Illinois State University acceptance rate and your odds of getting in

Illinois State University is a public university in Illinois that admits most qualified applicants (around 88%), which puts it in the accessible range. A rate like this means it admits most qualified applicants; the bar is less about clearing a single cutoff and more about how your full profile compares to admitted students.

Use this page to see what Illinois State University weighs, where it ranks among Illinois schools, and how a profile like yours is likely to land. Admitted students post a 75th-percentile SAT around 1220, a useful checkpoint for where your scores sit, though it is a reference range and not a cutoff.

What are my chances at Illinois State University with a 3.1 GPA and a 1100 SAT?

About 98% (Safety), by CollegeCalcAI's deterministic model, for an applicant with a 3.1 unweighted GPA and a 1100 SAT, the middle of Illinois State University's admitted range, applying Regular Decision without a hook. A 3.4 GPA with a 1210 SAT comes out near 98%. Courses, activities, essays and the application round move the number; the free calculator includes them.

Estimates, not guarantees. Get yours with your real courses and activities. Assistants and developers can fetch this table from the free API: /api/v1/colleges/illinois-state-university.

Getting into Illinois State University comes down to four decisions, each one visible in the data on this page.

20,884 students applied to Illinois State University for fall 2023; 18,589 were admitted (89%). 4,147 enrolled. Only about 22% of admitted students enrolled, so the school admits several students for every seat it expects to fill, which is why its acceptance rate reads higher than its selectivity feels. Illinois State University enrolls about 19,057 undergraduates in total, 57% of them women, with a student-to-faculty ratio of 19 to 1.

Source: U.S. Department of Education, IPEDS 2023 admissions and enrollment.

Admitted students at Illinois State University post SAT scores of 990 to 1210 in the middle 50%, with an average of 1113. On the ACT the middle 50% runs from 21 to 27. A score above 1210 puts you in the top quarter of admits and turns the test into an asset; a score below 990 puts you in the bottom quarter, where the rest of the application has to carry more weight. Illinois State University is test-optional: scores are considered if you submit them but not required. Send a score at or above the middle of the admitted range; otherwise apply without one and let your transcript lead.

Source: College Scorecard (U.S. Department of Education), release 2026-06-10.

Illinois State University signals that it values rigor of secondary school record, academic GPA, and standardized test scores above the rest of the file. Solid grades in a challenging schedule do most of the work here, with the rest of the application providing context. These ratings come from Illinois State University's reported Common Data Set, so the full chart below reflects what the school itself says it values, not a generic guess.

The full sticker price at Illinois State University (tuition, fees, housing, food, books) is about $34,309 a year. Tuition and fees are $16,144 for IL residents and $28,210 for out-of-state students, a $12,066 gap that makes residency the single biggest lever on cost. What families actually pay is different: the average net price after grants and scholarships is $19,398 a year, and it ranges from $11,568 for families earning under $30,000 to $28,224 for families earning over $110,000. 32% of undergraduates receive a federal Pell Grant.

Source: College Scorecard (U.S. Department of Education), release 2026-06-10. Net price is what students receiving aid paid after grants, by family income.

Median earnings for Illinois State University students ten years after entry are $62,117 ($50,599 at the six-year mark). 65% of first-time, full-time students graduate within six years, and 81% return for a second year. Among graduates who borrowed, median federal debt at graduation is $20,482; 43% of undergraduates take federal loans.

Source: College Scorecard (U.S. Department of Education), release 2026-06-10. Earnings cover students who received federal aid.

Among the 37 Illinois schools we track, Illinois State University ranks #34 most selective by acceptance rate. Schools like University of Chicago (4%) and Northwestern University (8%) sit nearby, which makes Illinois a useful frame for calibrating a balanced list. As a public university, residency matters: in-state applicants generally see meaningfully better odds than the headline rate suggests.

If Illinois State University is on your list, schools with a similar admit profile are worth a look: Georgia Southern University, Norfolk State University, and Oakland University. Running the same profile against each one in the free calculator is the fastest way to see where you are a reach, a match, or a likely.

Acceptance rate, application counts, admitted test ranges, cost, and outcomes reflect publicly reported federal data (U.S. Department of Education: IPEDS 2023 and the College Scorecard) and each school's Common Data Set; figures are rounded and lag the current cycle by one to two years, so confirm deadlines and policies on the school's own site. The typical-admit GPA and SAT are CollegeCalcAI's modeled estimates. Estimates from CollegeCalcAI are a planning tool computed by a fixed, transparent model, not a guarantee of any admission decision.