University of California, Los Angeles
What UC Los Angeles's own numbers say, from its Common Data Set 2024-25.
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Getting harderUC Los Angeles
Getting into UC Los Angeles is 1.6× harder than in 2018.
The admit rate fell from 14% (2018-19) to 9.0% (2024-25).
2018-1914%
2024-259.0%
Source: UC Los Angeles's Common Data Set 2024-25
4 more things the data says PRO
- The admit rate has moved down steadily, from 14.0% in 2018-19 to 9.0% in 2024-25. If the trend holds, expect about 7.1% in 2025-26.
- 9,198 students stayed on the waitlist and 1,211 were admitted from it (13.2%).
- Men were admitted at a lower rate: 9.7% for women against 8.1% for men.
- Applications rose 29% from 2018-19 to 2024-25 (113,761 to 146,272).
What students say PRO
From students' own posts on Reddit and admissions forums: self-reported, unverified, never used in your odds.
- Many admits had real research, often with a professor, like first-authored or co-authored papers, preprints, conference talks or competitive research programs.
- Many founded a business, nonprofit or club, like a startup, a reselling business, a tutoring nonprofit, or a women-in-STEM club with 400+ students.
- Computer science and engineering admits showed projects, like robotics team leadership, apps with 1,000+ users, hackathons, open-source tools or ML internships.
- Most admits held top posts, such as team captain, club president, student body or class president, or debate and Model UN leadership.
- Several first-generation admits carried heavy responsibilities, like 55 hours a week of childcare, construction work from childhood or a job helping pay household bills.
- Students report the waitlist is small for appeals and larger for offers: 1,517 admitted off the list in one year, but only 2 of 1,925 appeals approved.
- Waitlist offers reportedly come in waves, mostly to life sciences and humanities majors, and depend on how many admits decline, with only reported grades by the April 15 opt-in used.
- Students stress UCLA is a reach even for top students, with about a 9% overall rate and far lower in Engineering (about 7%), Theatre, Film and TV (4%) and Nursing (1%).
- Students report offers can be rescinded after admission for omitted bad grades, two or more Cs, a GPA under about 3.0 or a big drop in predicted scores.
- International students report UCLA gives them no financial aid, with costs estimated around $75k a year or more.
Every number, year by year: University of California, Los Angeles on Open College Data. Something wrong? Suggest a correction.