UC Irvine Acceptance Rate & Chances CDS VERIFIED
California (West) · 30,204 undergrads · ~40 avg class size · 18:1 student-faculty · $15,000/yr sticker
public Tier 3
Strong R1 public. Computer science, biology, and business analytics are standouts. Fast-growing reputation.
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BiologyComputer ScienceBusinessPsychologyEngineering
Stats below are CDS-based estimates from recent admissions cycles. Verify on the school's official site before making application decisions.
Acceptance rate
28.9%
most recent reported cycle
By application round
Regular Decision29.0%
State residency
In-state32.0%
Out-of-state26.0%
GPA range
3.96–4.2
middle 50% of admitted students (unweighted)
SAT mid-50%
Test-blind
does not consider SAT/ACT
ACT mid-50%
Test-blind
does not consider SAT/ACT
Median earnings (10-yr)
$80K
Federal data — 10 yrs after college entry, all majors combined
≈ 1.9 years of post-grad earnings cover 4 yrs of attendance
Career outcomes · 11 sources
Median graduate earnings · 1.9 yrs to pay back 4 yrs of cost · est. lifetime ROI $342K.
Earnings cross-referenced across 11 sources (College Scorecard, Opportunity Insights, Georgetown CEW, FREOPP, PayScale, and more).
Where this leads
Real career pipelines from this school, based on alumni outcomes and recruiting patterns.
- Tech in Los Angeles basin and Orange County—strong local recruiting, middle-market rather than FAANG.
- Defense contracting via Irvine/Long Beach corridor—Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, solid exit but niche.
- Healthcare administration and biotech in Orange County—UCI med school proximity helps, regional not national.
- Finance in Los Angeles—some Big 4 accounting pipelines, but weaker than Berkeley or Stanford.
- Semiconductor and engineering roles in Silicon Valley—UC system advantage fades against CalTech and Berkeley here.