UC Berkeley, UCLA, and more…

The Most Popular Universities in America

The UC schools are, without a doubt, the most popular schools in the nation. And by that, we mean that they get far more undergraduate applicants each year than anyone else. UCLA tops the list, receiving more than 145,000 freshman applicants for the Class of 2027 to fill just 6,500 spots. #2 UC San Diego is next with 130,000 applicants, followed by #3 UC Berkeley with 125,000 applicants. In fact, UC schools (highlighted in red on the chart) take up the entire Top 6 spots, with #4 UC Irvine, #5 UC Santa Barbara and #6 UC Davis rounding out the list.

#9 Cal State Long Beach is another extremely popular California public university, but it’s technically part of the California State University (CSU) system rather than the University of California (UC) system. The difference between the two systems is that CSUs largely cater to commuter students and their courses focus on technical and vocational programs rather than theoretical subjects and academic research.

What are the UC schools?

There are nine undergraduate UC universities. Here they are in order of their 2024 U.S. News & World Report Rankings: UC Berkeley (#15 tie), UCLA (#15 tie), UC San Diego (#28 tie), UC Davis (#28 tie), UC Irvine (#33), UC Santa Barbara (#35), UC Merced (#60), UC Riverside (#76), UC Santa Cruz (#83).

Notably, UC Merced jumped almost 40 points in the rankings from last year (from #97 to #60), but it has to do with changes in the ranking system itself — giving much more weight to schools that promote social mobility and help students graduate without debt — rather than any changes in the quality of academics at the university.

Each university has a distinct personality and specializes in different academic areas. For example, UC Berkeley is known for its social activism and intellectual atmosphere and specializes in finance and technology, which makes sense given its proximity to Silicon Valley. UCLA, on the other hand, specializes in sciences and media, which makes sense given its close ties to Hollywood. UC Davis offers a secluded, picturesque campus surrounded by nature, whereas UC Irvine lies in the heart of bustling Orange County, offering two vastly different college experiences.

Acceptance Rates

How hard is it to get into UC universities? The acceptance rate varies widely by university, and it also depends whether you apply as a California resident, an out-of-state resident, or an international student. See charts below.

At the most competitive end, UCLA and UC Berkeley are extremely difficult to get into, even for California residents. The California legislature is working hard to improve these statistics, since tax-paying Californians freak out when their high-achieving sons and daughters get rejected from these schools. But even UC Irvine, UC San Diego and UC Santa Barbara are quite difficult to get into. The reason? California is the most populous state in the nation with 500,000 graduating seniors every year… and the vast majority of them apply to UC schools.

Bear in mind that these figures represent “overall” acceptance rates. If you apply to a particularly competitive major, or to a particularly competitive college within the university (such as computer science, engineering, business, film/TV), then the acceptance rates will be even lower.

Acceptance Rates for non-CA residents

People always want to know whether it’s more difficult to get into UC schools as an in-state resident or an out-of-state resident. And the answer is that it depends. The chart below shows that at the most competitive schools like UCLA and Berkeley, it’s harder to get in for out-of-state residents. At Berkeley, it’s the difference between a 14% admit rate for CA residents, and only an 8% admit rate for non-CA residents.

But at some of the slightly less competitive schools like UC Irvine, your odds of getting in as an out-of-state resident (37%) are nearly double that for in-state residents (18%). It’s a similar story at UC Davis (60% versus 32%) and UC Santa Cruz (71% versus 43%). While we don’t know exactly why that is, one reason probably has something to do with the fact that out-of-state residents pay nearly triple the tuition of in-state residents, which means a lot more money for the university.

What about for international students?

Once again, it depends. At the most competitive and internationally-recognized schools like UCLA and Berkeley, it’s extremely difficult to get in as an international student. They simply have too many highly-qualified California applicants to choose from. But at some of the lesser-known schools like UC Irvine, you’ve got a 44% chance of admission as an international student, which is extremely high, considering that only 18% of California applicants get in. This likely has to do with the extraordinary caliber of international students who apply there, the fact that they’re eager to diversity their student body, and that international students pay full-freight tuition.

