UC’s top 2 campuses are heading in opposite directions, new data shows

A record number of California students were offered admission to the University of California this fall, but the gains weren’t spread evenly across the system, with some campuses defying the trend, new preliminary data shows.  

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The UC system announced Wednesday that for the fall 2026, it offered admission to 102,031 first-year California students. That’s the highest number to date, according to a news release from the UC Office of the President, and an increase of 1,458 students compared with last year.    

The overall fall 2026 California student admission rate for the UC’s nine undergraduate campuses was 78%, compared with 77% the previous year. The system accepted a total of 153,272 first-year students, both in-state and out-of-state students, the UC said. 

One of the most competitive campuses, UC Berkeley, however, didn’t follow the system’s upward trend, admitting approximately 4% fewer first-year California students than the year before. The Bay Area campus offered admission to 9,445 such students for the fall, compared with 9,852 in 2025, according to UC data.

The decline in California admissions at UC Berkeley has been unfolding for a few years now. The campus offered admission to 10,727 California freshmen in 2024, down from 10,976 in 2023, according to UC data (before that the yearly number had been rising).

But even as it admits fewer students, UC Berkeley has seen an increase in applications from eager Californians. The campus had 76,201 California resident applications for this fall, compared with 72,685 the previous year. The university saw its highest number of applications in 2023 when 72,697 California-resident prospective students applied, the data shows. 

Meanwhile, UC Berkeley’s biggest rival, UCLA, moved in the opposite direction, admitting more California students than last year. The campus admitted 9,109 California resident students this fall compared with 8,589 in fall 2025, the data shows.

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UCLA also saw 89,729 first-year California applicants for fall 2026, an increase of 379 students from fall 2025. Last year UCLA admitted fewer California residents than the previous year.

Other campuses in the UC system offering fewer spots to California students this year were UC Davis and UC Merced. UC Davis saw the largest drop in California freshman admissions, from 25,641 students last year to 24,445 this year.   

The latest admissions data comes as the UC system has continued to face scrutiny from President Donald Trump, such as DEI investigations and funding and research cuts. The data also comes as public grade schools are facing steep enrollment woes, leading to smaller graduating classes in some parts of the state. 

The UC system’s full enrollment data is scheduled to be published in winter 2026, and the UC application for fall 2026 opens Aug. 1.