University of California-San Diego: Statistics

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Position Category
#25 of 14,131 In the World
#21 of 2,597 In North America
#20 of 2,496 In the United States
#4 of 249 In California
#1 of 20 In San Diego
#4 of 1,675 For Audiology
Top10 For 9 other topics
Subject rankings

Quick Review

Acceptance rate
27%
Aid receiving
66%
Undergraduates
34,955
Graduates
9,301
Male:Female Ratio
47:53
Control
Public
Highest Degree
Doctor's degree
Website
ucsd.edu

University of California-San Diego Acceptance rate and admissions statistics

University of California-San Diego has an acceptance rate of 27% and is among the top 7% of the most difficult universities to gain admission to in the United States. The university reports the admission statistics without distinguishing between local and international students.

Total Men Women
Acceptance Rate 27% 23% 30%
Applicants 134,450 63,349 71,101
Admissions 35,917 14,810 21,107
Freshmen enrolled full time 7,317 3,148 4,169
Freshmen enrolled part time 13 7 6

7,655 students enrolled in some distance education courses.

236 enrolled exclusively in distance education.

Admissions requirements

College-preparatory program Required
Secondary school GPA Required
Secondary school record Required
TOEFL Required
Formal demonstration of competencies Neither required nor recommended
Other Tests Neither required nor recommended
Recommendations Neither required nor recommended
SAT/ACT Neither required nor recommended
Secondary school rank Neither required nor recommended

Enrollment demographics by race or ethnicity

Asian 13694 (31%)
Hispanic 10133 (23%)
Nonresident Alien 8029 (18%)
White 7847 (18%)
Two or more races 2634 (6%)
Race or Ethnicity unknown 1113 (3%)
Black or African American 739 (2%)
Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander 26 (0.1%)
American Indian or Alaska Native 19 (0%)

Costs per year: Tuition, Housing, Fees

The final cost of attendance varies for each student based on household income, residency, program, and other factors.

Average aid awarded
$25,757
Students receiving aid
66%

Tuition and fees

UndergraduatesGraduates
Tuition in-district $13,146$12,762
Tuition in-state $13,146$12,762
Tuition out-of-state $47,346$27,864
Fee in-district $3,612$2,335
Fee in-state $3,612$2,335
Fee out-of-state $3,612$2,335

Room and board costs

Dormitory capacity 16,834
Combined charge for room and board $18,970

University of California-San Diego majors

University of California-San Diego has granted 8,923 bachelor's degrees across 91 programs, 2,419 master's across 66 programs, and 846 doctorate degrees across 64 programs. Below is a table with majors that lead to degrees at University of California-San Diego.

