Look, we’re going to be brutally honest: applying to UC schools as an international student is very, very, hard hard. Your chances of getting into UCLA and UCB as an international student are at the single digits.
That makes it nearly as hard as getting into Harvard, Yale, and Princeton.
This is not going to be a cakewalk. Believe us. We had to work our butts off to get our international students accepted into schools like UCI, UCSD, UCLA, and UCB.
We had to work our butts off to get our international students accepted into schools like UCI, UCSD, UCLA, and UCB.
We had to work our butts off to get our international students accepted into schools like UCI, UCSD, UCLA, and UCB.
In this guide, I’m going to tell you everything you need to know to really get accepted into a UC school as an international applicant.
Let’s get to it!
Table of Contents
- Some Harsh Realities About Applying to UC Schools as an International Student.
- How to Get Accepted into a UC School as an International Student: The Art of Standing Out as an Exception
Some Harsh Realities About Applying to UC Schools as an International Student.
Alright, before we talk about best practices for UC international applications, we need to straighten out a few facts.
There are a lot of “feel-good” presumptions about the college admissions process. And, sometimes I feel like this is a result of the toxic positivity surrounding the education system. Teachers and counselors aren’t really allowed to tell students and parents the whole truth. We’re sort of obligated to keep things happy-go-lucky as a way to keeping things perpetually positive. And, this leads to a lot of misunderstandings about the admissions process.
Below I’ve deconstructed a few of these harsh truths.
Is it Harder to Get Into a UC School as an International Student?
Yes. It’s harder to get accepted into a UC school if you’re applying as an international student.
UC schools prioritize California residents. So, if you’re out of state or out of the country, you’re not the priority.
Period.
UC schools are obligated to accept California residents first and foremost. That means you’ll need to work much harder than a California resident if you actually want to get accepted.
In fact, nearly 90% of UC undergrads are California residents.
What does this mean for you?
Well, it means you’ll have to be accepted based on incredible merit and feats. If you want to really get accepted into a UC school as an international student, you’ll need to really be the 1% of the 1% of students. If a UC school is accepting you, chances are they can’t afford to reject you.
So, you need to be someone who would be an obvious choice to your chosen UC campus.
What is the Acceptance Rate for UC International Applicants? The Brutal Truth.
International students don’t have a high acceptance rate for UC schools. This is especially the case for top UC schools like UCLA and UC Berkeley, which we’ve shown below.
For the Fall of 2023 admissions season, UCLA received 22,052 Freshman international applications. Their acceptance rate was 6%.
UC Berkeley shares a similar international admit rate for Freshman as UCLA. They received 21,926 international applicants for the Fall of 2023 admissions cycle. Of that, 1,183 were accepted. That makes UCB’s international acceptance rate 5.39% for Freshman.
However, it should be noted that international students applying as transfers or grad students have a different story. For transfers, they received 2,598 students and admitted 631, making their international transfer acceptance rate 24.28%
We’ve also shown the international student acceptance rate for all UC schools in a table below.
| School Name | International Acceptance Rate |
| UC Berkeley | 5% |
| UC Davis | 49% |
| UC Irvine | 32% |
| UC Los Angeles | 6% |
| UC Merced | 63% |
| UC Riverside | 78% |
| UC San Diego | 17% |
| UC Santa Barbara | 22% |
| UC Santa Cruz | 61% |
Will Being a Full-Pay International Applicant Increase My Chances of Getting Into a UC School?
No. Being a full-pay international applicant does not increase your chances of getting accepted into UC schools. This is because UC schools are need-blind, meaning they do not calculate student financial aid need and pay into the admissions equation.
However, some UC campuses do make exceptions for certain international applicants. We’ve listed them below in the table.
| School Name | International Need-Blind Status |
| UC Berkeley | Need-blind; but, international students are ineligible for financial aid |
| UC Davis | Need-blind |
| UC Irvine | Need-blind |
| UC Los Angeles | Need-blind |
| UC Merced | Need-blind |
| UC Riverside | Need-blind |
| UC San Diego | Need-blind… for all but some international applicants. |
| UC Santa Barbara | Need-blind |
| UC Santa Cruz | Need-blind |
Note: some University of California campuses do NOT publish their need-aware or need-blind status online. For sourcing, you’ll have to contact each UC campus and their undergraduate admissions office.
How to Get Accepted into a UC School as an International Student: The Art of Standing Out as an Exception
Based on the tables presented above, schools such as UC Merced, UC Riverside, and UC Santa Cruz aren’t too hard for international students to get accepted into.
However, when you get to schools like UC Davis and UC Irvine, the difficulty levels start to rise.
Schools like UCSD, UCLA, and UC Berkeley are even harder, with the latter two having single-digit acceptance rates.
This is where we need to be very honest with ourselves. The acceptance rate for applying to UC Schools as an international student is virtually impossible. A lot of students are going to be vying for those spots. So, unless you really stand out as a unique candidate who the admissions office cannot afford to let go, acceptance becomes a crapshoot.
In other words, you need to stand out as an exception. Here are 5 things you can do to stand out as an international student applying to UC schools
Have a High GPA (Obviously).
This is a no-brainer. Nonetheless, it needs to be said.
