Recently the University of California released its facts and findings from the Fall 2018 admissions cycle. While some of the information is new for this year, we see a continuation in other trends from the past few years.
You can view the facts and statistics from UC’s official admissions results here. Below, we will highlight some of the more noteworthy findings, as well as trends to watch out for.
| Rank | Campus | Admit Rate (2018) |
| 1 | UCLA | 14.1% |
| 2 | UC Berkeley | 15.2% |
| 3 | UC Irvine | 28.8% |
| 4 | UC San Diego | 30.3% |
| 5 | UC Santa Barbara | 32.4% |
| 6 | UC Davis | 41.4% |
| 7 | UC Santa Cruz | 48.1% |
| 8 | UC Riverside | 51.3% |
| 9 | UC Merced | 70.7% |
The University of California system continues to try and find a balance between acceptances offered to in-state versus out-of-state and international students. This year, UC has again accepted a fairly large portion of students from the latter group, continuing a trend that has caused some amount of consternation among in-state students and their families. The numbers this year remain similar to last year’s, with 66% of admitted students coming from in-state, and 34% coming from out-of-state and internationally.
This does mean, however, that out-of-state and international students should pay attention to this window of opportunity afforded to them by this particular UC policy. In particular, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara and UC Santa Cruz have continued to expand their acceptances of non-resident students.
Although it is not a hugely significant decrease, this past year’s overall freshman acceptance rate declined from 62% to 60%. This is due mostly to yet another year of record-breaking application numbers, while the number of admittances rose by only 2,000 students.
Out of all the UCs, UCLA was the most selective campus, followed closely by UC Berkeley. A slight reshuffling of the next three campuses occurred, with UC Irvine jumping to third place for selectivity, followed by UC San Diego, and UC Santa Barbara in fifth. UC Davis, UC Santa Cruz, UC Riverside, and UC Merced round out the rear.
To sum up these findings: While the University of California has pledged to raise enrollment for California residents and put a cap on non-resident enrollment, favorable opportunities still exist for out-of-state and international students due to their ability to pay full tuition and a commitment to increasing diversity. As mentioned above, several campuses are still experiencing particular rise in the number of non-resident acceptances, and not all of the UCs have met their non-resident enrollment caps.
What this means is that, at least for the time being, California resident students will find themselves continuing to compete for spots with non-resident students, more so than in years past. A rigorous course load and unique extracurricular profile are just two of the many ways in which they can help themselves stand out from the crowd.
