UCLA Acceptance Rates: Decoding the Data

Admissions decisions for UCLA come out in late March, so, like many, we are eagerly awaiting word on UCLA’s final Class of 2027 acceptance rates. Class of 2026 applications at the University of California’s nine campuses totaled an impressive 210,840 applicants, up from  203,700 and 172,099 in the previous two years, respectively, with UCLA comprising the lion’s share at 149,779 applications. This year, the University of California has already released application data, which shows a slight cooling, with UCLA receiving 145,882 freshman applications. While we wait, let’s take a look at the data we’ve seen in recent years for UCLA acceptance rates.

UCLA ACCEPTANCE RATES

Ranked #1 among Public Schools and #20 among National Universities by U.S. News and World Report (tied for both with fellow University of California campus, Berkeley), UCLA has consistently been a tempting and affordable option for California residents from all socioeconomic backgrounds. The estimated cost of in-state tuition for the academic year is $13,225, with 45% of all undergraduates paying no tuition at all.

In-State vs. Out-of-State Applications

It’s no wonder that of the 145,882 freshman applications received by UCLA for admission to the Class of 2027, 62% of them, or 90,747 applications, came from California residents. This represents a slight decrease from Class of 2026 data, which showed an 8% increase over in-state applications from the Class of 2025 application cycle, itself a 23% surge over the prior year’s applications, inspired by “pandemic-year” test-blind policies and the court case that gave them the death knell. Today, at nearly 100,000 in-state applicants, UCLA is the most-applied-to in-state school of all the UC campuses.

Out-of-state applications experienced a similar surge in pandemic-era years, increasing first from 23,016 to 33,383, a 45% surge between the 2019-20 and 2020-21 application cycles, and then to 34,627 applicants for admission to the Class of 2026. Out-of-state applications for the Class of 2027 came in at 33,066. As for international applicants, the number jumped from 17,944 to 23,608 applications between the Classes of 2024 and 2026 and then dipped slightly to 22,069 for the Class of 2027.

UCLA Overall Acceptance Rate

Meanwhile, as overall application volume at UCLA has ballooned, acceptance rates dropped, remarkably, below 10%. The Class of 2026 saw an admit rate of 8.56%. Berkeley, which saw a similar pandemic-era surge in application volume and ties UCLA for the #1 Public School slot, was still seeing a double-digit overall acceptance rate as of the Class of 2026. We’ll see if the Class of 2027 tips the scale.

UCLA Individual School Admit Rates

While the overall UCLA acceptance rate for the Class of 2026 was 8.56%, this may be further evaluated based on the admit rates of each individual school. The UCLA School of Nursing had a Class of 2026 admit rate of 1%, the School of Theater, Film, and Television 3%, the School of the Arts and Architecture 5%, the Henry Samueli School of Engineering 6%, the College of Letters and Science 10%, and the Herb Alpert School of Music 19%.

UNDERSTANDING THE NUMBERS

The UCLA admission review process is based on thirteen criteria, including the student’s academic record, personal qualities, likelihood of campus contributions (i.e., social, intellectual, creative), and any hardships experienced, among others. (Admission to many of UCLA’s schools also depends on additional school-specific criteria.) In so doing, UCLA strives to select highly-qualified applicants who will “serve the State of California” and pursue leadership roles “in research, industry and the arts.”

Demographic Data

Among the Class of 2027 freshman applicants are a strong proportion of California-resident students from historically underrepresented groups: 7% of applicants are African American, 35% Chicano/Latino, and 1% American Indian. 41% of in-state freshman applicants will be first-generation college students and 45% come from families earning household incomes at or below $68,002.

Academic Profile of Admitted Students

Many of you have likely read about the UC GPA. In an effort to ensure college preparedness, the University of California system requires applicants to meet rigorous minimum requirements for admission, including achieving no lower than a 3.0 UC GPA (different from your high school GPA) for California residents and no lower than a 3.4 for non-residents.

Indeed, the academic profile of admitted students is strong. The middle 50% of the Class of 2026 had a weighted UC GPA (including honors) of 4.40-4.73 and an unweighted GPA of 3.95-4.00, up from a weighted UC GPA of 3.84-4.40 and unweighted GPA of 3.52-3.95 for the Class of 2024.

FINAL THOUGHTS

With its consistently strong national ranking, guaranteed four years of housing, impressive array of available majors and minors, overall small class sizes, 1000+ clubs and organizations, and reasonably-priced, bang-for-your-buck tuition for all California residents, it’s hard to ignore the vast appeal of UCLA. At Top Tier Admissions, we guide students in cultivating academic interests and leveraging them for college admissions success. Our counselors can help make sure you’re taking all the right courses and scoring in range so that if UCLA is your top choice, we can help make that dream a reality.