If you’re applying to UC schools as an international student, you need to have a strong GPA that stands out from the rest of the competition. How strong you may ask? Well, as a general rule of thumb, you should be at or above the 50th percentile of accepted students.
To find out where you place in student GPA ranges, you can check the UC freshman fall admissions summary.
Simply filter applicant GPAs to see what the average accepted GPA is. For instance, students accepted into UCB mostly had a weighted GPA of 4 or over.
Note that this resource only provides general freshman applicant GPA. There is no function to filter between international GPAs with others.
Use the Additional Comments Section to Your Advantage.
One element that students constantly forget is the additional comments section. If you’re applying to UC schools as an international student, you need to leverage the use of the additional comments section.
Now, there are some exceptions. Students who have nothing to put in the additional comments section can’t fill it out. If this is the case, this doesn’t apply to you. However if you have any externalities or nuances in your application that deserve explanation, you should certainly use this section. Not only does it contextualize your application; but, it also provides you the opportunity to leverage minute details to make your application much stronger.
In other words, the additional comments section —when utilized correctly— is a great tool for making small details and even weaknesses stand out as strong positives in your application.
Here’s an example. Let’s say that you earned a B in one of your classes despite earning an A in all other classes. You can explain in this situation how you were used to being a “Straight-A student” until this one experience; and, you can even admit that it was a result of personal lacking and undisciplined behavior. However, ever since that experience, you also learned how to hone your study habits to learn more effectively and not just rely on talent alone. Additionally, you can explain how this was a humbling experience that ultimately doesn’t take away from your high academic performance. And, you’ll translate this into your own experience at the University of California.
Notice how we can pivot this seemingly negative blemish into something that’s positive? It’s a great way of leveraging your position to gain additional positives in your application rather than leaving them unexplained.
Have Strong Extracurriculars.
Extracurriculars are key to getting into a great school. Some UC campuses value them more than others. You can check how each school values extracurriculars in their Common Data Set.
For example: when you search for “UC San Diego Common Data Set” on Google and scroll to section C7, this should appear.
Extracurricular activities are placed as “Important.” Additionally, notice that Talent/ability and Character/personal qualities are also important. Extracurricular activities and essays are some of the ONLY admissions factors admissions officers can use to judge Talent/ability and Character/personal qualities. They help you stand out from the sea of perfect 4.0 GPA international applicants.
Here’s a secret, though: most international students applying to UC schools (and all US schools for that matter) have poor extracurriculars.
This is because most extracurricular activities outside the United States prioritize leadership TITLES rather than leadership ACTIVITIES. A lot of our clients from Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, etc have an educational ecosystem that endorses big titles like “president”, “vice president” and “chairman.”
Source: Reddit U/werdmouf
UC admissions is far more qualitative. Admissions officers value what you’ve done in your extracurriculars more than vanity metrics like titles. They want to see students who are impressive by their own merit.
Develop a Passion Project.
A passion project is a self-directed project you conduct outside of school and any institutions. These typically revolve around a long-term development often over the summer to yield some result.
Some examples of passion projects for college include…
- Non-profits
- Blogs
- Small businesses
- SEO-based websites
- YouTube Channels
- Social Media or TikTok accounts
- Robotics projects
- Investing strategies
- Writing fiction stories
The goal of the passion project is twofold: one, to have a unique and powerful detail that stands out a lot; two, establishing trust and validity in your application.
The first point is straightforward enough. If you create a passion project and lead it on your own, you’ll stand out.
But, the second point is much more important. Your passion project should be a no-BS project. That means admissions officers should be capable of seeing your work and verifying that it’s not generated by AI, superficial, or making up stats.
This is especially important for international students applying to UC schools. If you really want your application to look trustworthy, having a verifiable passion project with legit work put behind it can do wonders. It helps you stand out from the rest of the fake research, inflated GPAs, and fake leadership positions. Legitimate passion projects are one of the best ways to stand out when the modern admissions climate is full of false narratives.
Write the Essays Well and Better Than Other Applicants.
Whenever we work with international students applying to UC schools, we always emphasize the importance of the essays. Just about every UC campus values the essay PIQs very heavily.
The fact of the matter is that UC PIQ essays are a window into what makes you stand out beyond your academic performance. It’s also one of the only places in the UC application process that lets you explain your personal story beyond just numbers and metrics.
The same rule on extracurriculars applies to essays as well: most international students struggle to write strong UC PIQ essays. In fact, even most California residents still struggle with writing decent UC PIQ essays.
This is because the college essay process requires a lot of self reflection, introspective thought, lateral thinking, and psychological understanding. When you’re writing about yourself, you’re not just saying the good things about you. You’re deconstructing your personality and character; then, wrestling with those themes to create a meaningful application essay that truly shows admissions officers your best character.
Let’s not forget: most international students who have the funds to hire consultants and essay editors still struggle with the process. For, any consultant worth their salt is going to take the time needed to curate a personal and reflective essay.
If you want to truly stand out, you’ll need to create memorable essays that truly stand out. You can also learn how to do that by checking out or UC-related guides here.
If you’re still unsure of how to maximize your chances of acceptance into a UC school as an international student, don’t worry. We’ve helped countless international applicants reach some of the best UC schools including UCSD, UCLA, and UCB. Schedule a free consultation with us today, and we’ll get back to you within 24 hours!
