SAT and ACT scores
What NC 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 NC State rated in the top two tiers.
- 2025-26
- Very important: Rigor of secondary school record, Academic GPA
- Important: Class rank
- 2024-25
- Very important: Rigor of secondary school record, Academic GPA
- Important: Class rank
- 2023-24
- Very important: Rigor of secondary school record, Class rank, Academic GPA
- Important: Standardized test scores
NC State testing policy for students applying in 2026-27
Test optional for applicants with a weighted GPA of 2.8 or above (UNC System policy). Applicants must indicate on the application whether they want SAT, ACT or CLT scores considered. Scores are required for applicants below a 2.8 weighted GPA.
From NC State’s admissions site, read 2026-11-05. Policies change; the college’s page is the authority.
How these numbers were read
NC State has no early decision plan. The 2025-26 Common Data Set is published as a document rather than a PDF. The 2023-24 year comes from its file name.
NC State acceptance rate questions
- What is the NC State acceptance rate?
- NC State's Common Data Set for 2025-26 reports 49,351 first-year applicants and 19,514 admitted, an acceptance rate of 39.5%. It was 41.3% in 2024-25 and 39.6% in 2023-24.
- What SAT scores do NC State students have?
- In 2025-26, the middle half of enrolled first-year students who submitted the SAT scored 1310 to 1440, and ACT submitters scored 28 to 32. 11.0% of enrolled students submitted an SAT score.
- How many students get off the NC State waitlist?
- In 2025-26, NC State offered 10,710 applicants a place on the waitlist; 4,311 accepted one, and 476 were admitted from it.
- Does NC State require the SAT or ACT for students applying in 2026-27?
- Test optional for applicants with a weighted GPA of 2.8 or above (UNC System policy). Applicants must indicate on the application whether they want SAT, ACT or CLT scores considered. Scores are required for applicants below a 2.8 weighted GPA.
Applying to NC State?
An acceptance rate describes the whole pool, not one student. A Specialist can read your student’s file against what NC State says it weighs.
Source: NC 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 NC State. All official acceptance rates