Admissions & selectivity
University of San Diego Acceptance Rate & Admissions
What is the acceptance rate at University of San Diego?
University of San Diego’s reported acceptance rate is 52.4%.
- Acceptance rate · Fall 2024
- 52.4%
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 San Diego Common Data Set 2024-25, C1 · first-time, first-year students.
How to interpret the acceptance rate
The University of San Diego admitted 52.4% of applicants, a rate that sits well below the median of 71.2% for comparable institutions (same type and size). In its 2024-25 Common Data Set, the university reported 17,010 applicants and 8,909 admitted students.
What SAT and ACT scores do University of San Diego students report?
In its 2024-25 Common Data Set, University of San Diego reported a 4.02 average high-school GPA among enrolled first-year students who submitted one. Among students with a reported class rank, 35% were in the upper tenth, 78% were in the upper quarter, and 97% were in the upper half of their high-school class.
The reported GPA reflects grading scales that often weight honors and advanced courses. The class-rank shares show that ranked students overwhelmingly placed in the upper half of their graduating class.
Applicants can use the reported GPA average and the class-rank shares as reference points for the academic preparation of recent entering students. These numbers describe the enrolled group, not a set of cutoffs.
SAT and ACT ranges are not available for University of San Diego 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 University of San Diego?
- Pell Grant recipients
- 20.9%
- Entering students outside the first-time, full-time group
- 24.0%
- First-year retention
- 91.4%
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.
University of San Diego enrolls 5,671 undergraduates across its programs. An estimated 24.0% of these students arrive from other colleges, while 20.9% receive Pell Grants.
That combination suggests a student body that blends students who began elsewhere with a substantial share of undergraduates depending on federal need-based aid. In its 2024-25 Common Data Set, the university reported 1,502 applicants seeking to transfer, of whom 999 were admitted and 345 enrolled.
Prospective transfers and Pell-eligible applicants should ask how the university evaluates prior credits and structures financial aid packaging for students entering from other institutions.
Students who enroll at University of San Diego tend to persist and graduate at rates that exceed the typical benchmarks for comparable institutions. The first-year retention rate is 91.4%, higher than the median of 83.4% for comparable institutions (same type and size).
For the first-time full-time cohort, the six-year graduation rate is 83.7%, surpassing the peer median of 68.8%. Pell recipients in this group complete at 81.1%, trailing the overall six-year rate by 2.6 percentage points.
Enrolled students can expect high retention and six-year graduation rates that exceed the medians for comparable institutions, while recognizing that Pell recipients graduate at a slightly lower rate.
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.