Quad

Key differences on Getting in

  1. 1

    UCLA's yield is 34 pts higher than U. California-Santa Barbara's

    Yield rate
  2. 2

    UCLA is 3.7× more selective than U. California-Santa Barbara

    Acceptance rate

Admissions

Getting in, fall 2024

Acceptance and yield, test score ranges, test policy, and what each college weighs.

The funnel

Acceptance rate
U. California-Santa Barbara33%
UCLA9.0%
Applicants
U. California-Santa Barbara110.3K
UCLA145.1K
Admitted
U. California-Santa Barbara36.3K
UCLA13.7K
Yield rate
U. California-Santa Barbara14%
UCLA48%

Quad's selectivity

  • U. California-Santa BarbaraVery selective
  • UCLAUltra selective

Men and women

Acceptance rate for men and women who applied, where a college reports admissions by sex.

Women admitted
U. California-Santa Barbara36%
UCLA9.7%
Men admitted
U. California-Santa Barbara29%
UCLA8.1%

Test scores

None of these colleges report SAT total ranges.
None of these colleges report ACT composite ranges.
Submitted SAT
U. California-Santa BarbaraNot reported
UCLANot reported
Submitted ACT
U. California-Santa BarbaraNot reported
UCLANot reported

Test policy

  • U. California-Santa BarbaraTest-blind
  • UCLATest-blind

How they read a record

  • U. California-Santa Barbara

    GPA, the high school record, and a college-prep program are required.

  • UCLA

    and GPA are both very important. 93% of first-years who sent test scores had a 3.75 or higher, so and rarely sets an applicant apart; the courses behind it carry more of the weight.

What they look at

FactorU. California-Santa BarbaraUCLA
High school GPA RequiredVery important
High school record RequiredRequired
Class rank Not consideredNot considered
College-prep program RequiredRequired
Recommendations Not consideredNot considered
Essay RequiredVery important
Legacy status Not consideredNot considered
Work experience Not consideredImportant
Demonstration of competencies Not consideredNot considered
English proficiency test RequiredRequired
Other tests Not consideredNot considered
All admissions numbers in the table

Sources:IPEDS Admissions survey, Fall 2024;College Scorecard, Entered fall 2023;College Scorecard, most recent release;University of California-Los Angeles (Fall 2026), Fall 2026;University of California-Los Angeles Common Data Set 2025–26, Fall 2027 applicants;University of California-Los Angeles Common Data Set 2025–26, Entered fall 2024About the data(retrieved 2026-10-12)

Figures are the newest each college has published; years can differ between colleges. Each value's ⓘ shows its source and year. Why