Southern Illinois University acceptance rate and admissions profile

With an acceptance rate near 87%, Southern Illinois University is an accessible public university in Illinois. Because it admits most qualified applicants, admission turns on the strength of your whole profile rather than any one number.

Use this page to see what Southern Illinois 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 1150, a useful checkpoint for where your scores sit, though it is a reference range and not a cutoff.

In its review, Southern Illinois University leans most on academic GPA and standardized test scores. Solid grades in a challenging schedule do most of the work here, with the rest of the application providing context. These ratings come from Southern Illinois University's reported Common Data Set, so the full chart below reflects what the school itself says it values, not a generic guess.

Among the 37 Illinois schools we track, Southern Illinois University ranks #32 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.

Build around Southern Illinois University with peers at a comparable selectivity, such as Boise State University, George Mason University, and North Carolina Central 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 and admitted test ranges reflect publicly reported data (U.S. Department of Education / NCES IPEDS / Common Data Sets). Estimates from CollegeCalcAI are a planning tool computed by a fixed, transparent model, not a guarantee of any admission decision.