What’s the biggest drawback to the UC schools?

In a word: bureaucracy. You have to remember that these are gigantic institutions with more than 30,000 undergraduates, not to mention all of the graduate students. That means that your first and second year on campus, you can expect huge class sizes (of several hundred students), very little access to your professors, rampant grade deflation, fierce competition for every academic club and research opportunity, and a hard time getting into the courses you want or even need to graduate on time.

Unlike at smaller private universities (think Brown or Duke or Swarthmore or Wellesley), you are not coddled here or made to feel like a priority. The good news is that it gets better (somewhat) by junior year. But if you’re looking for a more intimate and nurturing college education, where the undergraduate experience is the main focus, look elsewhere.

Do the UCs indoctrinate leftist politics?

By and large, the UC campuses are extremely liberal: partly because most colleges are liberal, and partly because this is California. But the UCs have taken this one step further; for the last ten years, all faculty seeking jobs or promotions at most UC campuses had to submit a “DEI statement” affirming their progressive ideals. Writing something innocuous like “I treat all students equally” meant you didn’t understand systemic racism or sexism and you wouldn’t get the job. While a number of states have since outlawed such DEI statements, and Harvard and MIT recently banned them, they remain a source of contention at the UCs. To be fair, however, many universities across the US require similar DEI statements; the UCs have just attracted the lion’s share of attention.

Now about that application…

All of the schools in the UC system use a special UC application. You can’t apply to any of them through the Common App or the Coalition App. You have to use the UC App. The good news is that once you input all of your information, you can simply check a box to indicate which of the nine schools you want to apply to.

Each UC university evaluates your application separately, and they can’t see which other UC schools you applied to. The other potentially good news is that all UC schools are test-blind, which means they won’t consider your SATs or ACTs in the admissions process or for scholarships. (They will consider them afterwards for advanced course placement, however, if you’d like to include them.) They also don’t consider your class rank, race, legacy status, demonstrated interest, or interviews. And generally they don’t look at teacher recommendations either, although some specialty majors require them.

What’s difficult about the UC application, however, is that you have to write four different essays. At 350 words each, they’re shorter than the 650-word Personal Statement on the Common App, but you still have to write four strong essays, which takes a lot of work. They give you eight different prompts to choose from, and you choose the four you want.

You can always transfer.

If you don’t get accepted into your top UC school — but you’re a California resident — don’t despair. The UC schools are committed to taking a huge number of transfer students, particularly from California community colleges. In fact, more than one-third of the undergraduate population at UCLA is made up of transfer students. And getting in as a transfer student is much easier. For the Class of 2026, UCLA admitted 32% of transfer applicants to its main college as juniors, which is substantially better than the 9% acceptance rate for freshman. And the vast majority of those transfer students (93%) came from CA community colleges.

Final thoughts on applying.

Be aware that the deadline for submitting your UC application is November 30. That’s almost a month earlier than the January 1 deadline used by most universities. And UC universities don’t offer any kind of Early Decision or Early Action options. It’s a one-size-fits-all admissions process. Finally, be advised that while California offers a lot of racial and socio-economic diversity, about 80% of your classmates will be from California, which means there’s very little geographical diversity.

Regents’ and Chancellor’s Scholarships

In order to lure the best candidates, each UC campus offers a number of merit-based scholarships, including the Regents’ Scholarship and the Chancellor’s Scholarship, and they are sometimes even available to out-of-state residents and international students. The financial amount and perks of each scholarship varies by campus, but generally you’re looking at about a $20,000 scholarship spread out over four years ($5,000 per year). But this amount might even expand to cover your full tuition if you come from a low-income family. In addition, you might get priority course registration, guaranteed housing, a research stipend, faculty mentorship, etc.

The good news is that you’re automatically considered for these scholarships when you submit your college application; no separate application or essays are required. The bad news is that these scholarships are extremely selective: only about 1-2% of students qualify, which amounts to about 100 students in each freshman or transfer class.