Major Bachelor Master Doctoral
Computer Science 415 393 46
Cognitive Science, General 689 8 11
Anatomy 600
Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods, Other 396 179 4
Biology & Biological Sciences, General 351 93 32
International & Globalization Studies 384
Psychology, General 351
Mathematics and Computer Science 338
Bioengineering and Biomedical Engineering 126 142 54
Political Science and Government, General 268 8 9
Electrical and Electronics Engineering 176 90 16
Mechanical Engineering 180 83 15
Computer Engineering, General 207 62 5
Econometrics and Quantitative Economics 223 11 26
Information Technology 234
Cell & Cellular and Molecular Biology 229
Communication, General 220 5 3
Neurobiology and Neurosciences, Other 185
Biochemistry 174
Structural Engineering 96 58 10
Chemistry, General 65 55 43
Marine Biology and Biological Oceanography 96 53 10
Clinical Psychology 158
Public Health, Other 142 11
Psychology, Other 147 1
Sociology, General 138 5 3
Medicine 143
Management Science 33 109
Mathematics, Other 128 9
Financial Mathematics 133
Education, General 52 54 19
International Public Health & International Health 96 18 5
Applied Mathematics, General 116 2
Bioinformatics 98 20
Aerospace, Aeronautical, and Astronautical & Space Engineering, General 88 22 5
Chemical Engineering 89 21 4
Mathematics, General 66 23 25
Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering, Other 100 5
International Relations and Affairs 6 87
Engineering, Other 45 33 13
Chemistry, Other 88
Public Health, General 55 25
Environmental Studies 79
History, General 65 3 10
Data Science, General 73 1
Multi- & Interdisciplinary Studies, Other 72
Physics, General 29 14 29
Visual and Performing Arts, General 61 10
English Language and Literature & Letters, Other 42 21 6
Public Policy Analysis, General 67
Drama and Dramatics & Theatre Arts, General 64 2
Pharmacy 66
Real Estate Development 64
Anthropology, General 50 8 3
Microbiology, General 57
Human Development and Family Studies, General 52
Materials Engineering 21 31
Geology & Earth Science, General 21 23 6
Urban Studies & Affairs 50
Political Science and Government, Other 46 3
Ecology, Evolution, Systematics and Population Biology, Other 46
Health & Medical Psychology 44
Fine & Studio Arts, General 43
Oceanography, Chemical and Physical 26 17
Physics, Other 38 1 4
Developmental and Child Psychology 42
Statistics, Other 42
Social Psychology 39
Social Sciences, Other 36
Clinical and Industrial Drug Development 34
Design and Visual Communications, General 31
Ethnic, Cultural Minority, Gender, and Group Studies, Other 15 11 5
Systems Engineering 19 12
Cognitive Psychology and Psycholinguistics 29
English Language and Literature, General 27
Philosophy 18 1 8
Music, General 14 4 8
Neuroscience 9 16
Anthropology, Other 23
Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology, Other 16 6
Biological & Biosystems Engineering 22
Community Health and Preventive Medicine 22
Medical Science & Scientist 19
Computer and Information Sciences, Other 18
Engineering Science 10 8
Computer Hardware Engineering 17
Information Technology Project Management 17
Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Other 16
Biomedical Sciences, General 16
Art History, Criticism and Conservation 12 3
Computational Science 15
Physical Sciences, Other 11 3
Experimental Psychology 4 9
Biostatistics 1 10 1
Latin American Studies 4 7
Engineering Physics & Applied Physics 2 5 3
Statistics, General 9
Acting 8
Behavioral Aspects of Health 6 2
International Economics 8
Japanese Studies 7
Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities, Other 7
Mathematics Teacher Education 7
Research and Experimental Psychology, Other 7
Audiology & Audiologist 6
Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Other 5 1
Health & Health Care Administration & Management 6
Biophysics 4
Directing and Theatrical Production 4
Substance Abuse & Addiction Counseling 4
Technical Theatre & Theatre Design and Technology 4
Classics and Classical Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics, General 3
Dance, General 3
Epidemiology 3
Music Performance, General 3
Spanish Language and Literature 3
Computational Mathematics 2
Economics, Other 2
Environmental Health 2
Environmental & Environmental Health Engineering 2
Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering 2
Literature, Other 2
Russian, Central European, East European and Eurasian Studies 2
African-American & Black Studies 1
Animal Physiology 1
Chinese Studies 1
Education, Other 1
Geophysics and Seismology 1
Music, Other 1
Playwriting and Screenwriting 1
Religion & Religious Studies 1
Sociology, Other 1
Grand Total 8,923 2,419 846

University of California-San Diego has a graduation rate of 86%, which is among the 7% highest for universities in the US.

Total Men Women
Graduation rate 86% 84% 88%
  • Full-time retention rate - 94%
  • Part-time retention rate - 84%

Publications & Citations

University of California-San Diego is a world-class research university with 313,402 scientific papers published and 16,907,719 citations received. The research profile covers a range of fields, including Biology, Medicine, Chemistry, Computer Science, Engineering, Physics, Genetics, Biochemistry, Liberal Arts & Social Sciences, and Environmental Science.

Publications
313,402
Citations
16,907,719

Publication / Citation count by topic

Biology
198,994 / 12,340,971
Medicine
166,179 / 9,358,753
Chemistry
157,490 / 9,938,204
Computer Science
134,358 / 7,762,622
Engineering
121,057 / 6,229,794
Physics
120,130 / 6,203,456
Genetics
114,930 / 7,777,496
Biochemistry
105,401 / 7,476,164
Liberal Arts & Social Sciences
103,466 / 5,381,066
Environmental Science
90,413 / 4,897,851
Psychology
89,190 / 5,198,150
Quantum and Particle physics
78,240 / 3,960,260
Pathology
72,509 / 4,190,539
Organic Chemistry
61,438 / 3,738,838
Psychiatry
55,995 / 3,277,926
Mathematics
53,656 / 2,830,068
Geology
53,456 / 2,991,510
Materials Science
51,916 / 2,673,314
Neuroscience
47,212 / 3,112,662
Philosophy
46,543 / 2,582,641
Geography and Cartography
46,220 / 2,456,887
Surgery
45,303 / 1,988,877
Statistics
44,788 / 2,407,750
Political Science
41,839 / 1,920,343
Law
39,784 / 1,869,746
Immunology
39,476 / 2,459,901
Sociology
38,976 / 1,924,116
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
37,787 / 2,100,248
Optical Engineering
37,749 / 1,780,626
Paleontology
32,525 / 1,940,334
Ecology
31,233 / 1,912,137
Radiology and Nuclear medicine
30,868 / 1,448,531
Business
28,689 / 1,532,264
Electrical Engineering
26,519 / 1,158,504
History
26,204 / 1,311,026
Linguistics
25,257 / 1,383,840
Oncology and Cancer research
24,556 / 1,443,611
Anatomy and Physiology
22,915 / 1,215,965
Bioinformatics and Computational biology
22,906 / 1,785,444
Economics
22,187 / 1,257,907

