UC Riverside acceptance rate and admissions statistics
UC Riverside admitted 52,676 of 61,184 first-year applicants in its 2025-26 Common Data Set, an official acceptance rate of 86.1%. Every number below comes from the college’s own Common Data Set, each year linked to its document; a figure the college leaves blank says “Not published”, and the notes at the foot of the page say where a total is the sum of rows the college printed.
What did admitted applicants have? How to get into UC Riverside counts the grades, scores and activities they posted.
UC Riverside acceptance rate by year
| CDS year | Applied | Admitted | Acceptance rate | Enrolled | Yield |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-26 | 61,184 | 52,676 | 86.1% | 6,686 | 12.7% |
| 2024-25 | 57,714 | 44,356 | 76.9% | 5,419 | 12.2% |
| 2023-24 | 56,883 | 40,032 | 70.4% | 5,525 | 13.8% |
Acceptance rate is admitted divided by applied; yield is enrolled divided by admitted. Both are computed by Aristo Scholars from the two counts printed beside them.
Early decision at UC Riverside
Early decision counts: Not published. UC Riverside’s Common Data Set prints no early decision applicant or admit counts (section C21) for any year shown.
UC Riverside waitlist
UC Riverside SAT and ACT scores
SAT and ACT ranges: Not published. UC Riverside’s Common Data Set leaves section C9 blank for every year shown.
What UC Riverside says matters in admission
In section C7 each college rates its own admission factors as Very Important, Important, Considered or Not Considered. These are the factors UC Riverside rated in the top two tiers.
- 2025-26
- Very important: Academic GPA, Application essay
- Important: Rigor of secondary school record
- 2024-25
- Very important: Academic GPA, Application essay
- Important: Rigor of secondary school record
- 2023-24
- Very important: Academic GPA, Application essay
- Important: Rigor of secondary school record
UC Riverside testing policy for students applying in 2026-27
Test free. UC Riverside does not consider SAT or ACT scores for admission decisions or scholarships.
From UC Riverside’s admissions site, read 2026-11-05. Policies change; the college’s page is the authority.
How these numbers were read
C1 totals are the residency table totals. C9 is blank because UC campuses do not consider test scores, and there is no early decision.
UC Riverside acceptance rate questions
- What is the UC Riverside acceptance rate?
- UC Riverside's Common Data Set for 2025-26 reports 61,184 first-year applicants and 52,676 admitted, an acceptance rate of 86.1%. It was 76.9% in 2024-25 and 70.4% in 2023-24.
- What SAT scores do UC Riverside students have?
- UC Riverside's Common Data Set publishes no SAT ranges for these years. Its current testing policy is below.
- How many students get off the UC Riverside waitlist?
- In 2025-26, UC Riverside offered 3,783 applicants a place on the waitlist; 2,019 accepted one, and 0 were admitted from it.
- Does UC Riverside require the SAT or ACT for students applying in 2026-27?
- Test free. UC Riverside does not consider SAT or ACT scores for admission decisions or scholarships.
Applying to UC Riverside?
An acceptance rate describes the whole pool, not one student. A Specialist can read your student’s file against what UC Riverside says it weighs.
Source: UC Riverside Common Data Set, sections C1, C2, C7, C9 and C21, each year linked above, read 2026-11-05. Aristo Scholars is not affiliated with UC Riverside. All official acceptance rates