UC Freshman Admission Information
General UC Admission Information
- UC Admission Stats
- UC Eligibility Change in 2012
- Eligibility in the Local Context (ELC) and Statewide Eligibility
- Out-of-State and International Students
UC Admission Information - Major Specific
- Business
- Criminology
- Engineering
- Health Sciences
- Nursing
- Pharmacy
- UCSD Combined Bachelor/M.D.
UC Admission Information - Campus Specific
General UC Admission Information
The University of California system has 9 undergraduate campuses: Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, Santa Barbara, and Santa Cruz. There is also a San Francisco campus but only graduate-level degrees are offered. While all of the campuses use the same set of admission criteria (Comprehensive Review), each campus determines how each criterion weighs in the admission process. Each campus searches for a different set of students and that is why you often hear about "weird" results (getting rejected from Davis but accepted at Berkeley or getting into Berkeley and UCLA but rejected at San Diego). If you are particularly interested in certain UC campuses, make sure you find out what those campuses look for in their applicants. This is challenging because you only fill out one online application for the UCs to apply for all of the campuses. You will need to be flexible in stressing the characteristics that will make you stand out to the campuses you are especially interested in while making sure you still appeal to the rest of the UCs as well.
The UCs evaluate applications in context, meaning that you are compared to your peers (those who attend the same high school as you). Depending on the UC campus (each has its own evaluation process and data set), you may be compared to others from your high school in the current applicant pool of that particular UC campus, others from your high school in the current applicant pool of the UC system in general (any UC campus), or others from your high school in the current or previous applicant pool (up to 3 years prior) of the particular UC campus or the UC system in general. This means that you should not compare your achievements to random people in online forums. Talk to your school counselor to find out what a typical UC-bound student at your high school should be expected to achieve and do your best to top that.
When evaluating applications, all UCs (all of them, really!) will look at the different factors in terms of them being neutral or adding value to the application. Students are never "dinged" for anything on the application. There is never anything "bad" about the application. So stop worrying about things that may look "bad" on your application and start focusing on achieving things that will "add value" to your application.
UC Admission Stats
You can see the profiles of admitted students to every UC campus for the current year (detailed breakdown of GPA, SAT, ACT, SAT II, and other statistics all in nice pie charts and bar graphs) in Introducing the University starting on page 39 of the PDF file.
You can generate your own queries using the admission/enrollment data provided by the UCs at StatFinder. The data set is complete with freshman and transfer information from Fall 1994 to present. The information you get from it is a bit more detailed than what's in most UC brochures; the GPA breakdown intervals are smaller with 0.19 increments and measuring up to 4.20 and you can see overall admit rates for the different schools/colleges within each UC campus. The query setup can get a little confusing, keep trying different table configurations until you get the right query results.
UC Eligibility Change in 2012
For changes in the testing requirement, see Testing Requirement Change in 2012.
UCs are still working out the details. But what they do know is spelled out in UC Regents Adopt Changes to Freshman Eligibility.
Some finer, between-the-lines details about the change:
Your personal statement will become even more important because that is the only component of the application that will distinguish you from other applicants.
The top 9% of seniors graduating from California high school (regardless of whether the high school participates in ELC) will be guaranteed acceptance to one UC (likely Riverside or maybe Merced).
The top 9% of participating ELC high school will be guaranteed acceptance to some UCs, although fewer UCs are expected to make the guarantee because of the expected increase in number of ELC students (the campus cannot accommodate all the students).
UCs are expecting a 14% to 19% increase in applications while the number of students admitted will likely stay the same or decrease due to budget cuts.
Eligibility in the Local Context (ELC) and Statewide Eligibility
For changes in ELC and Statewide Eligibility, see UC Eligibility Change in 2012.
Your high school must participate in the ELC program for you to receive the ELC designation (top 4%). Certain UC campuses will guarantee acceptance to ELC students. This guarantee is determined every year based on available space at each UC campus. In the past, Davis, Irvine, Merced, Riverside, and Santa Barbara have guaranteed acceptance at one point or another. If you receive the ELC designation, be sure to use the application the UC system has set up for you or enter your ELC identification number into your current application. The UC campuses that are open for guaranteed acceptance will contact you or post the guarantee language on their website during the application cycle in November.
Currently all seniors graduating from California high schools who meet Statewide Eligibility will be guaranteed acceptance to one UC campus (likely Riverside or maybe Merced). You will simply apply to the campuses you want to attend and if you are not accepted at any of those campuses, the UC system will automatically forward your application to one of the less competitive campuses (the campus will accept you on the condition that you pay the $60 application fee).
