California Public Colleges Ranked by Lowest Acceptance Rate

Below is a ranking of the 32 public colleges in California with the lowest acceptance rate for freshman undergraduate applications. University of California Los Angeles leads the list by accepting 9% of high school students that applied.

Acceptance rate is a measure of the competitiveness of a school. Lower acceptance rates are more competitive and may require a higher GPA, SAT/ACT score, and other factors to be considered for admission.

List of California Public Colleges Ranked by Lowest Acceptance Rate
College	Acceptance Rate
University of California Los Angeles Los Angeles, California	9%
University of California Berkeley Berkeley, California	11%
University of California San Diego La Jolla, California	27%
University of California Irvine Irvine, California	29%
California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo San Luis Obispo, California	31%
University of California Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, California	33%
San Diego State University San Diego, California	36%
University of California Davis Davis, California	42%
California State University Long Beach Long Beach, California	46%
University of California Santa Cruz Santa Cruz, California	66%
California State Polytechnic University Pomona Pomona, California	75%
University of California Riverside Riverside, California	76%
San Jose State University San Jose, California	85%
California State University Fullerton Fullerton, California	91%
California State University Los Angeles Los Angeles, California	91%
University of California Merced Merced, California	91%
California State University Chico Chico, California	93%
California State University Dominguez Hills Carson, California	93%

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This list is updated annually based on the latest data from the National Center for Education Statistics.
Last updated: March 15, 2026

Data source: IPEDS 2025 survey for academic year 2024/2025 - National Center for Education Statistics.