The Colorado State acceptance rate is 88.6%. For Fall 2025, Colorado State University in Fort Collins received 38,365 applications, admitted 34,004 and enrolled 5,376.
This is Colorado State University in Fort Collins, not Colorado State University Pueblo, which is a separate institution with its own filing and its own figures.
But the 88.6% is not the most useful thing in CSU's filing. This is: Colorado State does not consider SAT or ACT scores in admission at all. Not optional, not considered if submitted. Not considered. CSU's own Common Data Set says so in prose and then reports no score percentiles whatsoever, because it has no admissions-relevant scores to report.
CSU is the only fully test-blind institution covered anywhere in this programme, and almost everything else interesting about getting in follows from that one decision.
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The Colorado State Acceptance Rate, and the Missing Column
| Measure, Fall 2025 | Figure |
| Applications | 38,365 (16,983 men, 21,382 women) |
| Admitted | 34,004 (14,797 men, 19,207 women) |
| Acceptance rate (derived) | 88.6% |
| Enrolled | 5,376 (5,329 full-time, 47 part-time) |
| Yield (derived) | 15.8% |
| Waitlist | none, no waitlist policy |
| SAT middle 50% | not published, scores not considered |
| ACT middle 50% | not published, scores not considered |
| Average high school GPA | 3.7, from 99.9% of the class |
No waitlist, which follows naturally from admitting nearly nine applicants in ten. And two of the rows that appear on every other page in this cluster are simply absent, because the institution has nothing to put in them.
What Happens When Scores Are Removed
Three consequences, and they change what you should actually do.
First, the transcript carries everything. CSU reports that 99.9% of its enrolled class submitted a GPA, which is as close to universal as these figures get. With scores excluded by policy and the GPA submitted by essentially everyone, the high school record is the academic input. There is no second number to balance it.
Here is that record, and it is the single most useful table on this page:
| High school GPA | Share of CSU's enrolled class |
| 4.0 or higher | 29.9% |
| 3.75 to 3.99 | 18.4% |
| 3.50 to 3.74 | 16.6% |
| 3.25 to 3.49 | 15.1% |
| 3.00 to 3.24 | 12.1% |
| 2.50 to 2.99 | 7.7% |
| 2.00 to 2.49 | 0.1% |
| Below 2.00 | 0.0% |
Just under 65% of the class arrived at 3.50 or above, and 7.8% arrived below a 3.00. Against an 88.6% acceptance rate, that distribution says the published rate is close to an honest description of your odds if your record is above roughly a 3.0, and that a record in the 2.5 to 3.0 range is a real but minority route rather than an impossibility.
Second, a good score cannot rescue a weak transcript. At a test-optional institution a strong score is a lever you can pull. At CSU it is not a lever at all. If your GPA is 2.8 and your ACT is a 31, the 31 does nothing here, and you should be applying somewhere that will look at it. Elsewhere in this cluster, Colorado College accepts scores from the roughly half of its applicants who submit them.
Third, and this is the part worth appreciating, it removes an inequity. Test-optional policies have a known problem: the published range describes only the students confident enough to submit, which makes the figure both misleading and quietly advantageous to applicants who can afford preparation and repeat sittings. CSU has opted out of that entirely. There is no range to misread and no advantage to buy.
The contrast within this cluster is stark. The University of Colorado Colorado Springs reports just 5% of its class submitting an ACT, which means its published ACT range of 21 to 27 describes a few dozen students. CSU does not have that problem because it does not have that data.
What CSU weights in place of scores is not something its filing states in retrievable form, so the page says that rather than guessing. The GPA distribution above is the best available guide.
Colorado State Against CU Boulder
These are Colorado's two large public research universities and the comparison most applicants are running.
| Colorado State | CU Boulder | |
| Acceptance rate | 88.6% | 70.67% |
| Applications | 38,365 | 73,180 |
| Enrolled | 5,376 | not retrieved |
| Test scores | not considered | not published |
| Average GPA | 3.7 | not published |
| In-state tuition | $11,093 (2024-25) | not retrieved |
| Out-of-state share | 30.0% (Fall 2024) | 67.22% admit rate out of state |
| Need met, first-year | 70.9% | not published |
Two things to take from this.
CSU is substantially more accessible, by eighteen percentage points, and it has no equivalent of CU Boulder's internal variation. CU Boulder's Leeds School of Business admits 32.36% and its Engineering college 59.87%, so a Boulder applicant's real rate depends on which college they target. CSU publishes one university-wide rate.
And CSU is better documented. CU Boulder's Common Data Set sits behind a university login, which is why half the right-hand column above is empty and why the sibling CU Boulder page carries the weakest sourcing in this cluster. CSU publishes a full filing. For an applicant trying to make an informed decision, that difference is not trivial.
The Price, and an Oddity in It
| 2024-25 | In-state | Out-of-state |
| Tuition | $11,093 | $33,432 |
| Required fees | $2,681 | $2,681 |
| Housing and food | $17,508 | $17,508 |
| Derived total | $31,282 | $53,621 |
CSU's filing states that 2025-26 figures would be available around 1 June 2026, so newer numbers exist by now and these should be treated as a floor.
Now the oddity, which is worth knowing before you choose a meal plan. CSU itemises housing and food as $7,460 for housing and $9,080 for food. Food costs $1,620 more than the room.
