University of California - Santa Barbara
CA · Public · West · National university · Top 50 tier · 23,091 undergraduates (large)
Admission rates
Latest admit rates
† This school has no early round, so the regular rate equals the overall admit rate.
Trends, Fall 2019–Fall 2025
Admission rates
Early plans
Fall 2027 applicants
Testing
Testing policy
Superscoring
What this means:
- SAT
- N/A (test-free; scores not considered)
- ACT
- N/A (test-free; scores not considered)
Source ↗ · checked Nov 3, 2026
UC is test-free; scores may only be used for minimum eligibility or course placement.
How to send scores
Test-free: scores not considered
UC is test-free for admission. The UCLA page says self-reported scores may be entered (they are used for other purposes) and official reports are due after an offer of admission.
Source (UC page, via UCLA) ↗ · checked Nov 3, 2026
Scores
Test-free: scores not used. University of California - Santa Barbara does not use SAT or ACT scores in admission, so its Common Data Set reports no score ranges.
Trends, Fall 2019–Fall 2025
Share of enrolled students submitting scores
SAT composite, middle 50%
ACT composite, middle 50%
Year-by-year data, Fall 2019–Fall 2025
| CDS year | Admitted | Admit rate | ED rate | Est. % submitting | % SAT | % ACT | SAT mid-50 | ACT mid-50 | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-20 | 26,881 | 29.4% | Not reported | 100% | 86% | 36% | 1260-1460 | 25-33 | |||
| 2020-21 | 32,842 | 36.6% | Not reported | 100% | 81% | 37% | 1250-1450 | 26-33 | |||
| 2021-22 | 30,823 | 29.2% | Not reported | Not reported | Not reported | Not reported | Not reported | Not reported | |||
| 2022-23 | 28,689 | 25.8% | Not reported | Not reported | Not reported | Not reported | Test-free: scores not used | Not reported | |||
| 2023-24 | Common Data Set not found online | ||||||||||
| 2024-25 | 36,347 | 33% | Not reported | Not reported | Not reported | Not reported | Test-free: scores not used | Not reported | |||
| 2025-26 | 42,093 | 38.2% | Not reported | Not reported | Not reported | Not reported | Test-free: scores not used | Not reported | |||
Waitlist admit rate
Share of students who stayed on the waitlist and were later admitted, by entering class.
- 2025: 53%
- 2024: 82%
- 2022: 27%
- 2021: 21%
Test policy in each Common Data Set
History only. The current policy is under Testing above.
- Fall 2027 Test-free2025-26 CDS
- Fall 2026 Test-free2024-25 CDS
- Fall 2025 CDS not available2023-24 CDS
- Fall 2024 Test-free2022-23 CDS
- Fall 2023 Not reported2021-22 CDS
- Fall 2022 Not reported2020-21 CDS
- Fall 2021 Required2019-20 CDS