UC San Diego acceptance rate by major
UC San Diego (UCSD) admitted 28.1% of its 136,727 first-year applicants for fall 2025, against 37.5% of 60,832 in fall 2012. Below is the rate in every major and discipline UC reports for UC San Diego, every fall since 2012, from the University of California’s own table.
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UC San Diego by the numbers, fall 2025
Admit rate
28.1%
38,457 of 136,727
Applicants
136,727
Every residency
Enrolled
7,801
Of 38,457 admitted
Admitted GPA, middle half
4.11 to 4.29
UC weighted, capped
From California high schools alone, 83,942 applied and 21,332 were admitted for fall 2025 (25.4%), by UC’s count of admissions by source school.
UC San Diego acceptance rate by major, fall 2025
Hardest first. UC reports first-year applicants by the broad discipline of the major they listed, not by single major. Each link has that discipline’s rate in every fall UC printed.
| Discipline | Applied | Admitted | Admit rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Public Health | 1,760 | 305 | 17.3% |
| Engineering | 20,205 | 3,938 | 19.5% |
| Computer Science | 10,785 | 2,143 | 19.9% |
| Business | 9,040 | 1,937 | 21.4% |
| Social Sciences | 24,878 | 6,501 | 26.1% |
| Other Health Science | 2,939 | 815 | 27.7% |
| Education | 1,100 | 336 | 30.5% |
| Other/Interdisciplinary | 10,626 | 3,246 | 30.5% |
| Architecture | 495 | 153 | 30.9% |
| Life Sciences | 25,093 | 8,177 | 32.6% |
| Arts & Humanities | 7,812 | 2,699 | 34.5% |
| Undeclared | 9,433 | 3,281 | 34.8% |
| Physical Sciences/Math | 12,511 | 4,924 | 39.4% |
A discipline has its own page when UC printed both its applicants and its admits in at least 3 falls, including fall 2025, with at least 250 applicants in fall 2025.
How UC San Diego admits: does the major matter?
Neither UC's discipline table nor any page from UC San Diego that we have on file says whether UC San Diego weighs the intended major in first-year review, so this page does not say either. Ask UC San Diego's admissions office before reading this rate as the odds for one major.
Every UC campus reads the same UC application, and the counts on this page include applicants from California, other states and other countries together, because that is how UC publishes this table.
UC San Diego acceptance rate every fall since 2012
| Fall | Applied | Admitted | Admit rate | Admitted GPA, middle half |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 136,727 | 38,457 | 28.1% | 4.11 to 4.29 |
| 2024 | 134,450 | 35,916 | 26.7% | 4.10 to 4.28 |
| 2023 | 130,835 | 32,061 | 24.5% | 4.11 to 4.29 |
| 2022 | 131,229 | 31,102 | 23.7% | 4.12 to 4.30 |
| 2021 | 118,383 | 40,496 | 34.2% | 4.07 to 4.29 |
| 2020 | 100,062 | 36,633 | 36.6% | 4.04 to 4.28 |
| 2019 | 99,124 | 31,200 | 31.5% | 4.03 to 4.28 |
| 2018 | 97,898 | 29,428 | 30.1% | 4.03 to 4.28 |
| 2017 | 88,448 | 30,061 | 34.0% | 4.04 to 4.28 |
| 2016 | 84,206 | 30,028 | 35.7% | 4.00 to 4.27 |
| 2015 | 78,061 | 26,335 | 33.7% | 4.04 to 4.28 |
| 2014 | 73,448 | 24,449 | 33.3% | 4.00 to 4.29 |
| 2013 | 67,391 | 24,662 | 36.6% | 4.00 to 4.27 |
| 2012 | 60,832 | 22,812 | 37.5% | 3.96 to 4.26 |
High schools that send the most students to UC San Diego
Admits to UC San Diego by California high school, fall 2023 to 2025, from UC’s admissions by source school.
| High school | Applied | Admitted | Admit rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Granada Hills Charter High School, Granada Hills | 1,176 | 476 | 40.5% |
| Berkeley High School, Berkeley | 1,096 | 398 | 36.3% |
| Eleanor Roosevelt High School, Eastvale | 893 | 369 | 41.3% |
| Eastlake High School, Chula Vista | 644 | 254 | 39.4% |
| Dougherty Valley High School, San Ramon | 1,743 | 226 | 13.0% |
| Long Beach Polytechnic HS, Long Beach | 548 | 220 | 40.1% |
| Otay Ranch High School, Chula Vista | 556 | 219 | 39.4% |
| Birmingham Community Charter HS, Lake Balboa | 482 | 212 | 44.0% |
| Diamond Bar High School, Diamond Bar | 1,116 | 212 | 19.0% |
| Culver City High School, Culver City | 513 | 210 | 40.9% |
| Lowell High School, San Francisco | 1,295 | 210 | 16.2% |
| Canyon Crest Academy, San Diego | 1,165 | 207 | 17.8% |
UC San Diego admissions questions
- What is the UC San Diego acceptance rate?
- UC San Diego admitted 38,457 of 136,727 first-year applicants for fall 2025, 28.1%, counting every applicant in state and out.
- Which major is hardest to get into at UC San Diego?
- Of the disciplines with a page here, Public Health had the lowest admit rate in fall 2025 (17.3%, 305 of 1,760) and Physical Sciences/Math the highest (39.4%).
- Does UC San Diego admit by major?
- Neither UC's discipline table nor any page from UC San Diego that we have on file says whether UC San Diego weighs the intended major in first-year review, so this page does not say either. Ask UC San Diego's admissions office before reading this rate as the odds for one major.
More on UC San Diego and the UC
- How to get into UC San Diego: GPAs, test scores and activities of admits
- UC acceptance rates for every California high school
- UC acceptance rates by major at every campus
Other campuses: UC Berkeley · UCLA · UC Santa Barbara · UC Irvine · UC Davis · UC Santa Cruz · UC Riverside · UC Merced
Choosing a major for the UC San Diego application?
A Specialist can read your student’s file against these numbers and talk through which major and campus fit it.
Sources: University of California Information Center, Freshman admission by discipline, fall 2012 to 2025; high school counts from University of California Information Center, Admissions by source school. UC leaves a number blank when it is too small to print, and this page never fills one in. GPAs are UC’s weighted, capped GPA. Aristo Scholars is not affiliated with the University of California.