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Pepperdine acceptance rate

Pepperdine University · Malibu, California · Private nonprofit · 3,553 undergraduates

62.9%
accepted, fall 2024
11,526
applications
7,245
offers of admission
843
enrolled (12% of those admitted)

Pepperdine expanded its offers faster than its applicant pool grew, so the rate climbed 27 points between 2014 and 2024, to 63%. Pepperdine admitted a larger share in fall 2024 than in any year since 2001: 63% of 11,526 applicants. Most admitted students go elsewhere. Only 12% of those offered a place enrolled in fall 2024 (843 of 7,245).

Acceptance rate since 2001

0%20%40%60%80%2001200320052007200920112013201520172019202120242001 28%2002 37%2003 25%2004 27%2005 28%2006 30%2007 35%2008 35%2009 34%2010 31%2011 32%2012 38%2013 37%2014 35%2015 38%2016 37%2017 40%2018 36%2019 32%2020 42%2021 53%2022 49%2023 50%2024 63%
Share of first-time, first-year applicants offered admission, by fall term.
Show the numbers by year
FallAppliedAdmittedRateEnrolled
202411,5267,24562.9%843
202312,4576,21049.9%732
202211,4665,58548.7%942
202111,8556,24952.7%1,024
202011,6344,92542.3%733
201912,7644,04931.7%726
201811,2654,01635.7%803
201711,7044,66439.8%862
201611,1114,09736.9%743
20159,9233,78138.1%745
20148,9143,16135.5%657
20139,7213,63037.3%784
20128,5673,29438.4%777
20119,3842,96231.6%676
20107,9492,43630.6%628
20096,9102,37834.4%782
20086,6612,31534.8%752
20076,6612,31534.8%752
20066,9662,09830.1%704
20057,3072,07728.4%762
20046,4471,75627.2%727
20036,2191,55525.0%615
20025,5032,03737.0%802
20016,1471,69127.5%607

Applications and offers

05k10k15k20012004200720102013201620192024AppliedAdmitted2001 Applied: 6k Admitted: 2k2002 Applied: 6k Admitted: 2k2003 Applied: 6k Admitted: 2k2004 Applied: 6k Admitted: 2k2005 Applied: 7k Admitted: 2k2006 Applied: 7k Admitted: 2k2007 Applied: 7k Admitted: 2k2008 Applied: 7k Admitted: 2k2009 Applied: 7k Admitted: 2k2010 Applied: 8k Admitted: 2k2011 Applied: 9k Admitted: 3k2012 Applied: 9k Admitted: 3k2013 Applied: 10k Admitted: 4k2014 Applied: 9k Admitted: 3k2015 Applied: 10k Admitted: 4k2016 Applied: 11k Admitted: 4k2017 Applied: 12k Admitted: 5k2018 Applied: 11k Admitted: 4k2019 Applied: 13k Admitted: 4k2020 Applied: 12k Admitted: 5k2021 Applied: 12k Admitted: 6k2022 Applied: 11k Admitted: 6k2023 Applied: 12k Admitted: 6k2024 Applied: 12k Admitted: 7k
First-year applications received and offers made, by fall term.

Acceptance rate for women and men

Fall 2024AppliedAdmittedRate
Women7,3254,52861.8%
Men4,1972,71664.7%

SAT, ACT and test policy

Test scores in admission
Considered if submitted (test-optional)
SAT reading and writing
650 to 710 (middle 50% of enrolled students)
SAT math
640 to 740
ACT composite
29 to 32

Colleges similar to Pepperdine

The six private nonprofit four-year colleges closest to Pepperdine in acceptance rate and undergraduate enrollment.

CollegeAcceptance rateUndergraduatesAvg net priceEarnings after 10 yrs
The New School
New York, NY
63%6,563$48,163$64,471
Clark Atlanta University
Atlanta, GA
64%3,603$38,626$46,867
Yeshiva University
New York, NY
56%2,852$49,210$77,098
Chapman
Orange, CA
65%7,478$46,708$80,694
Pratt Institute, Main
Brooklyn, NY
73%3,910$48,876$63,115
Bryant
Smithfield, RI
65%3,194$39,186$104,456

Admissions counts are first-time, first-year applicants reported by Pepperdine to IPEDS for each fall term (2001 to 2024), read from the Urban Institute Education Data Portal. Test score ranges and policy come from the College Scorecard. College Scorecard data updated November 2, 2026. How these figures are built · Pepperdine on College Scorecard