The University of Tennessee-Knoxville

Public · Selective · TN

Photo: w_lemay (CC BY-SA 2.0)

School data & stats

TypePublic

LocationTN · South

SettingUrban

Undergrads30,418

Student:faculty18:1

Outcomes

4-yr grad rate56.7%

6-yr grad rate73.9%

Drop-out rate8.1%

Study abroad—

Cost

In-state tuition$14k

Out-of-state tuition$33k

Application fee—

Community

Racial diversity21.9%

Gender diversity53.5%

International0.9%

Identity—

Overview

The University of Tennessee-Knoxville is the state's flagship land-grant university, set along the Tennessee River with the Great Smoky Mountains within easy reach. It combines big-university breadth and a full range of graduate and professional programs with an identity strongly built around school spirit, SEC football tradition, and a strong sense of statewide ownership — Tennesseans across the state follow the Volunteers regardless of whether they attended.

Academics

Engineering is a particular strength, aided by close research ties to nearby Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which gives students and faculty access to national-lab-scale research facilities and funding rare for a public flagship. Business, including a well-regarded supply-chain management program, is another notable strength, and agriculture and veterinary medicine carry on the university's land-grant mission. Class sizes vary widely by college, from large lecture introductory courses typical of a big flagship to smaller, more personal upper-level seminars and honors sections.

Campus & student life

Game days at Neyland Stadium, one of the largest stadiums in the country, define much of campus culture, and the Volunteer spirit — the checkerboard end zones, the Vol Navy docking along the river, the Rocky Top tradition — carries through student life well beyond athletics itself. Knoxville offers a lively college-town backdrop with a walkable downtown, and the Smokies are close enough for regular weekend outdoor recreation, giving the school an outdoorsy dimension alongside its football-first reputation.

Getting in

Admission leans more on academic record and course rigor than a highly individualized holistic essay process, typical of a large public flagship, though supplemental materials and essays still matter for competitive programs like the university's honors college and select engineering or business tracks. In-state applicants make up a large share of the class, consistent with its land-grant mission to serve Tennessee first.

After graduation

Graduates have particularly strong placement into regional and national engineering employers, aided directly by the Oak Ridge connection, along with solid business, supply-chain, and agriculture recruiting pipelines. The university's large, loyal in-state alumni network is a genuine professional asset across Tennessee and the broader Southeast, where UT graduates are common in both private industry and state government.

Worth knowing

The university's honors college and named scholars programs are worth knowing about for strong students, since they offer smaller classes and closer faculty access within an otherwise large flagship setting. The Oak Ridge relationship is also worth understanding specifically for engineering- and science-minded students, since it offers research and internship access well beyond what most public flagships can provide.

utk.edu ↗

Admissions

Acceptance rate41.6%

Enrolled mid-50%SAT 1200–1370 · ACT 25–31

Test policyrequired

Rec letters0

Deadlines (2026–27 cycle)

Early actionNov 1

Regular decisionJan 5

Verified from the school’s admissions page ↗

Applying (2026-27 cycle)

Apply through Common App or Own application.

Early Action is non-binding and releases decisions earlier - in early December for Tennessee residents and mid-December for out-of-state applicants - while Regular Decision releases in early March.

Interviews: Interviews are not part of general admission review, though Haslam College of Music applicants may need to audition or interview depending on their concentration.

Verified from the school’s admissions pages ↗