Why Binghamton's Acceptance Rate Runs Backwards

Binghamton's Fall 2024 Common Data Set publishes admit-stage counts by residency, not just enrolled-class composition, and the split runs counter to what most families expect at a State University of New York campus: Binghamton admitted 79.18% of out-of-state applicants and just 31.32% of in-state applicants, a 47.9-point gap. That is not a preference for non-residents — it's a function of pool size and yield. Binghamton received 44,338 in-state applications against 6,411 out-of-state, a 6.9-to-1 ratio, and out-of-state admits enroll at less than half the in-state rate, 9.40% versus 19.24%. New Yorkers still made up 2,671 of the 3,248 students who enrolled that fall, 82.2% of the class.

The Decomposition

Cohort: Fall 2024 entering class, first-time, first-year, degree-seeking students, per Binghamton's Common Data Set (CDS 2024-2025, Sections C1 and C21).

Show the math: In-state admit rate is admitted divided by applied: 13,885 / 44,338 = 31.32%. Out-of-state: 5,076 / 6,411 = 79.18%. Yield is enrolled divided by admitted, the share of admitted students who actually show up: in-state, 2,671 / 13,885 = 19.24%; out-of-state, 477 / 5,076 = 9.40%. The university-wide rate blends all four groups: 20,464 / 53,007 = 38.61%. In-state applicants made up 44,338 of the 53,007 total applications, 83.6% of the pool, and in-state admits still yielded at more than double the out-of-state rate. That's why New Yorkers ended up with 82.2% of the seats, 2,671 of 3,248, despite clearing a much lower admit rate than out-of-state applicants did.

What Binghamton Does and Doesn't Explain

Binghamton's CDS reports admit-stage counts, not the reasoning behind them. What the data supports: the rates, 31.32% in-state and 79.18% out-of-state; the pool sizes, 44,338 in-state applications against 6,411 out-of-state; the enrolled shares, 82.2% of the class is in-state; and the yield gap, 19.24% in-state versus 9.40% out-of-state. What Binghamton does not say, anywhere in its Common Data Set or its published admissions statistics, is why out-of-state yield runs at less than half the in-state rate. It's tempting to guess that out-of-state applicants are stronger, more selective about where they enroll, or treating Binghamton as a backup option — that explanation is intuitive, and it may well be part of the story. But Binghamton doesn't publish anything that confirms it, and this article isn't going to supply that explanation on the university's behalf. What is mechanically true: with out-of-state yield under 10%, Binghamton has to extend far more offers per eventual seat to out-of-state applicants than to in-state ones, and that arithmetic, not a lower bar for anyone, is what pushes the out-of-state admit rate to 79.18%.

One related question families ask is whether New York caps how many out-of-state students a SUNY campus can enroll. A search of SUNY and state records found no enacted policy that does. The only related measure located was a 2019 New York State Senate bill that would have capped non-resident tuition pricing, not enrollment, at two other SUNY campuses, and it died in committee without becoming law.

The Same Pattern at Stony Brook

Binghamton isn't the only SUNY campus where this shows up. Stony Brook University's Fall 2025 residency breakdown runs the identical direction: in-state admitted at 39.95%, out-of-state at 62.91%, a 23.0-point gap, smaller than Binghamton's 47.9 points. The gap size tracks the pool imbalance at both schools. Stony Brook's in-state-to-out-of-state applicant ratio is 3.3-to-1, roughly half of Binghamton's 6.9-to-1, and its admit-rate gap is roughly half of Binghamton's too. A bigger imbalance between the two applicant pools produces a bigger gap in admit rates; a smaller imbalance produces a smaller gap. That correspondence, two separate SUNY campuses with two different pool ratios landing at two gaps that scale with those ratios, is real evidence this is a structural pattern built into how both schools manage enrollment against yield, not a reporting quirk unique to one campus. For the full numbers, see our companion piece on Stony Brook's real acceptance rate.

The Waitlist

Binghamton's Fall 2024 waitlist adds one more data point to the same story. Binghamton offered a waitlist spot to 13,341 applicants; only 4,272 of them accepted the offer to stay on the list, and Binghamton ultimately admitted 842 of those, a 19.7% admit rate for students who remained on the waitlist. That's worse odds than the published in-state admit rate of 31.32%, and considerably worse than the out-of-state rate of 79.18%. Binghamton does not break out its waitlist by residency, so there's no way to know from public data whether the same in-state-versus-out-of-state pattern holds once you're on the list.

What This Means for Your Application

If you're applying to Binghamton from out of state, the 79.18% admit rate is real, but don't read it as a lower bar. Binghamton is signaling, through the size of its out-of-state applicant pool and its low out-of-state yield, that it expects to lose most of the out-of-state students it admits to other schools. If you're a New York resident, 31.32% is the more competitive-feeling number — in-state applicants also convert admission into enrollment at roughly double the out-of-state rate, which is exactly why New Yorkers still take 82% of the seats.

The most useful way to use these numbers is comparative, not predictive: how does Binghamton's residency split stack up against the rest of your list? Our free college list builder can help you place Binghamton alongside your other target schools, whichever residency category you fall into. Binghamton has no Early Decision plan, so its Regular Decision and Early Action dates matter more relative to the rest of your list — our application deadline tracker keeps them straight. And if you want to talk through how residency, yield, and the rest of your college list fit together, a free strategy call is a good next step.