by our College Data Analytics TeamThis overview covers the essential stats on University of California-San Diego, including its rankings, majors, diversity, and more.
College Factual recognizes the best colleges and universities in its annual rankings. These rankings include categories for best overall colleges, best colleges for each major, best value schools, and much more.
University of California-San Diego was awarded 532 badges in the 2026 rankings.
UCSD UC San Diego is ranked #53 out of 3,449 schools in the nation for overall quality on College Factual’s 2026 Best Colleges list. This puts it in the top 5% of all schools in the nation.
UCSD UC San Diego also holds the #11 spot on the Best Colleges in California ranking.
See all of the rankings for University of California-San Diego.
University of California-San Diego has a very low acceptance rate of 27%, making it one of the most selective out of all the colleges and universities in the nation. It’s probably a good idea to apply to other schools in addition to UCSD UC San Diego just in case you don’t make the cut.
At University of California-San Diego, the student to faculty ratio is 19 to 1. Compared to the national average of 15 to 1, this is somewhat high. This could mean that class sizes may be larger than they are at other colleges or universities or that professors may be required to teach more classes.
In addition to the student to faculty ratio, some people look at what percentage of faculty members are full-time as a sign of how much time professors will be able to spend with their students. This is because part-time teachers may not be on campus as much as their full-time counterparts.
The full-time faculty percentage at University of California-San Diego is 88%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.
University of California-San Diego has a freshmen retention rate of 94%. 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.
Students are considered to have graduated on time if they finish their studies within four years. At UCSD UC San Diego the on-time graduation rate of first-time, full-time students is 88%. That is great when compared to the national average of 33.3%.
Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at University of California-San Diego.
The current enrollment includes 33,787 undergraduates at UCSD UC San Diego.
Get more detailed information on the diversity at University of California-San Diego.
The typical net cost at UCSD UC San Diego is $16,772. 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 UC San Diego
| $0-30 K | $30K-48K | $48-75 | $75-110K | $110K + |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $7,487 | $7,864 | $10,389 | $17,131 | $28,113 |
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 price for a school. For more information on the sticker price of UCSD UC San Diego, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.
Almost 66% of college students who graduated with the class of 2018 took out student loans, but that percentage varies from school to school. At UCSD UC San Diego, approximately 21% of students took out student loans averaging $4,526 a year. That adds up to $18,104 over four years for those students. The student loan default rate is 2.0%. 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.
Yearly salaries vary depending on what you major in, but on average, bachelor’s degree recipients from University of California-San Diego make around $84,943 per year during the early years of their employment. That’s great news for University of California-San Diego students since it is 73% more than the average college graduate’s salary of $49,219 per year.
See which majors at University of California-San Diego make the most money.
University of California-San Diego is an public institution found in La Jolla, California. The location of the school is great for students who enjoy the amenities of city life. Get more details about the location of University of California-San Diego.
Contact information for University of California-San Diego are listed below.
| Contact Details | |
|---|---|
| Address: | 9500 Gilman Dr, La Jolla, CA 92093 |
| Phone: | 8585342230 |
| Website: | www.ucsd.edu |
| Facebook: | www.facebook.com/UCSanDiegoLife |
| Twitter: | twitter.com/ucsandiego |
In the latest year of available data, students from 24 majors graduated from University of California-San Diego. The following table lists the most popular undergraduate majors along with the average salary graduates from those majors make.
| Most Popular Majors | Completions | Average Salary of Graduates |
|---|---|---|
| Multi-Disciplinary Studies | 12,710 | NA |
| Computer Science | 854 | $107,208 |
| Cell Biology & Anatomical Sciences | 832 | NA |
| Cognitive Science | 762 | $39,060 |
| Management Sciences & Methods | 736 | $47,472 |
| General Biology | 494 | $29,446 |
| International Studies | 413 | $41,542 |
| Public Health | 412 | $30,159 |
| Electrical Engineering | 388 | $84,623 |
| General Psychology | 380 | $28,185 |
Online courses are 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.
7,160 students took at least one online class at University of California-San Diego.
Learn more about online learning at University of California-San Diego.
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