Key takeaways
9.4% sounds terrifying. It's also slightly misleading – participation rates, pool composition, and school-by-school variation tell a more nuanced story. Before your child writes off UCLA or assumes they're a lock, it's worth understanding what that number actually means and where it came from.
- UCLA’s overall acceptance rate for fall 2025 is 9.4% – down from 16.1% for the Class of 2021
- 145,085 first-year applications were received; 13,659 were admitted
- Median weighted GPA of admitted students: 4.61; median unweighted GPA: 4.00
- International student acceptance rate: 6%; transfer acceptance rate: 22.7%
Contents
145,085 applications. 13,659 admitted. That’s a 9.4% UCLA acceptance rate – and the most applied-to university in the country by volume, one of the most selective public institutions in the US by outcome.
The rate has been dropping consistently. For the Class of 2021, it sat at 16.1%. The decline isn’t because UCLA became harder to get into in any absolute sense – the freshman class size has stayed relatively stable, generally between 12,700 and 15,000 admitted students per year. What changed is the applicant pool. More students from across the country and world apply to the university every cycle – same number of seats, far more competition for admission to UCLA.
UCLA Acceptance Rate: 2025 Statistics
Here’s what the official UCLA first-year profile shows for fall 2025:
| Fall 2025 | |
| First-year applicants | 145,085 |
| Admitted | 13,659 |
| Enrolled | 6,553 |
| Overall acceptance rate | 9.4% |
| International acceptance rate | 6% |
| Transfer acceptance rate | 22.7% |
The number of students who enrolled reflects a yield rate typical for a school where UCLA competes with other top publics and privates.
GPA of admitted first-year students:
| GPA type | Median | Middle 25–75% |
| Weighted | 4.61 | 4.44–4.78 |
| Unweighted | 4.00 | 3.95–4.00 |
UCLA calculates GPA using grades from 10th and 11th grade only. The weighted GPA adds one point for UC-approved honors, AP, IB, and transferable college courses – capped at 5.00.
Acceptance Rate by School
Here’s how the 2025 acceptance rate breaks down by school:
| School | Applicants | Admit Rate |
| The College (Letters & Science) | 98,459 | 11% |
| Samueli School of Engineering | 33,052 | 6.8% |
| School of Theater, Film & Television | 3,293 | 4.3% |
| School of the Arts & Architecture | 3,437 | 5.1% |
| Herb Alpert School of Music | 1,175 | 24% |
| School of Nursing | 5,669 | 0.5% |
Nursing is the most selective program on campus. Film and Television is close behind. The College of Letters and Science – where the major isn’t considered during review – has the highest admit rate among the selective schools.
In-State vs. Out-of-State Acceptance Rate
California residents are admitted at higher rates than out-of-state applicants, and out-of-state students face tougher academic benchmarks – the minimum GPA requirement for non-residents is 3.4, compared to 3.0 for California students.
The practical effect is real. As Collegewise notes: UCLA undergraduate students from California historically see higher admission odds than out-of-state applicants – from their curricula and grading systems to their extracurricular opportunities.
For international applicants, the fall 2025 data is even more pointed: 24,208 international students applied, 6% were admitted, with an average unweighted GPA of 3.98 among admitted students – higher than the overall pool average of 3.95.
What UCLA Actually Looks At
UCLA is test-blind. SAT and ACT scores are not considered in admissions decisions and cannot be submitted for review. Test scores can be submitted for course placement after enrollment, but they play no role in whether a student gets in.
#1 public university in the US by U.S. News. Los Angeles. Strong graduate outcomes. That combination pulls applications from everywhere – which is exactly why the numbers keep climbing.
Four things actually move the needle:
- Grades from 10th and 11th grade, course rigor, UC-approved honors and AP coursework. Not freshman year, not senior year.
- Personal Insight Questions. Four out of eight. This is where most decisions actually get made.
- Extracurriculars – sustained commitment and real impact. A long list without depth doesn’t help.
- No AP courses at your school? UCLA factors that in.
“Students often ask what the tipping point is. At UCLA, the answer is almost never one thing. It’s the combination of a strong academic record and Personal Insight Questions that actually say something – not generic answers about learning from failure.”
– Legacy Online School, college guidance resources
Transfer Acceptance Rate
Transferring to UCLA is meaningfully more accessible than applying as a first-year student. The 2025 transfer acceptance rate was 22.7%, with 6,403 students admitted from 28,266 applicants. Of admitted transfers, 92.3% came from California community colleges – the UC Transfer Pathways program is the most reliable route into UCLA for students who weren’t admitted out of high school.
UCLA Acceptance Rate Over Time
| Class | Acceptance Rate |
| 2021 | 16.1% |
| 2023 | ~11% |
| 2025 | 9.4% |
| 2026 | ~8.6% |
Volume up, seats flat. Roughly 100,000 applications for the Class of 2021. Over 145,000 for the Class of 2029. The freshman class hasn’t grown to match. That math doesn’t reverse on its own.
Waitlist and Scholarships
UCLA uses a waitlist, and movement is unpredictable. For the Class of 2029, 11.12% of students who confirmed their waitlist placement were ultimately admitted – higher than the overall acceptance rate, but still a long shot. Waitlisted? Send a short letter of continued interest – any real updates to your application since submission. It won’t hurt and occasionally moves the needle.
78% of first-year domestic students received some form of financial aid for fall 2025. UCLA runs both need-based and merit-based programs – the scholarship deadline is November 30, same as the general application. International students are generally not eligible for federal aid but can apply for UCLA-administered scholarships separately.
Can Online School Students Get Into UCLA?
UCLA doesn’t ask what kind of building you studied in. Academic record, course rigor, Personal Insight Questions, extracurricular involvement – that’s the review. Students from online schools, Legacy included, who take rigorous coursework and write essays that actually say something are in the same pool as everyone else.
One thing that matters specifically: UCLA rewards taking the hardest courses available to you – not the hardest courses that exist. For online school learners, that’s AP and honors work. Our 19 AP courses are there for exactly that reason.
Top Tips from Our Expert
Maya Robinson, College Prep Advisor at Legacy Online School:
- Focus on GPA from 10th and 11th grade – that’s what UCLA actually calculates. Freshman year matters less than most students think
- Take the most rigorous courses available to you. UCLA rewards course rigor even if your school doesn’t offer a full AP catalog
- Treat the Personal Insight Questions as your actual application – most UCLA readers say these are where decisions get made
- Don’t apply only to UCLA. With a 9.4% acceptance rate, it’s a reach for most applicants regardless of GPA. Build a balanced college list
- If you weren’t admitted as a first-year learner, the community college transfer is a legitimate route into UCLA