The majority of your ELC/Statewide Eligibility questions can be answered by the UC ELC website or you can call the ELC Help Desk at (800) 839-8507 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, from May 1 to December 1.
Out-of-State and International Students
Out-of-state and international applicants are generally at a disadvantage because the UCs are state-supported institutions and therefore give preference to California residents. The only exception is UCLA where no preference is given for state of residency (out-of-state applicants have similar acceptance rate compared to in-state applicants).
Out-of-state and international applicants should follow the a-g requirements (through regular coursework or other methods) and take the appropriate standardized tests as required. The UC evaluation criteria are the same for in-state, out-of-state, and international applicants. However, out-of-state and international applicants are held to a higher standard of performance.
There isn't a whole lot of help available from the UCs for out-of-state applicants. You will simply have to do some guesswork when it comes to your a-g requirements. The minimum GPA to meet eligibility for out-of-state applicants is 3.4.
There is quite a bit of help for international applicants from the UCs both at the system and the campus level. Here are some information about international records to help you get started. Check the websites of the UC campuses you are interested in applying to for more information; there is almost always a section devoted to international applicants.
Due to budget cuts, some UC campuses are looking to accept more out-of-state and/or international applicants. If you are interested in a particular UC campus, it is important to indicate somewhere on your application that you intend to enroll if you were accepted (especially for out-of-state applicants because the enrollment rate from accepted students have been low historically) and that you can afford the fees (especially for international applicants because there is no financial aid available).
UC Admission Information - Major Specific
Most UCs no longer designate popular majors as "impacted" when making admission decisions. Generally speaking, all majors within a college are equally competitive. For example, all majors within the College of Natural Resources at Berkeley are equally competitive and all majors within the College of Letters and Science at UCLA are equally competitive. There are some exceptions (UCSD and engineering) but you can generally stop stressing about picking an "easy" major.
Every UC campus offers some form of study in business but not all are Business Administration majors, many offer majors in Business Economics or Management Science.
Berkeley - Business Administration
Freshman applicants for the business major should apply to Undeclared in College of Letters and Science or College of Natural Resources (CNR has a slightly higher admit rate than L&S). Berkeley students still need to apply for "transfer" into the business major. The admit rate for Berkeley students into the business major is approximately 50%.
Davis - Managerial Economics
Irvine - Business Administration or Business Information Management
UCLA - Business Economics, also known as BizEcon
Freshman applicants are not admitted directly into the major. You must complete all pre-major requirements before you can apply for admission into the major.
Merced - Management
Riverside - Business Administration
San Diego - Management Science
Santa Barbara - Business Economics or Business Economics with Accounting
Santa Cruz - Business Management Economics
UCI is the only UC campus that offers a criminology major: Criminology, Law and Society. Berkeley offers Legal Studies for those of you who are interested in the law and Molecular Toxicology for those of you who are interested in figuring out how the victim was poisoned. Davis has a Forensic Chemistry major, which focuses on the "identification and quantitative analysis of scientific evidence."
Engineering is competitive by major, unlike the College of Letters and Science or other colleges/schools (such as College of Natural Resources at Berkeley) where all majors are equally competitive within one college. The evaluation focus for engineering majors is on the number and level of math and science courses completed (preferably above and beyond what is offered at your high school), grades in those courses, and standardized test scores in math and sciences. Extracurriculars are often secondary compared to your academic preparation in math and sciences.
Berkeley College of Engineering publishes a comprehensive Freshman Admission FAQ that answers virtually all questions you may have regarding admissions.
UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science has detailed admission stats of their freshman applicants available online. UCLA will consider you for an alternate engineering major if you are not accepted to your first choice engineering major.
UCs with undergraduate nursing programs:
UCLA - Nursing - Generic/Prelicensure. Freshman admit rate is approximately 7% and transfer admit rate is approximately 28%. There is a ranked waiting list for the nursing applicants who are not initially accepted. Alternate major is NOT considered.
Irvine - Nursing Science. Freshman admit rate is approximately 3.5% and transfer admit rate is approximately 10%. There is NO waiting list for the nursing applicants who are denied admission. Alternate major is considered if the student qualified for UCI admission but was not accepted for nursing.
Davis just started a nursing program but it will be a while before the undergraduate major is launched.
