UC San Diego CDS VERIFIED

California (West) · 33,000 undergrads · ~42 avg class size · 19:1 student-faculty · $15,000/yr sticker

public Tier 3

Strong R1 research university. CS, bioengineering, and oceanography are standouts. Test-blind admissions for the 24-25 cycle.

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Stats below are CDS-based estimates from recent admissions cycles. Verify on the school's official site before making application decisions.

Acceptance rate

28.4%

most recent reported cycle

By application round

Regular Decision23.5%

State residency

In-state27.0%

Out-of-state20.0%

By college within the university

Computer Science (Jacobs)

UCSD CS direct admit is much more competitive than overall

20.0%

Jacobs School of Engineering

28.0%

Rady School of Management

30.0%

Division of Biological Sciences

30.0%

Scripps Institution of Oceanography (Earth Sci)

30.0%

Division of Arts & Humanities

35.0%

Division of Social Sciences

32.0%

GPA range

3.85–4.0

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)

$84K

Federal data — 10 yrs after college entry, all majors combined

≈ 1.8 years of post-grad earnings cover 4 yrs of attendance

Career outcomes · 11 sources

$65K

Entry

$84K

10-year

$79K

Mid-career

Median graduate earnings · 1.8 yrs to pay back 4 yrs of cost · est. lifetime ROI $581K.
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/software engineering: Qualcomm, Google, Amazon, Meta, Apple in San Diego/Bay Area
Biotech and pharma: Illumina, Vertex, Genentech; strong life sciences program locally
Defense contracting: General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon; San Diego heavy presence
Finance: solid West Coast startup VC/PE pipeline, but weak traditional IB recruiting
Climate tech and clean energy: growing SD startup scene, not Goldman Sachs prestige level

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Reference links

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