Families often search for a single UC acceptance rate for a high school. The data is more useful than that - and more complicated. A school's UC record depends on who applied, where they applied, how strong the applicant pool was, and whether admitted students actually enrolled.
Short answer
UC admission rates by high school show how many students from a source school applied to, were admitted by and enrolled at University of California campuses. They are best read as a historical record for a group of applicants, not as an individual student's odds of admission.
The headline number hides the campus story
In the Fall 2025 California public and private high-school source-school data used by this site, the universitywide admit rate was 77.3%. That sounds simple. But the same dataset shows UCLA at 8.9%, UC Berkeley at 12.7%, UC San Diego at 24.6% and UC Merced at 96.3%.
That spread is the reason a single UC rate can mislead. A high school with a 75% universitywide rate could be sending many applications to less selective UC campuses. Another school with the same universitywide rate could be sending many applicants to UCLA, Berkeley and San Diego. Those are very different stories.
| UC campus | Applicants | Admits | Admit rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| UCLA | 88,267 | 7,863 | 8.9% |
| UC Berkeley | 71,750 | 9,102 | 12.7% |
| UC Irvine | 85,584 | 18,680 | 21.8% |
| UC San Diego | 86,639 | 21,332 | 24.6% |
| UC Santa Barbara | 73,885 | 23,786 | 32.2% |
| UC Davis | 68,388 | 25,225 | 36.9% |
| UC Santa Cruz | 51,879 | 37,004 | 71.3% |
| UC Riverside | 60,765 | 52,907 | 87.1% |
| UC Merced | 42,412 | 40,854 | 96.3% |
Fall 2025 campus benchmark from California public and private high-school source-school records used by this site.
The best school comparison starts with volume
Applicant count is the first reality check. A school with 10 applicants and 8 admits has an 80% admit rate, but that percentage can swing sharply the next year. A school with 400 applicants and 300 admits has a 75% admit rate based on a much larger pool.
That does not make the larger school better. It makes the trend easier to interpret. For small applicant pools, a multi-year view matters more than a single annual rate. For large applicant pools, campus-by-campus changes can reveal whether students are shifting toward more selective campuses or whether admissions outcomes are improving.
GPA changes how the trend should be read
A rising admit rate can look like better odds. A falling admit rate can look like a tougher year. But GPA data adds a second layer: it helps separate student strength from campus selectivity.
If admitted GPAs rise while admit rates stay flat, the bar may be moving up. If applicant GPA rises and admits rise too, the school may be sending a stronger applicant pool. If enrollment GPA differs from admitted GPA, it may show which admitted students actually chose UC.
UC's source-school tables include average GPA for applicants, admits and enrollees when enough students are present to report it. UC describes freshman GPA in this data as weighted, capped high school GPA for 10th and 11th grade college-preparatory courses.
Look up your school's UC trend
Search a California high school, then compare applicants, admits, enrollment, campus mix and GPA context across time.
How to read a high-school page in five minutes
Start with the latest year, but do not stop there. A useful read of a school page usually follows this order:
- Check applicant volume. Small pools need more caution.
- Compare universitywide results with campus-specific results.
- Look at several years, not only the latest cycle.
- Use GPA to judge whether the applicant pool changed.
- Compare admits with enrollees to see whether students actually chose UC.
What each field means
| Term | Meaning | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Applicants | Students who applied to UC from a source school | Shows demand and applicant volume |
| Admits | Students who received an offer of admission | Shows how many applicants cleared UC review |
| Enrollees | Students who accepted an offer and enrolled | Shows actual matriculation, not just admission |
| Admit rate | Admits divided by applicants | Useful, but incomplete by itself |
| Yield | Enrollees divided by admits | Shows whether admitted students actually chose UC |
| GPA profile | Average applicant, admit, and enrollee GPA | Helps separate applicant strength from UC selectivity |
What this data should not be used for
Do not use a high school's UC admit rate as a direct probability for an individual student. The data does not show intended major, course rigor, essays, activities, recommendation context, first-generation status, family income or individual academic details.
It is best used as historical context. The strongest use is comparing a school's applicant volume, campus mix, GPA profile and admit trends over time.
FAQ
Where can I find UC admission rates by high school?
You can search UC admission rates by high school using the interactive lookup on collegeacceptance.info. It shows applicants, admits, enrollees, admit rates, campus breakdowns, ethnicity views, and trends from Fall 1994 through Fall 2025.
Is UC admission rate the same as UC acceptance rate?
In casual searches, people often use admission rate and acceptance rate to mean the same thing. In this data, the clearer term is admit rate: admits divided by applicants.
Are high-school UC admit rates official?
The underlying data comes from the University of California Admissions by Source School tables. This site makes the data easier to search, compare, and interpret.
Why does a high school universitywide UC rate differ from UCLA or Berkeley rates?
Universitywide rates combine outcomes across UC campuses. UCLA and UC Berkeley are much more selective than some other UC campuses, so campus-specific rates can look very different from the overall school rate.
Does a high school UC admit rate predict my student odds?
No. It is historical context for a group of applicants from that school. It should not be treated as an individual admissions prediction.
Why do some GPA or admit-rate fields appear blank?
UC suppresses or omits some small-count categories. Blank values often mean there were too few students to report a reliable number.
Methodology and source notes
This article uses local calculations from the collegeacceptance.info Fall 2025 California public and private high-school source-school dataset. The source is the University of California Information Center's Admissions by Source School data.
UC's source page defines applicants, admits and enrollees, and notes that the tables include freshman applicant counts, admit counts, enrollee counts and mean GPA by source school. Some small-count fields are blank because UC does not report every small group.
Source: University of California Admissions by Source School