Test-freeNo early plan

University of California, Santa Cruz

CA · Public · West · National university · 18,194 undergraduates (large)

Admission rates

Latest admit rates

Overall admit rate72.7%
Early roundNo early plan 
Regular round†72.7%no early round, so same as overall

† This school has no early round, so the regular rate equals the overall admit rate.

Trends, Fall 2019–Fall 2025

Admission rates

Overall
0%40%80%'19'20'21'22'23'24'2551.3%65.1%57.2%47.1%61.3%63.6%72.7%

Early plans

Fall 2027 applicants

No early plan (one UC filing period, Oct 1–Nov 30) · School admissions page ↗

Testing

Testing policy

Fall 2027
Test-freeScores not considered in admission (University of California policy)School testing page ↗ · checked Nov 2026
Fall 2028
Fall 2028 policy not yet announced.School testing page ↗ · checked Nov 2026

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

Test-free for fall 2027 entry. UC is test-free for admission.

How to send scores

Test-free: scores not considered

UC is test-free for admission; scores are not used in admission decisions.

School’s words: “If a student self-reports a test score, they should provide the official score report when they receive an offer of admission from UC.”

Source ↗ · checked Nov 3, 2026

Scores

Test-free: scores not used. University of California, Santa Cruz 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 + ACT (est.)SATACT
0%50%100%'19'20'21'22'23'24'25100%100%86.0%86.0%33.0%30.0%no datano datano datano datano data

SAT composite, middle 50%

25th–75th percentile, enrolled students (labels show both values)
160014001200'19'20'21'22'23'24'251200–1360136012001160–135013501160no datano datano datano datano data

ACT composite, middle 50%

25th–75th percentile, enrolled students (labels show both values)
36322824'19'20'21'22'23'24'2524–30302423–303023no datano datano datano datano data

Waitlist admit rate

Share of students who stayed on the waitlist and were later admitted, by entering class.

  • 2025: 41%
  • 2024: 33%
  • 2023: 88%
  • 2022: 13%
  • 2021: 53%

What is a waitlist? How is it different from a deferral?

Test policy in each Common Data Set

History only. The current policy is under Testing above.

  1. Fall 2027 Test-free2025-26 CDS
  2. Fall 2026 Not reported2024-25 CDS
  3. Fall 2025 Not reported2023-24 CDS
  4. Fall 2024 Not reported2022-23 CDS
  5. Fall 2023 Not reported2021-22 CDS
  6. Fall 2022 Not reported2020-21 CDS
  7. Fall 2021 Not reported2019-20 CDS

Sources