2020 UC Admissions Trends

This summer, just in time for the high school Class of 2021’s senior year, the University of California Admissions has released their Fall 2020 admissions data! For your convenience, here are key takeaways on the latest of UC trends to keep in mind as you or your student prepare for UC applications:

Overall, the total number of freshman admits continues to rise. Total applicants decreased by 3%, but 10,876 more applicants were admitted in 2020—quite a jump from the tiny 161 student increase between 2018 and 2019! This 10% increase in raw numbers is reflected in higher admit rates across every UC, a 7.9% average increase. In general, Los Angeles continues to sit in the highest-selectivity spot this year, with LA claiming a 14.4% admit rate as compared to runner-up Berkeley’s 17.5%, followed by Irvine at 29.9%, then Santa Barbara, San Diego, Davis, Santa Cruz, Riverside, and Merced.

However, for out-of-state and international students specifically, Berkeley is more selective than LA, followed by Santa Barbara, San Diego, Irvine, Merced, Davis, Riverside, and Santa Cruz as the least selective.

Good news for out-of-state applicants—out-of-state acceptances have seen an 8.3% increase this year, implying a greater opportunity for out-of-state applicants moving forward! The out-of-state UC admit rate advantages show clear signs of continuing; for example, UC Irvine showed a whopping 41% greater out-of-state admit rate than in-state, followed by UC Davis’s 32% greater out-of-state admit rate and UC San Diego’s 26%. Despite the UC system’s continuing promise to limit non-resident enrollment to 18% of its student population, not every UC has hit that ceiling, leaving space for this year’s out-of-state and international applicants to snag admittances for themselves.

On the topic of International applicants, they show smaller but similar advantages, with an overall 4.1% greater admit rate in 2020 than in 2019. Most notable are Riverside’s 12.2% increase in international admit rate, Davis’s 12% increase, Merced’s 8.6%, and San Diego’s 6.4%. It’s also worth noting that, while Los Angeles saw a slight 0.8% increase in international admit rate, Berkeley and Santa Barbara showed a decrease of 0.5% and 2.9%, respectively.

But what does this mean for future applicants? Feel free to book a free consultation with us here to learn more about how we think these changes will impact next year’s admissions!