Admissions profile
Colleges to explore with a 3.5 GPA
These 360 colleges admit 50–70% of applicants — CampusPin’s selective band, a starting point for students exploring with a 3.5 GPA. CampusPin does not hold admitted-student GPA data, so no GPA figure is shown or implied.
Selective colleges admitting 50–70% of applicants
Largest by enrollment first. Showing 30 of 360. The SAT column is each college’s published admitted-student range where it reports one — the closest published proxy CampusPin has for academic profile.
| College | Acceptance rate | SAT range | In-state tuition | Avg. net price | Graduation rate | Public/private | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Texas A & M University-College Station | 57% | 1150–1400 | $13,154 | $21,315 | 84% | Public | College Station, TX |
| Arizona State University Digital Immersion | 67% | Not reported | Not reported | Not reported | Not reported | Public | Scottsdale, AZ |
| Ohio State University-Main Campus | 61% | 1310–1480 | $13,244 | $17,339 | 88% | Public | Columbus, OH |
| Purdue University-Main Campus | 50% | 1200–1480 | $9,992 | $14,600 | 83% | Public | West Lafayette, IN |
| Florida International University | 55% | 1070–1260 | $6,565 | $9,288 | 74% | Public | Miami, FL |
| Rutgers University-New Brunswick | 58% | 1310–1500 | $17,929 | $24,406 | 84% | Public | New Brunswick, NJ |
| Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus | 61% | 1240–1420 | $20,644 | $32,875 | 86% | Public | University Park, PA |
| Kennesaw State University | 69% | 1000–1220 | $5,808 | $15,048 | 52% | Public | Kennesaw, GA |
| Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University | 55% | 1280–1450 | $15,948 | $24,953 | 86% | Public | Blacksburg, VA |
| University of South Carolina-Columbia | 60% | 1180–1360 | $12,688 | $22,811 | 79% | Public | Columbia, SC |
| Brigham Young University | 68% | 1270–1460 | $6,688 | $15,564 | 81% | Private | Provo, UT |
| University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus | 58% | 1280–1460 | $21,926 | $30,434 | 85% | Public | Pittsburgh, PA |
| Georgia State University | 55% | 940–1180 | $8,664 | $15,931 | 53% | Public | Atlanta, GA |
| University of Massachusetts Amherst | 60% | 1310–1500 | $17,772 | $22,383 | 83% | Public | Amherst, MA |
| Florida Atlantic University | 66% | 1040–1200 | $4,879 | $8,752 | 63% | Public | Boca Raton, FL |
| The University of Texas at Dallas | 65% | 1160–1410 | $14,644 | $18,267 | 76% | Public | Richardson, TX |
| University of Connecticut | 52% | 1210–1440 | $21,044 | $25,097 | 83% | Public | Storrs, CT |
| CUNY Hunter College | 54% | 1100–1420 | $7,382 | $2,984 | 57% | Public | New York, NY |
| Baylor University | 51% | 1200–1400 | $58,100 | $41,104 | 80% | Private | Waco, TX |
| Middle Tennessee State University | 69% | 1010–1230 | $10,266 | $13,359 | 54% | Public | Murfreesboro, TN |
| University of California-Santa Cruz | 66% | Not reported | $16,005 | $17,890 | 75% | Public | Santa Cruz, CA |
| University of North Georgia | 68% | 980–1210 | $5,285 | $9,823 | 37% | Public | Dahlonega, GA |
| University of North Carolina Wilmington | 64% | 1230–1340 | $7,277 | $20,109 | 71% | Public | Wilmington, NC |
| University at Albany | 69% | Not reported | $10,866 | $17,167 | 61% | Public | Albany, NY |
| Rochester Institute of Technology | 67% | 1300–1460 | $59,274 | $34,906 | 70% | Private | Rochester, NY |
| Florida Gulf Coast University | 63% | 1040–1200 | $6,118 | $12,568 | 57% | Public | Fort Myers, FL |
| University of North Florida | 53% | 1070–1270 | $6,389 | $10,154 | 69% | Public | Jacksonville, FL |
| Fordham University | 59% | 1320–1480 | $64,915 | $44,338 | 82% | Private | Bronx, NY |
| CUNY Queens College | 64% | 1010–1290 | $7,538 | $4,195 | 53% | Public | Queens, NY |
| CUNY City College | 60% | 1070–1430 | $7,340 | $3,776 | 57% | Public | New York, NY |
How this page was built
CampusPin does not hold admitted-student GPA data.There is no GPA field in our dataset, so this page shows no GPA figure for any college and asserts no GPA threshold. Publishing an invented “typical GPA” column would be fabricating a statistic, which we will not do.
Instead, colleges are grouped by acceptance rate, which every institution in the dataset reports. The selective band covers colleges admitting 50–70% of applicants. Mapping a 3.5 GPA to this band is CampusPin’s editorial starting point for exploration — it is not derived from admissions data and is not a claim about your odds anywhere.
If you have taken the SAT, the SAT score pages are built on real published percentile data and will place you more precisely than any GPA band can.
Frequently asked questions
- Does CampusPin know the average GPA at these colleges?
- No, and this page does not show one. CampusPin does not hold admitted-student GPA distributions, so there is no GPA column here and no GPA threshold is claimed. What is shown instead is each college's acceptance rate and published SAT range, both reported to federal data collections.
- How was this list of colleges chosen for a 3.5 GPA?
- By acceptance rate. This page groups colleges that admit 50–70% of applicants — CampusPin's selective band. The grouping is an editorial starting point for exploring, not a statement that a 3.5 GPA is required or sufficient at any of them.
- Can I get into these colleges with a 3.5 GPA?
- Nobody can answer that from a GPA alone, and this page does not try to. Admissions decisions weigh course rigor, grade trends, test scores where submitted, essays, recommendations, and each college's own priorities in a given year. Use this list to build a range of options, then check each college's published requirements.
- How much do these colleges cost?
- Costs are in the table: published in-state tuition and, where the college reports it, the average net price students actually paid after grants and scholarships. Net price is an average across a prior entering class and varies widely by family income, so treat it as a comparison between colleges rather than your own bill.
Other SAT scores
Keep going on CampusPin
Narrow this list with the full filter set, or put any two colleges side by side.
Data sources & methodology
Admissions, cost, and outcome figures come from each institution's federal reporting.
Sources used across this page
Not every source informs every figure. Each data point draws on the source appropriate to it see the relevant section and the data dictionary for field-level provenance.
IPEDS / NCES College Navigator
Federal enrollment, admissions, tuition, retention, and program data. Released annually with a 1–2 year lag.
U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard
Net price by income band, post-graduation earnings, and federal aid context.
Institutional websites
Each school's official admissions, registrar, and financial-aid pages are the authoritative source for current details.
Where a value is unavailable it is shown as unavailable, never as 0, free, or a negative judgment. Always confirm final details with the institution before applying.
Suggested citation
CampusPin. Colleges to explore with a 3.5 GPA. Retrieved from https://campuspin.com/colleges-for/3-5-gpa