Admissions & selectivity
University of California-Berkeley Acceptance Rate & Admissions
What is the acceptance rate at UC Berkeley?
UC Berkeley’s reported acceptance rate is 11.0%.
- Acceptance rate · Fall 2024
- 11.0%
Source: College Scorecard · Fall 2024 admissions. Acceptance rates can change from year to year; this figure does not predict the current or next admission cycle.
Source: University of California-Berkeley Common Data Set 2025-26, C1 · first-time, first-year students.
How to interpret the acceptance rate
University of California-Berkeley admits 11.0% of applicants, a figure that sits well below the median of 78.1% for comparable institutions (same type and size). In its 2025-26 Common Data Set, the university reported 126,864 applicants, 14,524 admitted students, and 6,687 enrolled first-year students.
What SAT and ACT scores do UC Berkeley students report?
SAT and ACT ranges are not available for UC Berkeley in the data shown here. Missing scores do not establish whether tests are required, optional or excluded from review.
Figures cover fall 2024.
Who enrolls at UC Berkeley?
- Pell Grant recipients
- 28.6%
- Entering students outside the first-time, full-time group
- 30.7%
- First-year retention
- 96.8%
Retention source: College Scorecard; full-time first-year retention.
About these student measures
The entering-student group includes part-time entrants as well as other attendance patterns.
The University of California-Berkeley enrolls 33,068 undergraduates, a student body shaped by two large entry routes: 28.6% receive Pell Grants, and an estimated 30.7% arrive as transfers or part-time students. In its 2025-26 Common Data Set, the university reported 126,864 first-year applicants, 14,524 admitted, and 6,687 enrolled.
For transfer students, it reported 23,401 applicants, 5,658 admitted, and 3,055 enrolled. A Pell-eligible applicant should use the cost calculator to estimate a grant-adjusted price.
A transfer applicant should review the transfer credit policies alongside the program pages for their intended field.
Students who enroll at University of California-Berkeley tend to stay and finish. The federal data show a first-year retention rate of 96.8%, well above the median of 83.1% for comparable institutions (the peer median).
The six-year graduation rate is 92.8%, also above its peer median of 65.0%. In its 2025-26 Common Data Set, the university reported that 97% of the first-time, full-time fall 2024 entering class returned for a second year.
For the first-time, full-time fall 2019 entering class, the six-year graduation rate was 93.7%, and the rate for Pell recipients in that cohort was 89.8%, below the overall rate. The federal figures show a Pell completion rate of 71.8%, which is 21.0 percentage points below the overall six-year rate.
A student considering the university should weigh that gap alongside the high overall completion numbers.
Data & methodology
Sources and reporting periods: methodology.
Analysis and methodology by Daniel Rogers, founder of College Azimuth.
Explanatory text is AI-assisted drafting checked against those figures; it is not an additional data source.
Admission rates describe past applicants, not an individual’s chance of admission; confirm requirements and deadlines with the institution.
Figure notes link to sources and limitations. About College Azimuth.