University of California, San Diego: insights

University of California, San Diego

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

Who says yesUC San Diego

Only 20% of admits enroll, so UC San Diego admits far more students than it has seats.

Enroll20%

Go elsewhere80%

Source: UC San Diego's Common Data Set 2025-26

25,411 students stayed on the waitlist and 5,284 were admitted from it (20.8%).
Men were admitted at a lower rate: 30.5% for women against 26.1% for men.
Applications rose 40% from 2018-19 to 2025-26 (97,901 to 136,750), faster than 59% of colleges here.

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

Many admits posted top scores for a UC, with SAT scores from about 1440 to 1600 and unweighted GPAs mostly 3.9 to 4.0; all 13 who named a round used Regular Decision.
Many had research, often with a professor or lab, including published or co-authored papers, preprints and conference talks.
Many founded a nonprofit, startup or club, like an employment nonprofit, a special needs nonprofit, an ed-tech startup or a women-in-STEM club.
Computer science admits typically showed robotics captaincy, apps with 1,000+ users, open-source work or software internships.
Many held top leadership posts, such as debate captain, Model UN officer, student body head or editor-in-chief.
Students report waitlist offers mostly go out in May and June after the May 1 deadline, with no letters of continued interest accepted and numbers swinging a lot by year.
Students report portal banner changes are not a reliable signal, and UCSD said they were due to maintenance.
Students report outcomes are unpredictable, with 4.0 students waitlisted, some admitted with weaker stats and some rejected outright.
Students report international students get no institutional aid or merit, with costs around $50k to $60k a year.
Students report admits are sometimes placed in an alternate major, and changing majors later is harder than at some schools.