Is it hard to get admission to UCSC?
Somewhat. The UCSC acceptance rate stands at 65.5%, meaning that of every 100 students who apply to UCSC admissions, around 65-66 students are likely to be offered the opportunity to enroll on the campus grounds, making the admission criteria of UCSC somewhat selective.
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University of California Santa Cruz is a moderately competitive university to get into, as its acceptance rate stands at 61%. This figure tells us that almost 61 out of every 100 applicants manage to get enrolled in the university, which is more than half of all the applicants. Therefore, once an ap
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The alumni network at UC Santa Cruz include 145,000+ graduates worldwide. A few of the people who have studied at UCSC are-
- Andy Samberg- Comedian, Writer, Famous Actor (Brooklyn Nine-Nine)
- Maya Rudolph- Actress and Comedian
- Rebecca Romijn- Actress and Former Model
- Tom Franco- Actor
- Bell Hooks-
Some of the top recruiters of UC Santa Cruz graduates, as per the details mentioned in First Destination Survey are-
- Amazon
- Apple
- Microsoft
- KPMG
- General Motors
- Tesla
The University of California, Santa Cruz ranking is #181 in 2026. Its ranking has improved massively from 2025 (#196). A few of the subject rankings are given below-
- Physical Sciences: #98
- Social Sciences: #126-150
- Education Studies: #151-175
- Computer Science: #176-200
UC Santa Cruz UG Dean's Award is a merit based scholarship. The students are considered automatically for this scholarship. The award amount is USD 12,000 - USD 100,000 paid evenly for 4 years. Holistic review is done for this scholarship, giving priority to the academic record.
At UC Santa Cruz, 70+ UG majors are available. Whereas, at the PG level, around 66 courses are available. Study areas that are available are-
- Arts
- Social Sciences
- Humanities
- Sciences
- Engineering
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