The University of California's Fall 2026 admissions results are out. UC admitted a record number of California first-year students, while campus rates moved in very different directions: UC Berkeley became slightly more selective than UCLA overall, and UC Santa Cruz posted the year's largest increase.
Short answer
For Fall 2026, UC admitted 153,272 of 205,431 unique first-year applicants, producing a 74.6% systemwide first-year admit rate. Campus rates ranged from 10.5% at UC Berkeley to 94.7% at UC Merced. These are preliminary admission-offer figures through June 17, 2026, not final enrollment results or a prediction for an individual student.
Key takeaways from the Fall 2026 release
- First-year applications were almost unchanged, but UC issued about 2.6% more first-year admission offers than in the prior preliminary release.
- UC Berkeley's 10.5% overall rate was narrowly lower than UCLA's 10.8% rate.
- UC Santa Cruz and UC Santa Barbara recorded the largest increases in campus admit rates, while UC Merced, UC San Diego, and UC Berkeley declined.
- The 78% headline applies to California first-year applicants admitted somewhere in the UC system, not to admission at any particular campus.
- The searchable high-school dataset remains Fall 2025; Fall 2026 source-school data is not yet available.
How UC campus admit rates changed from 2025 to 2026
The systemwide story was modest, but the campus changes were not. The chart shows the percentage-point movement in each campus's preliminary first-year admit rate.
| UC campus | 2026 applicants | 2026 admits | 2025 rate | 2026 rate | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UC Berkeley | 133,154 | 13,967 | 11.4% | 10.5% | -0.9 pp |
| UCLA | 146,692 | 15,903 | 9.4% | 10.8% | +1.4 pp |
| UC San Diego | 141,767 | 38,571 | 28.4% | 27.2% | -1.2 pp |
| UC Irvine | 126,005 | 38,165 | 28.7% | 30.3% | +1.6 pp |
| UC Santa Barbara | 108,512 | 47,716 | 38.3% | 44.0% | +5.7 pp |
| UC Davis | 104,864 | 48,015 | 44.6% | 45.8% | +1.1 pp |
| UC Santa Cruz | 79,048 | 64,867 | 72.9% | 82.1% | +9.2 pp |
| UC Riverside | 72,542 | 63,958 | 87.4% | 88.2% | +0.7 pp |
| UC Merced | 49,426 | 46,812 | 97.7% | 94.7% | -3.0 pp |
Fall 2026 figures come from UC's current campus admit profiles. Fall 2025 rates are calculated from UC's preliminary application and admission tables. UC revises these snapshots as waitlist and record updates are processed, so small differences from later Information Center totals are expected.
Berkeley and UCLA moved in opposite directions
UC Berkeley received about 5% more first-year applications than in the comparable 2025 release but made 484 fewer offers. Its rate fell from approximately 11.4% to 10.5%. UCLA's application count was nearly flat, while its offers increased by 2,243, raising its rate from 9.4% to 10.8%.
Why the Santa Cruz increase needs context
UC Santa Cruz admitted 64,867 first-year applicants, about 34% more than in the prior preliminary release. Its admit rate rose from approximately 72.9% to 82.1%.
The change was not only about ordinary applicant demand. According to the Los Angeles Times' reporting on the UC release, Santa Cruz joined Riverside and Merced in inviting some UC-eligible students who had not originally selected the campus to add it without an application fee. Those students are then reviewed with the regular pool. That makes the 82.1% rate a poor shortcut for estimating the odds of someone who originally chose Santa Cruz.
What the 78% California admit rate actually means
UC received 130,211 applications from California-resident first-year students and admitted 102,031 of them somewhere in the nine-campus undergraduate system. That is 78.4%, rounded by UC to 78%.
The count is systemwide and unduplicated: a student is counted once even if several campuses admitted them. Campus application and admit counts work differently because the same student can appear in multiple campus totals. That is why adding the nine campus rows does not produce the systemwide number.
The 78% figure also does not mean that a student had a 78% chance at UCLA, Berkeley, San Diego, or any other specific campus. Major or discipline competition can make a campus-wide rate even less representative of an individual application.
Compare the campus results with your high school
Fall 2026 campus-wide rates are now available, while the latest searchable high-school source data remains Fall 2025. Use the school lookup to compare applicant volume, campus mix, admits, enrollment, and GPA across multiple years.
What is preliminary and what comes next
UC's current admissions tables reflect offers through June 17, 2026. Campuses may continue admitting students from waitlists, and admitted students can change their plans during the summer. These figures therefore describe admission offers, not the final composition of the entering class.
UC expects final Fall 2026 enrollment data in December 2026. Its public dashboard schedule lists fall admissions updates in February, and the current source-school dashboard was updated in March 2026. Based on that cadence, Fall 2026 high-school data will likely become available around February or March 2027.
FAQ
Are the Fall 2026 UC acceptance rates official?
Yes. The University of California published the campus figures in July 2026. They are preliminary and reflect admission offers through June 17, 2026, so later waitlist activity can change them.
What was the overall UC acceptance rate for Fall 2026?
UC admitted 153,272 of 205,431 unique first-year applicants, a systemwide first-year admit rate of 74.6%. The widely reported 78% rate applies only to California-resident first-year applicants admitted to at least one UC campus.
Which UC campus had the lowest acceptance rate in 2026?
UC Berkeley had the lowest overall first-year admit rate at 10.5%, narrowly below UCLA at 10.8%. Among California-resident applicants alone, UCLA remained more selective.
Why did the UC Santa Cruz acceptance rate increase so much?
UC Santa Cruz admitted substantially more students and began inviting some UC-eligible students who had not originally selected the campus to add it without an application fee. That process makes a simple year-over-year rate comparison less informative.
Is Fall 2026 UC admissions data available by high school?
Not yet. The latest searchable high-school source data is Fall 2025. Based on the UC Information Center update schedule, Fall 2026 source-school results are likely to arrive around February or March 2027.
Do these campus rates show admission chances by major?
No. These are campus-wide first-year rates. Competition can differ by college, school, or academic discipline, and the campus rate should not be treated as an individual prediction.
Methodology and sources
The 2026 campus table uses the University of California's current first-year admit profiles. The systemwide applicant and admit totals come from UC Office of the President application and admissions fact sheets. Rates are admits divided by applicants and are rounded to one decimal place.
The 2025 comparison uses UC's preliminary 2025 application and admission tables so that the comparison is close to the same stage of the annual admissions cycle. It should not be mixed with high-school source-school rates, which cover a different population and reporting view.