Updated: Thursday, October 2, 2025
With a sprawling campus, top-tier academic offerings, and Division I sports teams, the University of California, Los Angeles is a top choice for many high school students. In fact, the school receives more applications than any other institution in the country, making admission highly competitive. As public universities go, UCLA has one of the lowest admission rates in the U.S. and is consistently given high rankings both nationally and globally.
Keep reading to learn more about UCLA’s acceptance rate and how to stand out when applying to this competitive university.
Founded in 1919, UCLA is a public research university — the fourth oldest of the schools within the University of California system. More than 30,000 undergraduates enroll at UCLA, and the institution also has many graduate and professional programs, including a medical school, law school, and MBA program.
At the undergraduate level, UCLA has a multitude of renowned programs, including the reputable School of Theater, Film, and Television and the Samueli School of Engineering. UCLA athletes compete as the Bruins and have won more than 120 NCAA national team titles.
Given UCLA’s top-tier academic offerings and renowned sports programs, the admissions process is extremely competitive. Like most colleges and universities, UCLA employs a holistic review process that evaluates applicants based on their “soft” qualitative factors as well as their “hard” quantitative factors.
Unlike many other colleges, UCLA does not offer an Early Decision option. Instead, applicants apply through the University of California Application for Admission and Scholarships, which can be used to apply to as many as nine UC campuses. The filing period for fall 2026 undergraduate applications is October 1 through December 1, and notification of admissions decisions begins on March 1.
The application includes personal insight questions, designed to encourage students to reflect on learning experiences and future ambitions. The personal insight questions are one of the most important soft factors of your application.
Like all schools in the University of California system, UCLA is test blind. This means they do not review standardized test scores as part of their admissions decisions.
UCLA received more than 146,000 first-year applications for fall 2024 admission and admitted a little more than 13,000 students, amounting to an overall acceptance rate of 8.97%. This illustrates just how competitive UCLA is.
The most successful UCLA applicants “go beyond minimum requirements and seek to challenge themselves to grow both in and outside of the classroom.” In order to stand out for the right reasons, students must carefully follow application guidelines, write compelling UCLA personal statements in response to the personal insight questions, and have competitive grades. About 56% of all enrolled applicants for the class of 2028 had an unweighted GPA of 4.0 or above. The average GPA for this class was 3.93.
It’s also important to understand in-state versus out-of-state acceptance rates. As part of the state-funded University of California system, UCLA prioritizes in-state students when making admissions decisions, as shown in these statistics from the class of 2028.
As a highly desirable institution, UCLA frequently places applicants on a waitlist. To make the most of the situation, applicants should keep in mind that moving off the waitlist comes down to a variety of factors, including enrollment figures and institutional needs. It’s also worth noting that at popular schools like UCLA, the waitlist admission rates are low. Almost 9,200 applicants accepted a spot on the waitlist for fall 2024 and only 1,211 were ultimately admitted for an admission rate of 13.17%.
Applicants should avoid overloading the admissions office with extra materials, as the website clearly states that additional information that was not requested by the campus will not be considered. Instead, students should focus on compiling the best application possible and trust that they will receive admissions to one or more of the best-fit schools on their balanced lists.
If UCLA is on your college list, it’s important to remember that it’s a reach school for most students. Gaining admission is difficult for everyone, which is why expert guidance is crucial for maximizing your chances of acceptance.
At IvyWise, all our college admissions experts have served on admissions committees at some of the top schools in the U.S. They know exactly what admissions committees are looking for and how to best position you to stand out. Schedule your complimentary Discovery Call today to learn more about our services.
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