University of Oklahoma vs. Oklahoma State University

OU runs marginally more selective on the headline number, admitting about 76.6% of applicants in Fall 2024 against 73.7% at Oklahoma State in Fall 2025, so the two land close. OU's enrolled first-years post the higher test range, a middle-50% SAT of 1160–1320 and ACT of 23–29, versus 1060–1250 and 20–27 at OSU. Both stay accessible by flagship standards, and at either school a strong transcript carries you further than the few points between their admit rates.

OSU gives an engineering-minded student a wider land-grant base. Engineering accounts for about 13% of its degrees, matched by OU's combined engineering and computing at 13%, but OSU layers on agriculture at 10% and a separate computer and information sciences track near 4%, the spread you'd expect from a Morrill Act school. OU folds its computing into that same 13% engineering figure and points more of the campus toward business and the atmospheric sciences. For agricultural or mechanical engineering specifically, Stillwater's land-grant roots run deeper.

OU tilts more heavily toward business. Business and marketing is its single largest field at about 29% of degrees, against 25% at Oklahoma State, where it still leads but inside a more even spread that includes agriculture and a stronger technical share. Both run accessible admissions, so a business-minded applicant has a direct path into either. OU simply points a larger slice of the campus that way.

Oklahoma State carries the lower out-of-state sticker, about $24,764 in tuition and required fees against $28,301 at OU. Both lean on large automatic merit scholarships tied to GPA and test scores that can erase much of a non-resident's tuition. On need-based aid the edge swings to OSU: it reaches about 43% of first-years to OU's 27%, meets a similar share of need (67% versus 66%), and posts a larger average package near $18,220 against $16,189. A high-need out-of-state family tends to net more at Stillwater.

Neither penalizes out-of-state applicants. OU admitted about 80% of non-residents versus 76% of Oklahoma residents in Fall 2024, and OSU admitted about 79% of non-residents against 74% of residents in Fall 2025, so applying from outside the state actually reads slightly easier at both. OU pulls the more national crowd, with out-of-state students making up 51% of its first-years to 38% at OSU. State residency carries no real weight at either school's point of admission.

They enroll almost the same number of undergraduates, about 23,351 at OU and 23,003 at Oklahoma State, though OU runs a slightly smaller class scale at an 18-to-1 student-faculty ratio against OSU's 20-to-1. Both house nearly all first-years on campus, 90% at OU and 91% at OSU, so each feels like a contained college town rather than a commuter school. The difference shows up in setting more than size: Norman sits on the edge of the Oklahoma City metro, while Stillwater stands more on its own between Oklahoma City and Tulsa.