The film stars Justin Long, Blake Lively, Anthony Heald and Lewis Black in lead roles.

The plot follows Bartleby Gaines (Long), a high school graduate who, after being rejected by every college he applies to, concocts a plan to create a fake university with his friends to convince his parents he's moving forward with his education.

Bartleby Gaines is a persuasive senior from William McKinley High School in Wickliffe, Ohio, who, among other pranks, creates fake IDs.

His gifts do not extend to grades, however, and he receives rejection letters from all the colleges to which he applies, including those with high acceptance rates.

His best friend, Sherman Schrader III, who has been accepted into his father's prestigious alma mater, Harmon College, aids Bartleby and fellow reject Rory Thayer, who only applied to Yale University and was rejected due to legacy preferences; Darryl "Hands" Holloway, who lost his athletic scholarship after an injury; and Glen, an outcast who has a low GPA and failed his SAT due to not signing his name.

Meanwhile, the narcissistic and corrupt dean of Harmon College, Richard Van Horne, plans to tear down old and unused buildings on campus and construct the Van Horne Gateway, a park-like walkway similar to Yale and Harvard's, hoping to make Harmon look more prestigious and increase their number of rejected students.

At the subsequent State of Ohio educational accreditation hearing, Bartleby makes an impassioned speech about the failures of conventional education and the importance of seeking knowledge and personal growth through following one's own passions, convincing the board to grant his school a one-year probationary accreditation to test his new system and make the school adequate, thus foiling Van Horne and Hoyt's schemes.

The critical consensus reads: "Like its characters who aren't able to meet their potential, Accepted's inconsistent and ridiculous plot gets annoying, despite a few laughs.