University of California, Riverside: insights

University of California, Riverside

What UC Riverside's own numbers say, from its Common Data Set 2025-26.

WaitlistUC Riverside

0 of 2,019 students who stayed on the list got in.

Admitted off the list0.0%

Not admitted100%

Source: UC Riverside's Common Data Set 2025-26

Who says yesUC Riverside

Only 13% of admits enroll, so UC Riverside admits far more students than it has seats.

Enroll13%

Go elsewhere87%

Source: UC Riverside's Common Data Set 2025-26

The admit rate has moved up steadily, from 56.5% in 2019-20 to 86.1% in 2025-26. If the trend holds, expect about 84.3% in 2026-27.
The share of women in the first-year class has fallen from 54% to 49% since 2019-20, about 0.8 points a year.
2,019 students stayed on the waitlist and 0 were admitted from it (0.0%).
Applications rose 25% from 2018-19 to 2025-26 (49,082 to 61,184).

From students' own posts on Reddit and admissions forums: self-reported, unverified, never used in your odds.

Computer science was the most common intended major among admits, usually backed by projects, apps, startups, robotics, CyberPatriot or coding clubs.
Many admits did research or internships, such as lab and ML research, tech startup or law office internships, with some published or presented work.
Many admits held leadership roles, including team captain, club founder or president, student government or newspaper editor.
Quite a few admits worked, did caregiving or had family duties, such as construction labor, food service, childcare or a sick parent or sibling.
Many admits had little standout activity yet still got in, with GPAs around 3.6 to 4.0 and sometimes only modest extracurriculars.
Students report UCR reviews applicants without test scores, uses 13 criteria, and admits most applicants, about 87 percent for the 2025 class.
Students report UCR's waitlist is not ranked, interest does not help, and past waitlist offers started in mid-May and ran into the summer.
Students report decisions show in the portal before emails, in a large first wave followed by smaller ones in March.
Students report freshmen apply to a specific major, and an alternate major may be offered if the first choice is too competitive.