For community college students, the University of California is more open than it looks. UC Berkeley and UCLA each admitted about a fifth of transfer applicants in fall 2025, and most other campuses admitted more than half. But the major you choose matters even more for transfers than for freshmen, because transfer students are admitted directly into their major. At Berkeley, 78% of English applicants were admitted; in computer science, 2.7%.
UC publishes transfer results for every major, so here are the most and least accessible majors at each campus in fall 2025. We only included majors with at least 100 applicants, so a handful of admits in a tiny major does not skew the list.
The most accessible transfer majors at each UC
| Campus | Highest admit rates (admitted GPA, middle 50%) |
|---|---|
| UCLA | Art History 63% (3.59–3.94); Anthropology 60% (3.55–3.92); Philosophy 59% (3.60–3.92) |
| UC Berkeley | English 78% (3.41–3.90); History of Art 76% (3.36–3.93); Philosophy 74% (3.52–3.93) |
| UC San Diego | Literature, English/American 78% (3.33–3.81); History 77% (3.41–3.92); Political Science 76% (3.47–3.93) |
| UC Irvine | International Studies 80% (3.47–3.89); Art History 77% (3.40–3.92); History 77% (3.49–3.93) |
| UC Santa Barbara | Statistics and Data Science 87% (3.54–3.94); Applied Mathematics 83% (3.59–4.00); Financial Mathematics & Statistics 78% (3.61–3.92) |
| UC Davis | Statistics 85% (3.46–3.92); English 79% (3.42–3.87); Cognitive Science 79% (3.44–3.91) |
| UC Santa Cruz | Earth Science 94% (3.22–3.84); Legal Studies 90% (3.15–3.73); Literature 89% (3.17–3.82) |
| UC Riverside | Political Science 93% (3.18–3.82); Global and Community Health 89% (3.34–3.83); English 88% (3.13–3.79) |
| UC Merced | Anthropology 93% (3.23–3.79); Political Science 91% (3.25–3.82); Psychology 89% (3.23–3.79) |
The hardest transfer majors at each UC
| Campus | Lowest admit rates |
|---|---|
| UCLA | Film & Television 2.7%; Design Media Arts 4.2%; Theater 4.6% |
| UC Berkeley | Computer Science 2.7%; Business Administration 4.9%; Nutritional Science 7.8% |
| UC San Diego | Computer Science 17%; Computer Engineering 19%; Mechanical Engineering 20% |
| UC Irvine | Nursing Science 2.2%; Business Information Management 5.6%; Game Design and Interactive Media 15% |
| UC Santa Barbara | Computer Science 16%; Chemical Engineering 20%; Electrical Engineering 24% |
| UC Davis | Undeclared/Exploratory Agricultural Science 13%; Computer Science 19%; Aerospace Science and Engineering 26% |
| UC Santa Cruz | Computer Science 51%; Biology 51%; Electrical Engineering 59% |
| UC Riverside | Art 17%; Computer Science With Business Applications 26%; Computer Science 37% |
| UC Merced | Computer Science & Engineering 50%; Applied Mathematics 52%; Management and Business Economics 61% |
Popular majors, campus by campus
| Major | UCLA | Berkeley | UC San Diego | UC Irvine | UC Davis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Psychology | 21% | 8.9% | 66% | 33% | 51% |
| Economics | 16% | 15% | 57% | 33% | 67% |
| Political science | 34% | 13% | 76% | 63% | 77% |
| Sociology | 41% | 12% | 73% | 65% | 75% |
| English | 56% | 78% | 78% | 74% | 79% |
| Computer science | 4.8% | 2.7% | 17% | 24% | 19% |
What the numbers say
Humanities and many social sciences are wide open at most campuses. English and history admitted 70% or more of transfer applicants at Davis, Irvine, Santa Barbara and San Diego. Even at UCLA, one of the two most selective campuses for transfers, pre-political science admitted 34% and English 56%.
Computer science, business and engineering are the hard ones everywhere. Berkeley computer science admitted 50 of 1,870 applicants (2.7%), UCLA 4.8%, San Diego 17% and Santa Barbara 16%. Admitted students’ GPAs in these majors were close to 4.0.
Math and statistics are a quiet opportunity. UC Santa Barbara admitted 87% of statistics and data science applicants and 83% in applied math; UC Davis admitted 85% in statistics. For students interested in data work, these can be a better route than a computer science application.
Arts programs that require a portfolio or audition are a different game. UCLA film and television, design media arts and theater admitted under 5% of transfer applicants. Those decisions rest heavily on creative work, not GPA alone.
How to use this as a transfer student
- Pick the major you actually want, then check its admit rate and admitted GPA range at every campus on our transfer pages.
- Complete the major preparation courses listed on ASSIST.org. For selective majors, missing prerequisites is one of the most common reasons for denial.
- Look into the Transfer Admission Guarantee (TAG). Six campuses (Davis, Irvine, Merced, Riverside, Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz) offer it, though some majors are excluded.
- Apply to a mix of campuses, including at least one where your GPA is above the admitted range for your major.
Every major, every campus: UCLA, UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara, UC Davis, UC Santa Cruz, UC Riverside, UC Merced. For campus-wide transfer rates by GPA, see our UC transfer admit rates guide.
Source: University of California, UC Information Center, transfers by major, fall 2025. Counts include California, out-of-state and international applicants. GPA ranges are the middle 50% (25th–75th percentile) of admitted students. ScoreCalc is independent and not affiliated with the University of California.
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