UC Riverside acceptance rate and your odds of getting in
With an acceptance rate near 76%, UC Riverside is an accessible public university in California. Because it admits most qualified applicants, admission turns on the strength of your whole profile rather than any one number.
Use this page to see what UC Riverside weighs, where it ranks among California schools, and how a profile like yours is likely to land. Admitted students post a 75th-percentile SAT around 1300, a useful checkpoint for where your scores sit, though it is a reference range and not a cutoff.
What do students study at UC Riverside?
Bachelor's degrees awarded by field in 2023 (IPEDS completions). Each field has its own page with the school's numbers, the model's major adjustment, and peers offering it.
Will I get into UC Riverside?
Direct answers to what applicants ask about getting into UC Riverside, plus a free way to calculate your own odds.
What are my chances of getting into UC Riverside?
UC Riverside admits most qualified applicants (around 76%), but that overall rate is not your personal chance. Your real odds depend on how your GPA, course rigor, test scores, and activities compare to its admitted students. Run your profile through the free CollegeCalcAI calculator to get a personalized acceptance percentage for UC Riverside in about three minutes, with no account needed to start.
Is UC Riverside hard to get into?
UC Riverside is accessible: it admits most qualified applicants, with about a 76% acceptance rate. Meeting the academic basics gives most qualified applicants a realistic shot.
What GPA do you need to get into UC Riverside?
There is no hard GPA cutoff at UC Riverside, but admitted students span a wide GPA range, with many in the 2.8 to 3.5 band. UC Riverside reads your GPA alongside the rigor of your courses, so a challenging schedule matters as much as the number itself.
What SAT score do you need for UC Riverside?
UC Riverside does not publish a required score, but the admitted-student 75th-percentile SAT is around 1300. A score at or above that range strengthens your application, while a lower score puts more weight on your rigor, activities, and essays. CollegeCalcAI shows how your exact score shifts your odds at UC Riverside.
Your chances at UC Riverside by GPA and SAT
Estimated chance of admission at UC Riverside for plain profiles, from the same model as the calculator. Unweighted GPA, 3 AP courses, Regular Decision, no legacy, athletic or first-generation hook. The last column is test-optional (no score sent).
What are my chances at UC Riverside with a 3.1 GPA and a 1240 SAT?
About 93% (Safety), by CollegeCalcAI's deterministic model, for an applicant with a 3.1 unweighted GPA and a 1240 SAT, the middle of UC Riverside's admitted range, applying Regular Decision without a hook. A 3.4 GPA with a 1300 SAT comes out near 98%. Courses, activities, essays and the application round move the number; the free calculator includes them.
Estimates, not guarantees. Get yours with your real courses and activities. Assistants and developers can fetch this table from the free API: /api/v1/colleges/uc-riverside.
How to get into UC Riverside
Built from UC Riverside's admitted class and what it reports weighing. The typical-admit GPA and SAT are CollegeCalcAI's modeled figures, not published cutoffs.
Here is how to get into UC Riverside, built from what its admitted class actually looks like and what the school says it weighs.
CollegeCalcAI's modeled typical admit at UC Riverside carries about a 3.16 core GPA and a 1250 SAT, in the most rigorous schedule available. Meeting it puts you in the admitted range for most applicants.
UC Riverside rates rigor of secondary school record, academic GPA, and application essay highest in its own Common Data Set. Put your depth there: essays that sound like you and answer the actual prompt, and a transcript whose rigor rises through junior year.
Most public universities read early applicants first without a binding commitment. Apply by UC Riverside's early or priority deadline (confirm dates at www.ucr.edu), and if you are out of state, know that residency changes both the bar and the price.
How many students apply to UC Riverside, and how many get in?
For the fall 2023 entering class, UC Riverside received 62,807 applications and admitted 39,758, an acceptance rate of 63.3%. 5,521 enrolled. Only about 14% of admitted students enrolled, so the school admits several students for every seat it expects to fill, which is why its acceptance rate reads higher than its selectivity feels. UC Riverside enrolls about 22,593 undergraduates in total, 53% of them women, with a student-to-faculty ratio of 22 to 1.
Source: U.S. Department of Education, IPEDS 2023 admissions and enrollment.
What SAT and ACT scores do you need for UC Riverside?
UC Riverside reports that it neither requires nor recommends test scores, so admission turns on your transcript, rigor, and the rest of the file.
Source: College Scorecard (U.S. Department of Education), release 2026-06-10.
What UC Riverside looks for
What UC Riverside weighs most heavily in its admissions review, informed by its reported Common Data Set.
