University of California, Davis

UC Davis is moderately selective, admitting about 44.3% of applicants in the most recent cycle from a pool of roughly 103,000 first-year applications. There is no minimum test score to clear because UC Davis is test-free, so admission rests on the rigor of your high school record and your academic GPA, which are the two most important factors in the review.

Admitted first-year students at UC Davis carry an average high school GPA of about 4.03. There is no published hard cutoff, but because UC Davis does not use SAT or ACT scores, your academic GPA and the rigor of your coursework carry the most weight - both are rated very important in admissions.

No. Like all University of California campuses, UC Davis is test-free and does not consider SAT or ACT scores in admission, even if you submit them. Standardized test scores are listed as not considered, so your application is reviewed entirely without them.

UC Davis admitted about 44.3% of applicants in the most recent cycle - roughly 45,674 offers from around 102,988 first-year applications, with about 6,824 enrolling. Admission can be more competitive for non-residents and varies by program.

Counterintuitively, domestic out-of-state applicants are admitted at a notably higher rate than California residents. In the Fall 2025 cycle, UC Davis admitted about 63.2% of domestic non-residents (8,332 of 13,185) compared with 37.2% of California residents (25,641 of 68,959). International applicants were also admitted at a higher rate than residents, at about 56.1%. Despite the higher admit rate, out-of-state students make up only about 7% of enrolled first-years because far fewer apply. Since UC Davis is test-free, the review rests entirely on GPA and course rigor regardless of where you live.

Annual tuition and required fees run about $18,000 for California residents and $57,270 for out-of-state and international students, with on-campus food and housing adding roughly $22,000 per year. About 54% of first-years receive need-based grant aid, the average aid package is near $32,557, and UC Davis meets about 82% of demonstrated need.

Yes. UC Davis rates the application essay as an important factor in its holistic review - below academic GPA and course rigor, but ahead of test scores, which are not considered at all. Since UC Davis is test-free, your Personal Insight Question responses are one of the main places to add context beyond your transcript.

The largest field at UC Davis is the social sciences and psychology, which together account for about 26% of bachelor's degrees. The biological and life sciences follow at roughly 17%, in keeping with UC Davis's research strengths, ahead of the arts and humanities at about 16% and engineering and computing at about 14%. UC Davis's signature programs in agriculture and the environmental sciences add another 9%.