UCs with undergraduate pharmacology programs:
Irvine - Pharmaceutical Sciences
San Diego - not quite an undergraduate program: Seven-Year B.S. Chemistry/Doctor of Pharmacy Program
Santa Barbara - Pharmacology
UCSD's Medical Scholars Program is an 8-year combined Bachelor/M.D. program for high school seniors who are California residents. The program accepts up to twelve highly qualified high school seniors each year, and grants them provisional acceptance into the UCSD School of Medicine.
UC Admission Information - Campus Specific
Each UC campus publishes its own guidelines on selecting applicants and provides admission, enrollment and campus data. If you are interested in applying to a particular campus, you should check out the selection guidelines to find out what the campus looks for in the applicants, admission data to see the type of students who get accepted, and campus data to get an idea of what the campus is like, statistically speaking.
Berkeley
Berkeley Freshman Selection Criteria
Berkeley Common Data Set - Basis for Selection (Section C7) spells out the relative importance of each admission criterion
Berkeley - Office of Student Research and Campus Surveys - look under Student Data for campus data (ethnicity, gender, graduation rate, etc.)
Berkeley is general achievement oriented (academic or extracurricular), meaning admissions is willing to overlook bad grades/test scores when excellent extracurriculars and/or horrible hardships are in the equation. Berkeley is especially interested in students who will take advantage of what Berkeley has to offer and become the engine of social change.
Davis
Davis Freshman Selection Criteria
Davis Common Data Set (link is in the navigation panel to the left) - Basis for Selection (Section C7) spells out the relative importance of each admission criterion
Davis - Student Affairs Research and Information - see the different campus data available in the navigation panel to the left
Irvine
Irvine Freshman Selection Criteria
Irvine Common Data Set - Basis for Selection (Section C7) spells out the relative importance of each admission criterion
Irvine - Office of Institutional Research - see the different campus and student data available in the navigation panel to the left
Los Angeles
UCLA Freshman Selection Criteria
UCLA Common Data Set - Basis for Selection (Section C7) spells out the relative importance of each admission criterion
UCLA - Office of Analysis and Information Management - see the different campus and student data available in the navigation panel to the left
UCLA is academic achievement oriented, meaning exceptional grades and stellar test scores are essential to be competitive. Students who have demonstrated the ability to achieve extraordinary extracurriculars and/or overcome hardships while maintaining excellent academic achievement are favored. However, UCLA rarely overlooks bad grades/test scores even if extraordinary extracurriculars and/or hardships are in the equation.
Merced
Merced Freshman Selection Criteria
Merced Common Data Set (scroll to the bottom of the page) - Basis for Selection (Section C7) spells out the relative importance of each admission criterion
Merced - Institutional Planning & Analysis - scroll down to see the different campus and student data available
Riverside
Riverside Freshman Selection Criteria (scroll all the way down to UC Riverside Comprehensive Review)
Riverside Common Data Set (link is in the navigation panel to the left) - Basis for Selection (Section C7) spells out the relative importance of each admission criterion
Riverside - Strategic Academic Research and Analysis - see the different campus and student data available in the navigation panel to the left
San Diego
San Diego Freshman Selection Criteria
San Diego Common Data Set - Basis for Selection (Section C7) spells out the relative importance of each admission criterion
San Diego - Student Research & Information - see the different campus and student data available in the navigation panel to the left
UCSD still uses the "impacted" designation for certain majors; however, your chance of admission does NOT change as long as you select an alternate major that is not "impacted."
Your chance of admission does NOT vary between the six colleges.
Each of the six colleges at UCSD has a different theme, a different set of general education requirements, and a different student body; so rank the colleges based on your preference. Not ranking your choices means UCSD will assign you to whichever college has space.
UCSD has a web portal for you to compare the six colleges. Be sure to take a look at the FAQ for answers to your questions about whether you can switch to a different college or if your college choice will affect your chance of admission.
Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara Freshman Selection Criteria
Santa Barbara Common Data Set - Basis for Selection (Section C7) spells out the relative importance of each admission criterion
Santa Barbara - Institutional Research & Planning - scroll down to see the different campus and student data available
Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz Freshman Selection Criteria (scroll all the way down to Selection Policy for UC Santa Cruz)
Santa Cruz Common Data Set - Basis for Selection (Section C7) spells out the relative importance of each admission criterion
Santa Cruz - Institutional Research and Policy Studies - see the different campus and student data available in the navigation panel to the left
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