Annual publication & citation counts

Year Publications Citations
1993 2921 74891
1994 3039 81792
1995 3127 89864
1996 3425 97884
1997 3546 107372
1998 3673 123418
1999 3890 135787
2000 3982 152465
2001 4302 166416
2002 5605 194221
2003 5535 213802
2004 5611 230101
2005 6087 260186
2006 6740 290552
2007 6912 313540
2008 7330 347036
2009 8591 381227
2010 8821 426987
2011 9004 470123
2012 9701 522672
2013 9992 573207
2014 10291 618607
2015 10674 646083
2016 10894 670553
2017 11643 718122
2018 12292 777590
2019 13922 877223
2020 16096 1058735
2021 15182 1182293
2022 14725 1139764
2023 15799 1165916
2024 13835 1148727
2025 10926 1007849
Academic rankings

University of California-San Diego alumni

  1. Benicio del Toro

    Benicio del Toro
    Born in
    United States Flag United States
    Years
    1967-.. (age 59)
    Occupations
    actortelevision actorscreenwriterfilm actorfilm director
    Biography

    Benicio Monserrate Rafael del Toro Sánchez is a Puerto Rican actor. His accolades include an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Goya Award, and the Best Actor awards at the Berlin International Film Festival and the Cannes Film Festival. Films in which he has appeared have grossed over $5.9 billion worldwide.

  2. Billy Beane

    Billy Beane
    Born in
    United States Flag United States
    Years
    1962-.. (age 64)
    Occupations
    managerbusinesspersonbaseball playergeneral manager
    Biography

    William Lamar Beane III is an American former professional baseball player and current front office executive. He is currently senior advisor to owner John Fisher and minority owner of the Athletics of Major League Baseball (MLB) and formerly the executive vice president of baseball operations. He is also a minority owner of soccer clubs Barnsley of the EFL League One in England and AZ Alkmaar of the Eredivisie in the Netherlands. From 1984 to 1989 he played in MLB as an outfielder for the New York Mets, Minnesota Twins, Detroit Tigers, and Oakland Athletics. He joined the Athletics' front office as a scout in 1990, was named general manager after the 1997 season, and was promoted to executive vice president after the 2015 season.

  3. Angela Davis

    Angela Davis
    Born in
    United States Flag United States
    Years
    1944-.. (age 82)
    Enrolled in the University of California-San Diego
    In 1968 graduated with Master of Arts
    Occupations
    university teacherwomen's rights activisthuman rights defenderpolitical prisonerwriter
    Biography

    Angela Yvonne Davis is an American Marxist and feminist political activist, philosopher, academic, author and social theorist. She is Distinguished Professor Emerita of Feminist Studies and History of Consciousness at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Davis was a longtime member of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) and a founding member of the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism (CCDS). She has been active in movements such as the Occupy movement and the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign.

  4. Milana Vayntrub

    Milana Vayntrub
    Born in
    Uzbekistan Flag Uzbekistan
    Years
    1988-.. (age 38)
    Occupations
    political activistspokespersonvloggercomedianfilm director
    Biography

    Milana Aleksandrovna Vayntrub is an American actress, comedian, and activist. She began her career as a child actress and came to prominence for her appearances in AT&T television commercials as saleswoman Lily Adams from 2013 to 2016 and since 2020. In addition to her commercial appearances, she was a series regular on the Yahoo! Screen science fiction comedy Other Space (2015) and had a recurring role on the NBC drama This Is Us (2016–2017). Vayntrub has also voiced Squirrel Girl since 2018 after being cast as the character in the unaired television pilot for New Warriors, and later in the 2024 video game Marvel Rivals.

All 100 notable alumni

General info

Alternative names UCSD
UC San Diego
Founded 1960
Motto Fiat Lux
Let there be light
Colors navy blue, gold
Academic calendar September to June
Total FTE staff 18,295
Carnegie classification Doctoral Universities: Very High Research Activity

Location and contacts

Address 9500 Gilman Dr
La Jolla, California, 92093
United States
City population 1,387,000
Phone 8585342230

University of California-San Diego in social media