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For the second consecutive year, a record high number of students have applied to the University of California, º£½ÇÔ­´´, for undergraduate studies in fall 2025.

The 120,131 applications represented a 4.1% increase over the previous record of 115,349 last year and included a record high number of California residents. Growth in applications from groups historically underrepresented in higher education ranged from 0.4% to 5.8%. 

The UC Office of the President released today (Feb. 12). For year-over-year comparison, UC º£½ÇÔ­´´ is using preliminary application statistics for 2024.

Among the UC º£½ÇÔ­´´ applicants for fall 2025, a record 102,958 applied for first-year admission, representing a 4.2% increase over the previous high of 98,834 last year. New transfer applications numbered 17,173, up 4% from last year.

Robert Penman, executive director of Undergraduate Admissions, said the campus aims to enroll an entering class of about 9,765 new undergraduates.

California residents and other demographics

A record high of 83,615 California residents, or 1.6% more than last year, applied. They accounted for 67% of all first-year applicants and 88% of all transfer applicants.

The proportions of applicants from historically underrepresented groups (African American, American Indian, Chicano/Latino and Pacific Islander) increased slightly compared to last fall. 

Among California residents who applied for first-year status, these groups continue to represent 37%; among U.S. domestic applicants from California Community Colleges, they accounted for 36%. For first-year and transfer applicants combined, all groups increased over last year:

• American Indian, by 0.4% to 557
• African American, by 1.3% to 4,677
• Hispanic/Latino(a), by 3.6% to 24,714
• Pacific Islander, by 5.8% to 256

Among California first-year applicants, 36% were from low-income families, and 36% would be in the first generation of their family to graduate from a four-year college.

Among transfer applicants from California Community Colleges, 51% were from low-income families, and 46% would be in the first generation of their family to graduate from a four-year college.

Overall, applications from U.S. states other than California grew 7.2% to 13,552, while international applications numbered 22,964, a 12.2% increase from last year.

Admissions process

Undergraduate Admissions is now evaluating applications and plans to notify applicants of admissions decisions for first-year status in mid-March and for transfer status in mid-April. Students admitted for first-year studies will have until May 1 to accept offers of admission, while admitted transfer students will have until June 1.

Students are encouraged to file a , or  by March 2.

The university will offer admission to fewer students than those who applied, and a smaller number of students will accept those offers and join the fall 2025 entering class.

Fall 2024 numbers

Last year, the campus received a final total of 98,864 first-year applications and 16,478 transfer applications. UC º£½ÇÔ­´´ offered admission to 41,353 first-year and 9,606 transfer applicants. The fall 2024 entering class that enrolled numbered 9,443, including 6,767 new first-years, 2,656 transfer students and 20 others seeking a second undergraduate degree.

While most students are associated with the campus in º£½ÇÔ­´´, some of the total fall 2024 enrollment of 41,239 students — including undergraduate, graduate and professional students as well as veterinary and medical residents and interns — were enrolled in programs at locations outside of º£½ÇÔ­´´, such as the Sacramento campus.

UC º£½ÇÔ­´´ also tracks student population averaged over the three quarters of an academic year for implementing the 2018 Long Range Development Plan, or LRDP, capacity of 39,000 students at the º£½ÇÔ­´´ campus. The early estimate for the LRDP’s three-quarter enrollment average for the current academic year is about 36,500. Since 2019-20, the LRDP three-quarter average enrollment has remained below 37,000.