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University of California - San Diego Data & Information Overview

443 awards Ranking Badges
Great Price Value for Your Money
34% Acceptance Rate
If you want to know more about University of California - San Diego, such as what majors does it offer, how diverse it is, how well it ranks, and more, this is your one-stop resource.
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How Well Is University of California - San Diego Ranked?

#38 Best Colleges in Nation
#8 Best Colleges in CA
Biochemistry Highest Ranked Major
Quality Badge

2024 Rankings

In its yearly rankings, College Factual analyzes over 2,000 colleges and universities to determine which ones are the best in a variety of categories, such as overall value, quality, diversity, which schools are the best for each major, and much more.

University of California - San Diego was awarded 443 badges in the 2024 rankings. The highest ranked major at the school is biochemistry.

Explore Best Ranked Schools for You

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Overall Quality

According to College Factual's 2024 analysis, UCSD is ranked #38 out of 2,217 schools in the nation that were analyzed for overall quality. This lands it a coveted spot in the top 5% of all colleges and universities in the country. This is an improvement over the previous year, when UCSD held the #49 spot on the Best Overall Colleges list.

UCSD is also ranked #8 out of 168 schools in California.

See all of the rankings for University of California - San Diego.

Is It Hard to Get Into UCSD?

34% Acceptance Rate
56% Of Accepted Are Women

Acceptance Rate

University of California - San Diego has an acceptance rate of 34%, which means the school is serious about who it admits. Take your time in putting together a strong application that highlights why you are a good fit for UCSD.

Learn more about University of California - San Diego admissions.

University of California - San Diego Faculty

19 to 1 Student to Faculty
86% Full Time Teachers

Student to Faculty Ratio

The student to faculty ratio is often used as a measure to gauge how much access students will have to their professors - the lower the number, the better. At University of California - San Diego, this rate is 19 to 1, which is high when compared to the national average of 15 to 1.

Percent of Full-Time Faculty

When estimating how much access students will have to their teachers, some people like to look at what percentage of faculty members are full time. This is because part-time teachers may not have as much time to spend on campus as their full-time counterparts.

The full-time faculty percentage at University of California - San Diego is 86%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.

Full-Time Faculty Percent  86 out of 100
0
100

Retention and Graduation Rates at University of California - San Diego

95% Freshmen Retention
65% On-Time Graduation Rate

Freshmen Retention Rate

University of California - San Diego has a freshmen retention rate of 95%. That's a good sign that full-time students like the school and their professors enough to want to stick around for another year. It's also a sign that the admissions team did a good job in choosing applicants who were a good fit for the school.

Freshmen Retention Rate  95 out of 100
0
100

Graduation Rate

The on-time graduation rate for someone pursuing a bachelor's degree is typically four years. This rate at UCSD for first-time, full-time students is 65%, which is better than the national average of 33.3%.

On-Time Graduation Rate  65 out of 100
0
100

Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at University of California - San Diego.

University of California - San Diego Undergraduate Student Diversity

30,939 Full-Time Undergraduates
62.6% Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
50.5% Percent Women

During the 2017-2018 academic year, there were 31,842 undergraduates at UCSD with 30,939 being full-time and 903 being part-time.

How Much Does University of California - San Diego Cost?

$15,240 Net Price
22% Take Out Loans
$23,732 Total Student Loans
The overall average net price of UCSD is $15,240. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group. See the table below for the net price for different income groups.

Net Price by Income Group for UCSD

$0-30 K $30K-48K $48-75 $75-110K $110K +
$9,823 $11,176 $14,310 $20,906 $29,132

The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.Note that the net price is typically less than the published for a school. For more information on the sticker price of UCSD, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.

Student Loan Debt

While almost two-thirds of students nationwide take out loans to pay for college, the percentage may be quite different for the school you plan on attending. At UCSD, approximately 22% of students took out student loans averaging $5,933 a year. That adds up to $23,732 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at UCSD is 1.0%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you'll be able to pay back your student loans.

Get more details about paying for University of California - San Diego.

How Much Money Do UCSD Graduates Make?

$74,771 Avg Salary of Grads
High Earnings Boost
The pay for some majors is higher than others, but on average, students who graduate with a bachelor's degree from UCSD make about $74,771 a year during their first few years of employment after graduation. That's great news for UCSD students since it is 76% more than the average college graduate's salary of $42,485 per year.

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See which majors at University of California - San Diego make the most money.

Location of University of California - San Diego

California State
30,939 Full-Time Undergraduates
Large City Campus Setting
University of California - San Diego is a public institution located in La Jolla, California. The surrounding area of the school is a good match for students who enjoy city life.

Get more details about the location of University of California - San Diego.

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Contact details for UCSD are given below.

Contact Details
Address: 9500 Gilman Dr, La Jolla, CA 92093
Phone: 858-534-2230
Website: www.ucsd.edu/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UCSanDiegoLife
Twitter: http://twitter.com/ucsandiego

University of California - San Diego Majors

88 Majors With Completions
9,086 Undergraduate Degrees
2,850 Graduate Degrees
During the most recent year for which we have data, students from 88 majors graduated from University of California - San Diego. Of these students, 9,086 received undergraduate degrees and 2,850 graduated with a master's or doctor's degree. The following table lists the most popular undergraduate majors along with the average salary graduates from those majors make.

Most Popular Majors Bachelor’s Degrees Average Salary of Graduates
Cognitive Science 699 $39,060
International Studies 585 $41,542
Computer Science 537 $87,738
Cell Biology & Anatomical Sciences 530 NA
Political Science & Government 453 $28,579
Economics 436 $42,370
Biochemistry, Biophysics & Molecular Biology 347 $33,915
Public Health 313 $30,159
Chemistry 311 $38,643
General Biology 268 $26,086

Learn more about the majors offered at University of California - San Diego along with which ones have the highest average starting salaries.

Online Learning at UCSD

53% Take At Least One Class Online
3% Take All Classes Online

Online courses area a great option for busy, working students as well as for those who have scheduling conflicts and want to study on their own time. As time goes by, expect to see more and more online learning options become available.

In 2020-2021, 22,292 students took at least one online class at University of California - San Diego. This is a decrease from the 36,854 students who took online classes the previous year.

Year Took at Least One Online Class Took All Classes Online
2020-2021 22,292 1,070
2019-2020 36,854 26,615
2018-2019 398 8
2017-2018 0 0
2016-2017 0 0

Learn more about online learning at University of California - San Diego.

If you’re considering University of California - San Diego, here are some more schools you may be interested in knowing more about.

Curious on how these schools stack up against UCSD? Pit them head to head with College Combat, our free interactive tool that lets you compare college on the features that matter most to you!

Notes and References

Footnotes

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

References

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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