A Buckeye is not just a popular desert; it’s the name Ohio State University students use to refer to themselves. For anyone who either loves the dessert or is looking to attend the #15 ranked school on US News & World Report’s 2026 list of “Top Public Schools,” there’s more to gaining acceptance to Ohio State University than just being a passionate football fan. 

Students hoping to attend The Ohio State University are likely curious about the acceptance rate as well as what GPA and test scores they should have in their application. Let’s take a look. 

Ohio State University Class of 2029 Acceptance Rate

There is yet to be a report on the Class of 2029 acceptance rate for Ohio State University, however, there is data on the previous two years that can indicate what the Class of 2029’s rate might have been.

There were a total of 72,829 applicants to the Class of 2028, 44,116 of whom were admitted. This is a 60.6% acceptance rate. However, for the Class 2027, the acceptance rate was about 10% lower. 70,028 students applied, and 35,588 were admitted. Doing the math, that’s only a 50.9% acceptance rate. 

Ohio State University Acceptance Rate Classes 2023-2028

Ohio State Class Year	Number of Applicants	Acceptance Rate
Class of 2028	72,829	60.6%
Class of 2027	70,028	50.9%
Class of 2026	65,189	52.7%
Class of 2025	58,180	57.2%
Class of 2024	49,087	68.5%
Class of 2023	47,748	53.7%

Going back through the years, the acceptance rate for Ohio State University has consistently been between 50% and 60%, with the Class of 2024 being a notable outlier. Although there was not a huge increase in the number of applicants between the Class of 2023 and the Class of 2024, there’s still almost a 15% difference in the acceptance rates. It just goes to show, the college admissions process isn’t always easy to predict the outcome of. 

Ohio State University GPA Requirements

Based on these acceptance rates, students may wonder what the average GPA students who applied in the past had. Unfortunately, Ohio State University doesn’t release this statistic in any of their Common Data Sets. 

They do, however, give us a glimpse at something that might be helpful when considering GPA: the class rank of accepted and enrolled students. Although class rank is becoming increasingly uncommon (and we wish it would disappear altogether), unfortunately there are still some unwise high schools that rank their students. And these rankings tend to matter in college admissions. 

So, we can use these numbers to get an idea of where students stood when they submitted their applications to Ohio State University, even though, again, we firmly believe that class rank is an outdated metric (and it’s one that certainly doesn’t serve high schools or their students). 

Ohio State University Class of 2028 Class Rank 

From Ohio State University’s 2024-2025 Common Data Set:

Assessment	Percent
Percent in top tenth of high school graduating class	64%
Percent in top quarter of high school graduating class	95%
Percent in top half of high school graduating class	99%
Percent in bottom half of high school graduating class	1%

Ohio State University Class of 2027 Class Rank 

From Ohio State University’s 2023-2024 Common Data Set:

Assessment	Percent
Percent in top tenth of high school graduating class	67%
Percent in top quarter of high school graduating class	95%
Percent in top half of high school graduating class	99%
Percent in bottom half of high school graduating class	1%

Ohio State University Class of 2026 Class Rank 

From Ohio State University’s 2022-2023 Common Data Set:

Assessment	Percent
Percent in top tenth of high school graduating class	70%
Percent in top quarter of high school graduating class	97%
Percent in top half of high school graduating class	99%
Percent in bottom half of high school graduating class	1%

These charts only represent the students who chose to submit a class rank in their application to Ohio State and then enrolled in their respective class years, so it is by all means not a comprehensive number. We’re not saying every single student who applied to Ohio State was in the top quarter of their class, nor are we even saying that everyone accepted to Ohio State in any given year was in the top quarter of their high school class.

We are saying that 99% of students who enrolled in Ohio State in the Class of 2028 who also submitted their class rank were in the top half of their high school class. And the students who didn’t submit their class rank, well, perhaps their school did away with it (hooray!) or maybe they weren’t in the top half of their high school class. It’s still safe to say that a strong academic track record will be a helpful deciding factor on a student’s application to Ohio State University, especially if a student’s test scores, for example, were not on the stronger side.

Numbers don’t make up the whole application, though. There are other components that students have to nail for admissions officers to slide them into the “accepted” pile of applications. 

Ivy Coach’s Help with Ohio State University Candidacy

Eager to know what else a student’s application needs to include for them to face success in the college admissions process? Wondering about your student’s chances of getting accepted to The Ohio State University? Fill out our complimentary consultation form, and we’ll be in touch to talk to you about setting up Ivy Coach’s Strategy Session with our former elite university admissions officers.