The University of California has admitted a record number of California applicants, university officials say.
A total of 102,031 California first-year students were admitted to its nine undergraduate campuses across the state for fall 2026, the highest number in the UC system’s history, officials announced in a Wednesday, July 29, news release.
“For generations, a University of California education has been one of the state’s most powerful engines of social mobility, opening doors for talented students from every background and region of the state,” UC President James B. Milliken said in the release.
The UC system received 251,907 undergraduate applications for fall 2026, with more than 205,000 first-year applications and 46,476 transfer applications.
“Overall, the University accepted 153,272 first-year students — including California residents and nonresidents,” officials said.
Here’s a closer look at the fall 2026 UC admissions data.
More California first-year students admitted than in previous years
“The number of California first-year students admitted increased by 1,458 from fall 2025, when the University admitted 100,573 students,” officials said.
In fall 2024, the figure was 93,990 students.
The admission rate for California resident first-year applicants increased by 1 percentage point from the previous year to 78%, according to the UC system.
Of the 153,272 students admitted as first-year applicants, about 67% were California residents, according to University of California data.
Merced (88%), Riverside (87%) and Santa Cruz (83%) had the highest shares of first-year admits who were California residents, while Davis (51%), Irvine (52%) and UCLA (57%) had the lowest.
The figures come as the UC system expands capacity at campuses such as Merced and Riverside under its UC 2030 Capacity Plan, which, according to university officials, set a goal of adding 17,000 in-state undergraduates by 2030.
“The University is currently on track to meet that target,” officials said. “This aligns with UC’s Multi-Year Compact with the state, which requires UC to increase California undergraduate enrollment by at least one percent annually to receive state funding increases.”
Berkeley, UCLA most selective UC campuses
Overall, UC Berkeley and UCLA were the most selective UC campuses, with first-year admission rates of 10.5% and 10.8%, respectively.
Among California resident first-year applicants, UCLA was slightly more selective, with an admission rate of 10.15%, compared with 12.39% at Berkeley.
By contrast, UC Merced and UC Riverside had the highest overall first-year admission rates at 96.5% and 88.5%, respectively. California resident first-year applicants had admission rates of 99.06% at Merced and 88.69% at Riverside.
Here are the overall first-year admission rates by campus, along with the first-year admission rates for California applicants:
Even as some campuses remained highly selective, UC reported gains among community college transfers, low-income students and other groups.
Other trends in UC admissions
In addition to increasing its pool of first-year California students, the UC system also admitted more out-of-state and international students than in fall 2025, according to reporting from The San Francisco Chronicle.
UC admitted 27,672 students from out of state, 1,489 more students than the year prior, the newspaper reported. The UC system also admitted 23,569 first-year international students, up from 21,923 a year earlier.
The number of California Community College transfer students admitted also increased, rising 6% from fall 2025, officials said.
“In all, a record-breaking 29,372 CCC students received admission to a UC in 2026,” officials said.
The share of admitted first-year California applicants who reported low family income increased from fall 2025’s rate of 42% to 43%, officials said.
Among California first-year admits, 42,277 were first-generation college students. Their share of admitted students decreased from 42% in fall 2025 to 41% in fall 2026.
“This year’s data show once again that a significant number of first-generation and low-income students are getting their shot at the American dream at public universities like UC,” Han Mi Yoon-Wu, UC’s associate vice provost and executive director for undergraduate admissions, said in a statement.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: UC admits record number of California students, data show
Reporting by Daniella Segura, USA TODAY NETWORK / Palm Springs Desert Sun
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Daniella Segura, USA TODAY NETWORK | USA TODAY Network