That is the reverse of every other institution in this cluster and of most elsewhere: UCCS, the University of Denver and the institutions covered in earlier clusters all put housing well above food. At CSU the meal plan is the larger line, which makes it the more promising target if you are looking to reduce the bill, and it makes the question "what does the smallest permitted meal plan cost" worth asking specifically.
Required fees of $2,681 are also high in absolute terms, nearly a quarter of in-state tuition again.
On aid, CSU meets 70.9% of demonstrated need for first-year students, 68.0% for full-time undergraduates and, unusually, 78.9% for part-time students, which is the only institution in this programme where the part-time figure exceeds the full-time one. CSU offers no explanation and none is invented here. Average need-based grants run $12,658 for first-year students, $12,367 for full-time undergraduates and $5,450 for part-time students.
A 70.9% need-met figure is the second best in this cluster behind the University of Denver's 88.1%, and well ahead of several institutions in earlier clusters, including UAB's 39.8%.
Who Colorado State Suits
Students whose transcript is their strongest credential. This is the clearest case. If you have a solid GPA and no test score, or a test score you would rather nobody saw, CSU is the institution in Colorado that has structurally agreed with you.
Students in agriculture, veterinary medicine, natural resources or engineering, where CSU's land-grant mission and programme reputation run well ahead of its admissions profile.
Colorado residents optimising on cost and certainty. $11,093 in tuition, an 88.6% admit rate and no waitlist is about as predictable as a research university gets. Note that UCCS is cheaper still at $9,022.
Students with financial need, relatively speaking. 70.9% met is not full need, but it is the second strongest figure in this cluster and considerably better than most institutions covered in this programme.
Who should look elsewhere. Students with an excellent test score and a weaker transcript, who are giving away their best asset by applying here. Students who want a more selective peer group, who should look at Colorado College at 11.6% or CU Boulder's Leeds School at 32.36%. And students sensitive to total cost, who should note the $53,621 derived out-of-state total and the fact that the meal plan rather than the room is the larger half of a $17,508 line.
On that line specifically: housing and food is 58% larger than in-state tuition at CSU, which makes it the biggest decision on the bill. Student housing near Colorado State University in Fort Collins and the wider Fort Collins market are the comparisons to run against the $17,508, and the food half is where the room to move is.
The Verdict
The Colorado State acceptance rate of 88.6% makes it the more accessible of Colorado's two big public research universities by eighteen points, and its lack of a waitlist means the answer is a clean yes or no.
The thing to actually plan around is that CSU does not look at test scores. Your transcript is the whole academic case, and the distribution says that above a 3.0 you are very likely in, while 7.8% of the class got there with less. Spend your effort on the record and on the $17,508 housing and food line, in that order, because nothing else about applying here is close to as consequential.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Colorado State acceptance rate?
88.6% for Fall 2025. Colorado State University in Fort Collins received 38,365 applications, admitted 34,004 and enrolled 5,376, giving a yield of 15.8%. The rate is derived from CSU's own Common Data Set counts. CSU operates no waitlist, so decisions are final rather than deferred.
What is the Colorado State University acceptance rate compared with CU Boulder's?
Colorado State admits 88.6% and CU Boulder admits 70.67%, so CSU is about eighteen percentage points more accessible. CSU also publishes a single university-wide rate, while CU Boulder's varies sharply by college, from 32.36% at its Leeds School of Business to 85.11% in Arts and Sciences, so a Boulder applicant's real odds depend on which college they target.
Does Colorado State require SAT or ACT scores?
No, and it goes further than most: CSU's own filing states that test scores are not considered for admission at all, and it reports no SAT or ACT percentiles as a result. CSU is fully test-blind rather than test-optional, which is unusual and means a strong score cannot help you here and a weak one cannot hurt you.
What GPA do you need for Colorado State?
The enrolled class averages 3.7, reported by 99.9% of students, and because test scores are not considered the transcript is effectively the whole academic case. The distribution: 29.9% arrived at 4.0 or higher, 18.4% between 3.75 and 3.99, 16.6% between 3.50 and 3.74, 15.1% between 3.25 and 3.49, 12.1% between 3.00 and 3.24, 7.7% between 2.50 and 2.99 and 0.1% between 2.00 and 2.49. Roughly 7.8% enrolled below a 3.00.
Does Colorado State have a waitlist?
No. CSU reports no waitlist policy, which follows from admitting 88.6% of applicants. There is no deferred pool and no position to enquire about, so a decision is final either way.
How much does Colorado State cost?
For 2024-25, in-state tuition was $11,093 and out-of-state $33,432, with $2,681 in required fees and $17,508 for housing and food, giving derived totals of $31,282 and $53,621. CSU's filing states 2025-26 figures would be available around 1 June 2026, so newer numbers exist. Note that food at $9,080 costs more than housing at $7,460, which is the reverse of most institutions.
How much financial aid does Colorado State give?
CSU meets 70.9% of demonstrated need for first-year students, 68.0% for full-time undergraduates and 78.9% for part-time students, with average need-based grants of $12,658, $12,367 and $5,450 respectively. The part-time figure exceeding the full-time one is unusual and CSU offers no explanation. At 70.9%, CSU's need-met figure is the second strongest in Colorado behind the University of Denver's 88.1%.
Is Colorado State the same as Colorado State University Pueblo?
No, they are separate institutions with separate admissions, separate filings and different figures. Everything on this page refers to Colorado State University in Fort Collins. If you are researching CSU Pueblo, look for its own Common Data Set rather than applying these numbers to it.