University of California, Santa Cruz

Not especially — UC Santa Cruz admitted about 72.7% of applicants in the most recent cycle, making it one of the more accessible University of California campuses. It drew roughly 66,000 first-year applications, admitted around 48,000, and enrolled about 4,600 first-years. Admission is more competitive for popular majors like computer science and for out-of-state applicants.

UC Santa Cruz admitted about 72.7% of first-year applicants in the most recent cycle, from a pool of roughly 66,000 applications. Around 48,000 students were offered admission and about 4,600 enrolled, so it is among the more accessible UC campuses.

Admitted first-year students at UC Santa Cruz report an average high school GPA of about 3.87. There is no published hard cutoff, but because UC Santa Cruz is test-free, the rigor of your high school record and your academic GPA are weighed as very important — the two heaviest academic factors in the review.

No. Like every University of California campus, UC Santa Cruz is test-blind: it does not consider SAT or ACT scores in admission, even if you submit them. Standardized test scores are listed as not considered in its admissions review, so your application is evaluated entirely without them.

Counterintuitively, domestic out-of-state applicants are admitted at a higher rate than California residents. In Fall 2025, UC Santa Cruz admitted 84.0% of domestic non-residents (5,968 of 7,102) compared with 71.0% of California residents (37,344 of 52,605); international applicants were admitted at 71.9% (4,809 of 6,686). Out-of-state students are a small slice of the enrolled class — about 5% — because far fewer apply, not because they face a steeper bar.

Annual tuition and required fees are about $16,503 for California residents and $54,105 for out-of-state and international students, with on-campus food and housing adding roughly $20,900 a year (2024-2025 figures, the most recently published). About 49% of first-years receive need-based aid, with an average package near $31,542, and UC Santa Cruz meets about 86% of demonstrated need on average.

UC Santa Cruz is a public research university known for marine biology, astronomy, and environmental science, set in a redwood forest above Monterey Bay. By degrees conferred, computer and information sciences is the single most popular field at about 17% of bachelor's degrees, followed by the sciences, interdisciplinary studies, social sciences, and the arts and humanities.

Yes — UC Santa Cruz rates the application essay as a very important factor, on par with GPA and the rigor of your coursework. Because the campus is test-blind and assigns no weight to test scores, your written responses carry more relative weight than at many schools, making them one of the clearest places a strong applicant can stand out.