Founded in 1868 and located in California, the University of California is the world’s largest public university system. Comprising 10 campuses—including world-class institutions such as the University of California, Berkeley, the University of California, Los Angeles, and the University of California, San Diego—it adheres to the philosophy of “equal emphasis on teaching and research, and public universities serving the broader community.”
It has long ranked first in global comprehensive rankings of public universities and maintains international leadership in fields such as engineering, computer science, life sciences, business, and social sciences. With 710,000 students, it is one of the largest and most academically prestigious public university systems in the United States, aiming to graduate 200,000 undergraduate and graduate students from the state by 2030. The success rate of obtaining an American University diploma
Global Rankings and Disciplinary Strengths
UC: A Powerhouse of High-Ranking Institutions in the 2026 U.S. News World University Rankings, multiple campuses within the University of California system made the top 30: UCLA at No. 17, UC Berkeley at No. 20, and UCSD at No. 28. Among them, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) have acceptance rates of just 9% and 11%, respectively, with the overall weighted average GPA of incoming freshmen hovering around 4.2, making admission highly competitive. UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara, UC Santa Cruz, and UC Irvine have acceptance rates ranging from 27% to 33%. While competition at these three campuses is relatively lower, the number of applications from Chinese students continues to rise.
According to industry insiders, computer science is the most competitive major. At UC Berkeley, the acceptance rates for computer science and business are both 4%, while engineering stands at 8%; at UCLA, nursing is 1% and computer science is 4%. Acceptance rates for majors such as physical sciences, mathematics, and the arts are higher, with some programs exceeding 40%. UC graduates are the largest group of hires at companies like Apple, Google, and Disney. Over the past 25 years, Google has hired 17,000 UC students, while Apple has hired 8,000.
What is the success rate for earning a degree at the University of California?
The University of California is one of the university systems with the highest graduation rates in the United States, far exceeding the national average. According to the latest report from the California Public Policy Institute and the University of California’s Self-Accountability Report, the four-year graduation rate for UC freshmen is 73%, and the six-year graduation rate is 86%.
These figures exceed the national average graduation rates for U.S. universities—44.2% for four years and 61.1% for six years—and are also higher than the six-year graduation rate (66%) and four-year graduation rate (82%) of other public universities in the Association of American Universities. There are some variations among UC campuses; the University of California, Berkeley, has a six-year graduation rate of 93%. The University of California has set a goal to increase its four-year graduation rate to 76% and its six-year graduation rate to 90% by 2030.
