Methods, apparatuses, and computer readable media for pre-association frame exchange using random access are disclosed. An apparatus of a high-efficiency wireless local-area network (HEW) master station is disclosed. The apparatus includes transceiver circuitry and processing circuitry which may be configured to generate a trigger frame for uplink random access (TF-R), and transmit the TF-R. The transceiver circuitry and processing circuitry may be further configured to receive one or more responses in accordance with orthogonal frequency division multiple-access (OFDMA) to the trigger frame from one or more pre-association stations where the responses comprise pre-association identifiers corresponding to the one or more pre-association stations. Moreover, the transceiver circuitry and processing circuitry may be further configured to generate one or more acknowledgements to the one or more pre-association stations, and transmit the acknowledgements in accordance with OFDMA to the one or more pre-association stations.