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For years, UC San Diego was the default UC for San Diego County students: in fall 2021, it admitted 43% of local applicants, and half of all San Diego County students who enrolled at a UC went there. Four years later, the picture is very different. In fall 2025, UCSD admitted 25% of San Diego County applicants, the same rate as for applicants from the rest of California, and only 30% of local UC enrollees went to UCSD.

San Diego County at a glance

Campus	SD County applicants 2025	Admit rate 2021	Admit rate 2025	Share of SD enrollees 2021	Share of SD enrollees 2025
UC San Diego	9,171	43%	25%	50%	30%
UCLA	7,312	10%	9.5%	11%	11%
UC Irvine	7,193	20%	23%	5%	12%
UC Santa Barbara	6,330	29%	32%	8%	9%
UC Berkeley	5,637	14%	12%	7%	10%
UC Davis	4,811	40%	37%	6%	8%
UC Riverside	4,511	64%	88%	6%	9%
UC Santa Cruz	4,256	55%	75%	7%	11%
UC Merced	2,793	89%	97%	2%	1%

In total, 11,426 seniors from 134 San Diego County high schools applied to UC in fall 2025, and 73% were admitted to at least one campus, up from 64% in 2021. Getting into a UC did not get harder. Getting into UCSD did.

The local advantage at UCSD disappeared

In 2021, San Diego County applicants were admitted to UCSD at 43%, well above the 29% rate for all California high school applicants. In 2025, the two rates were the same, about 25%. The number of San Diego County students who enrolled at UCSD fell from about 1,600 to about 900.

UC does not explain campus decisions by county. What the data shows is that UCSD received more applications overall (up about 15% statewide since 2021) while admitting about the same number of California students, so competition rose for everyone. Local applicants, who had been admitted at a much higher rate, felt the change most.

Where San Diego students go instead

The students who used to enroll at UCSD spread out across the system. UC Irvine’s share of San Diego enrollees more than doubled, from 5% to 12%. Santa Cruz (7% to 11%), Berkeley (7% to 10%), Riverside (6% to 9%) and Santa Barbara all grew. UCLA stayed at about 11%.

Big San Diego high schools

High school	UC applicants 2025	Admitted to any UC	UCSD 2021	UCSD 2025	UCLA 2025
Canyon Crest Academy	444	84%	45%	21%	12%
Del Norte	417	87%	45%	14%	8%
Torrey Pines	334	71%	46%	17%	8%
Westview	323	85%	47%	14%	9%
San Dieguito Academy	293	75%	37%	23%	12%
Scripps Ranch	263	74%	43%	17%	10%
Eastlake	257	65%	39%	20%	9%
Helix	253	72%	38%	23%	8%

At the county’s biggest high schools, UCSD went from admitting 37–47% of applicants to 14–23%. At Del Norte and Westview, it fell from about 45% to 14%. Students from these schools still got into the UC system at high rates (71–87% were admitted somewhere), but far fewer got into their hometown campus.

What this means for San Diego seniors

• Treat UCSD as a target at best, and a reach for competitive majors. It is no longer a likely for local students.
• Add UC Irvine and UC Santa Barbara as targets; both admitted about one in four or one in three San Diego applicants.
• For a likely, UC Riverside (88%) and UC Santa Cruz (75%) admitted most San Diego applicants in 2025.
• UCLA (9.5%) and Berkeley (12%) admitted about one in ten San Diego applicants; they are reaches for almost everyone.
• Look up your own school’s numbers: all San Diego County high schools.

These are past admit rates for everyone from San Diego County, not any one student’s chances. The UC application deadline is November 30.

Source: University of California, UC Information Center, admissions by source school, fall 2021 and fall 2025 freshmen from California high schools. UC hides counts of one or two students; we count hidden admissions as one and leave hidden enrollments out, so enrollment figures are slight undercounts. ScoreCalc is independent and not affiliated with the University of California.