In its review, UC Riverside leans most on rigor of secondary school record, academic GPA, and application essay. Solid grades in a challenging schedule do most of the work here, with the rest of the application providing context. These ratings come from UC Riverside's reported Common Data Set, so the full chart below reflects what the school itself says it values, not a generic guess.
SAT score positioning at UC Riverside
How common SAT scores sit relative to the admitted middle. This is context, not a probability. Your full profile determines the real estimate.
How much does UC Riverside cost after financial aid?
The full sticker price at UC Riverside (tuition, fees, housing, food, books) is about $38,942 a year. Tuition and fees are $15,606 for CA residents and $49,806 for out-of-state students, a $34,200 gap that makes residency the single biggest lever on cost. What families actually pay is different: the average net price after grants and scholarships is $14,304 a year, and it ranges from $8,852 for families earning under $30,000 to $30,393 for families earning over $110,000. 47% of undergraduates receive a federal Pell Grant.
Source: College Scorecard (U.S. Department of Education), release 2026-06-10. Net price is what students receiving aid paid after grants, by family income.
What do UC Riverside graduates earn, and how many graduate?
Median earnings for UC Riverside students ten years after entry are $67,699 ($48,593 at the six-year mark). 76% of first-time, full-time students graduate within six years, and 88% return for a second year. Among graduates who borrowed, median federal debt at graduation is $17,500; 31% of undergraduates take federal loans.
Source: College Scorecard (U.S. Department of Education), release 2026-06-10. Earnings cover students who received federal aid.
How UC Riverside compares in California
UC Riverside ranks #32 most selective of 61 schools in California in our database.
Among the 61 California schools we track, UC Riverside ranks #32 most selective by acceptance rate. Schools like California Institute of Technology (3%) and Stanford University (4%) sit nearby, which makes California a useful frame for calibrating a balanced list. As a public university, residency matters: in-state applicants generally see meaningfully better odds than the headline rate suggests.
Similar to UC Riverside
Schools with a similar selectivity profile, worth comparing as you build a balanced list.
Build around UC Riverside with peers at a comparable selectivity, such as Indiana University Indianapolis, Tennessee Tech University, and The Citadel. Running the same profile against each one in the free calculator is the fastest way to see where you are a reach, a match, or a likely.
More data for California: Cal Poly Pomona acceptance rate and your odds
Frequently asked questions
What is UC Riverside's acceptance rate?
UC Riverside admitted 39,758 of 62,807 applicants for the fall 2023 entering class, an acceptance rate of 63.3% (U.S. Department of Education, IPEDS). 14% of admitted students enrolled.
Is UC Riverside test-optional?
UC Riverside reports that it neither requires nor recommends test scores.
How much does UC Riverside cost after financial aid?
The average net price at UC Riverside, what students receiving aid paid after grants and scholarships, is $14,304 a year against a sticker price of about $38,942. Families earning under $30,000 paid about $8,852 on average.
What do UC Riverside graduates earn?
Median earnings ten years after entering UC Riverside are $67,699 a year among students who received federal aid, and 76% of students graduate within six years (College Scorecard).
What does UC Riverside value most in applicants?
Based on its admissions profile, UC Riverside weighs rigor of secondary school record, academic GPA, and application essay most heavily. The full factor breakdown is on this page.
Does UC Riverside favor in-state applicants?
As a public university, UC Riverside generally admits in-state applicants at a higher rate than out-of-state applicants, so your home state affects your odds. CollegeCalcAI applies an in-state residency boost when you select your state.
How can I improve my chances at UC Riverside?
Focus on the highest-leverage parts of your application: course rigor and GPA trajectory first, then test scores, then a focused leadership or activity spike. CollegeCalcAI's Power-Ups quantify how much each change would move your odds at UC Riverside specifically.
How does residency affect admission to UC Riverside?
As a public university, UC Riverside typically admits in-state students at a higher rate, and tuition differs sharply by residency. Select your home state in the calculator to fold the in-state effect into your estimate.
What are the admission requirements for UC Riverside?
UC Riverside reviews GPA, course rigor, test scores (where submitted), activities, and essays. With a more accessible acceptance rate, meeting the academic basics gives most qualified applicants a realistic shot.
Acceptance rate, application counts, admitted test ranges, cost, and outcomes reflect publicly reported federal data (U.S. Department of Education: IPEDS 2023 and the College Scorecard) and each school's Common Data Set; figures are rounded and lag the current cycle by one to two years, so confirm deadlines and policies on the school's own site. The typical-admit GPA and SAT are CollegeCalcAI's modeled estimates. Estimates from CollegeCalcAI are a planning tool computed by a fixed, transparent model, not a guarantee of any admission decision.