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With more than 40,000 new students hoping to attend Sacramento State this fall, the university registered one of the largest application pools in its history, officials said. Nine out of every 10 of those applicants received an acceptance letter.
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The school anticipates enrolling about 8,000 new students as the academic year begins later this month. In line with past years’ trend, less than a quarter of admitted students are expected to actually enroll.
Within the school’s large applicant pool for 2026, demand varied across majors. For both first-time freshmen and transfer students, the most popular majors included business administration, health science, psychology, criminal justice and biology. For the business administration and graphic design majors, the number of fully qualified applicants exceeded the available spaces, necessitating additional admission criteria for these programs. Admitted students who applied to these “impacted” programs were not automatically accepted into the major of their choice.
“Sacramento State has a very good, solid reputation for its educational programs and what we specialize in,” said Michelle Willard, spokesperson for the university. “And I think that makes a difference, right? When you’re really specialized and good at certain programs, students want to come here.”
The five most popular majors — business, health science, criminal justice, psychology and biology — made up more than 40% of the student demand for Sacramento State this year. The school offers a total of more than 120 majors across its eight colleges.
Most popular majors among first-time freshman students
For applicants who will be attending college for the first time after graduating high school, the most popular majors in the admissions cycle for Fall 2026 were:
- Health science: 3,660 applicants, 94% acceptance rate
- Business administration (all concentrations): 3,591 applicants, 92% acceptance rate
- Psychology: 1,788 applicants, 93% acceptance rate
- Biological sciences: 1,658 applicants, 96% acceptance rate
- Criminal justice: 1,276 applicants, 91% acceptance rate
- Mechanical engineering: 1,145 applicants, 95% acceptance rate
- Political science: 826 applicants, 95% acceptance rate
- Civil engineering: 725 applicants, 97% acceptance rate
- Kinesiology (athletic care): 714 applicants, 93% acceptance rate
- Electrical and electronic engineering: 593 applicants, 94% acceptance rate
Most popular majors among transfer students
For transfer students, the most popular majors in the admissions cycle for Fall 2026 were:
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- Business administration (all concentrations): 1,863 applicants, 90% acceptance rate
- Psychology: 1,368 applicants, 85% acceptance rate
- Health science: 1,233 applicants, 90% acceptance rate
- Criminal justice: 627 applicants, 84% acceptance rate
- Biological sciences: 495 applicants, 83% acceptance rate
- Computer science: 446 applicants, 85% acceptance rate
- Mechanical engineering: 389 applicants, 90% acceptance rate
- Communication studies: 363 applicants, 87% acceptance rate
- Political science: 354 applicants, 83% acceptance rate
- Sociology: 316 applicants, 89% acceptance rate
The overall acceptance rate for first-time freshman students was 93% for fall 2026. For transfer students, it was lower at 86%, bringing the total average to about 91%.
Over the last five years, Sacramento State’s acceptance rate has hovered between 91% and 93%, slightly higher than the CSU systemwide average. This differs greatly from “impacted” campuses like Cal Poly San Luis Obispo where the number of qualified applicants is greater than the number of available spaces across majors. At Cal Poly SLO, for example, the acceptance rate this year was 30.5%. At Sacramento State, only a handful of programs are considered impacted and the school admits every student who meets the requirements for all other majors.
Over the last decade, Sacramento State’s overall enrollment numbers have increased by more than 3%, despite the disruption caused by the pandemic.
As the student body grows, the school is working to expand capacity and increase course sections amid a shortage of available seats in the classes students need. An analysis of the demand for different majors among applicants is one input that informs the school’s course adjustments, officials said.
“For a lot of the CSUs, Sac State is in a real envious position in that we’ve experienced enrollment growth over the last several years while demographic shifts really disrupt the demand for higher education,” said Matt Ward, vice president for strategic enrollment management. “We will continue to build the brand of the institution.”
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