The University of California announced today (July 28) that it admitted 100,947 California first-year students, its largest class to date.
The number of California first-year students admitted increased by more than 7 percent (6,957) from fall 2024, up from last year’s 93,990 offers. The admission rate for first-year California residents increased to 77 percent, up from 70 percent last year. This all-time high of California first-year admitted students is up by more than 39,700 since 2015.
Overall, the University accepted 149,368 first-year students — including both California residents and nonresidents — from a pool of 205,348 applicants. This is an increase of 12,370 students (9 percent) from last year when 136,998 students out of 207,131 applicants received an offer of admission. This resulted in a systemwide admission rate increase to 73 percent from last year’s 66 percent.
“We continue to experience significant growth — a clear indication that Californians recognize the value of a UC degree,” said President Michael V. Drake, M.D. “Our latest admissions numbers demonstrate that families across our state recognize that UC degrees prepare students for a lifetime of meaningful contributions in their communities and far beyond.”
This year’s admissions data reflects UC’s continued commitment to honoring the California Master Plan for Higher Education by guaranteeing first-year admission to a UC campus to students in the top 9 percent of their high school or top 9 percent of the state without considering standardized test scores.
“Creating pathways to a UC education for a wide range of top California students yields benefits not only for those students, but for the state at large,” said Han Mi Yoon-Wu, UC’s associate vice provost and executive director for Undergraduate Admissions. “We are proud to offer these exceptional young people a place at the University of California.”
The proportion of admitted California first-year students who reported low family incomes increased to 41.8 percent from 40.6 percent last year (4,016 more students) while the proportion of first-generation college student admissions decreased slightly to 42.4 percent compared to 43 percent last year, though the count increased by 2,341 over last year.
In a testament to UC’s effort to expand access to more California students, the University offered admission to 27,845 California Community College (CCC) students, a gain of 1,540 or 5.9 percent over last year. Forty-six percent of this year’s admitted domestic transfer students are first-generation college attendees, the same as last year. Nearly 50 percent of CCC transfer students admitted this year reported low family income, up from 49 percent in 2024.
UC made 2,150 more first-year admission offers to domestic nonresidents — a 9 percent increase — and 3,263 more to international students this year over 2024 — a 17 percent increase due to rising uncertainty of their likelihood of enrolling. Yield (the percentage of students who accept an admission offer and choose to enroll) for nonresidents and international students is substantially lower than yield for resident students.
Additional details about the University’s fall 2025 admits can be found here, along with preliminary campus-by-campus breakdowns.