The University of Alabama

Enrolled first-year students at Alabama report an average high school GPA of about 3.85 on a 4.0 scale, and there is no hard cutoff. Rigor of your high school course load and your GPA are both weighed as very important factors, so a strong, demanding transcript is the best way to position yourself.

No — Alabama is fairly accessible for a flagship, admitting about 71% of applicants from a pool of roughly 62,000 and enrolling around 8,100 first-years. Admission is rolling with a December 5th priority date, and test scores, GPA, and the rigor of your high school record are the factors weighed most heavily.

Alabama ties automatic merit scholarships to your GPA and test scores, so submitting strong scores can unlock substantial aid even though the school is test-optional. Among enrolled students who reported scores, the middle 50% scored 22 to 31 on the ACT and 1100 to 1360 on the SAT, with 31% of ACT submitters scoring 30 or above.

Non-residents are admitted at nearly the same rate as Alabamians — and they make up most of the applicant pool. In Fall 2025, Alabama admitted about 70.3% of out-of-state applicants (33,908 of 48,210) versus 73.6% of in-state applicants (9,931 of 13,498). State residency is only a 'considered' factor in admissions, so non-residents are not at a disadvantage the way they are at many state flagships, and they account for the large majority of each class.

Yes, Alabama is currently test-optional, and you can be admitted without submitting an SAT or ACT score. That said, scores still matter for money: they feed Alabama's automatic merit-scholarship grid, where the middle 50% of enrolled students scored 1100 to 1360 on the SAT and 22 to 31 on the ACT.

Annual tuition and required fees are about $35,342 for out-of-state students versus $12,484 for Alabama residents, with on-campus food and housing adding roughly $13,616. Many non-residents offset the higher sticker price with Alabama's automatic merit scholarships; separately, about 43% of first-years receive need-based aid averaging near $19,857.

Business and marketing is by far the largest area at roughly 30% of bachelor's degrees awarded, followed by the social sciences at about 11% and communication and journalism at 10%. Health professions and engineering round out the most popular fields.

The essay is a 'considered' factor in Alabama's review rather than a make-or-break one, since GPA, course rigor, and test scores carry the most weight. Because the school is test-optional and admission is largely numbers-driven, a clear, well-revised essay is still a worthwhile place to add context and show who you are.

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