For many college-bound students in California, top college options fall under the University of California (UC) system. Over the past 20 years, these schools’ acceptance rates have significantly dropped. According to the UC admission website, applicants must meet all A-G requirements, have a cumulative unweighted GPA of 3.0 or greater, and have no grade lower than a C throughout their four years of high school.
Now, getting into a UC school is harder than ever. Many feel that their efforts in high school were undermined as the 2025 admissions were released. In 2025, 60% of the 300,000 students who were accepted across the 10 different UC campuses were California residents. UC acceptance rates have dropped dramatically in recent years, making it much more competitive for all applicants.
The San Francisco Chronicle found that between 2002 and 2022, the general acceptance rates of UC Berkeley, UC Los Angeles, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara, UC Irvine, and UC Davis were cut in half, with all except Davis falling under 30%. UCLA has become the most competitive public university in the state of California, with an admit rate of just 9%, and the middle 25%-75% of admitted students maintaining a 4.2-4.3 high school GPA.
One of the explanations for this rapid decrease is the increasing number of students applying to these universities. Within 20 years, the number of UCLA applicants jumped from 43,000 to 150,000.
San Marin senior Rayhan Syed applied to all of the UCs except Riverside. He applied with a 3.6 unweighted and 3.9 weighted GPA, four internships in clinical studies and lab research, volunteer work at two nonprofit organizations, 10 AP classes, and two years on San Marin’s varsity swim team. He was only accepted to UC Santa Cruz and Merced. However, he was waitlisted at New York University and Northeastern University.
“The results were disproportionate to the amount of work I put in,” Syed said. “If I could have gone back, I wouldn’t have put so much work into learning.”
He believes he worked so hard in his classes throughout high school because he knew he would use the information in college. With decreasing acceptance rates, students have felt like their admission to top tier UCs are less possible as more out-of-state students are being accepted into California universities.
Senior Paige Brumley also applied to most of the UCs, as well as out-of-state universities. She had an unweighted GPA of 4.0 and a weighted GPA of 4.5, and was Senior Class President. Brumley was also considered for UC ELC (University of California Eligibility in the Local Context), meaning she ranked within the top 9% of her graduating class. Out of the UCs, Brumley was accepted into Davis and San Diego, but decided to attend the University of Washington.
“At UW you are considered a person,” Brumley said, “At the UCs you are just a number.”
For many, the purpose of high school is to explore, learn, and make mistakes, yet the pressure students feel to build a competitive college application challenges that. As students are faced with constant pressure to be a high performing student, some lose fun parts of being a teen in high school.
