The University of California System has recently released preliminary data on students admitted to the Class of 2030 at its nine undergraduate campuses throughout the state. More than 185,000 students received offers of admission. Roughly, 153,000 were for places in the first-year class and 32,000 were transfer students, most of whom had completed study at a California community college.
More detailed data is available for first-year students from California.
The California Master Plan for Higher Education guarantees first-year admission to a UC campus (though not necessarily to the campus of choice) to students in the top 9 percent of their high school or top 9 percent of the state. The university’s undergraduate admission process is conducted in compliance with federal law and California’s Proposition 209, which prohibits discrimination against, or preferential treatment to, any individual on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin.
The admitted fall 2026 class of California first-years is larger than ever, at over 102,000 students. Of these students, 6,115 were Black, equating to 6 percent of all in-state admitted students.
At the system’s flagship Berkeley campus, 417 Black students from California were admitted for the fall 2026 semester, representing 4.4 percent of all admitted first-year Californians. A year ago, 504 Black students were admitted to Berkeley. They were 5.1 percent of all admits. The number of Asian American students admitted to Berkeley is nearly 10 times greater than the number of admitted Black students. Asians Americans are 43 percent of all admitted first-year students from California.
At the highly selective University of California, Los Angeles campus, 593 Black students were admitted. They are 6.5 percent of all students admitted, the highest percentage among the nine undergraduate campuses. At the University of California, Santa Barbara, 854 Black students were admitted. They made up 3.4 percent of all admits, the lowest level among the nine undergraduate campuses.
