Is UCB or UCSD harder to get into?

In results reported by OfferLand users, the admit rate is 30.9% at UCB (94 results) and 61.6% at UCSD (190 results). This is a self-reported sample: admitted applicants report more often, so the rates run high, and they depend on which programs people applied to.

What GPA do admitted applicants to UCB and UCSD have?

Among applicants who reported an admit, the median GPA is 3.81 at UCB and 3.72 at UCSD (on a 4.0 scale; OfferLand sample).

UCB vs UCSD: admit rates, GPA and how Taiwanese applicants choose

Name: UCB vs UCSD admissions data
Creator: OfferLand
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

OfferLand users have reported 94 application results for UCB and 190 for UCSD; 49 applicants applied to both. The table puts admit rates, admitted applicants’ scores, top fields and programs side by side.

Self-reported sample from OfferLand users, not official school data; figures based on fewer than 5 results are not shown. Data as of 2026-10-22.

Side by side

Admit rate = (admitted + enrolled) ÷ (admitted + enrolled + rejected); waitlisted and pending results are left out. Median GPA and TOEFL count each admitted applicant once. Figures based on fewer than 5 results are not shown.

Metric	UCB	UCSD
Country	United States	United States
QS ranking (2027)	#20	#81
US News ranking (2027)	#20	#29
Application results	94	190
Applicants	94	179
Admit rate	30.9%	61.6%
Median GPA (admitted)	3.81	3.72
Median TOEFL (admitted)	102	102
Most-reported fields	Electrical Engineering & Computer Science (46),General Engineering (12),Materials Science (9),Information Technology (8)	Electrical Engineering & Computer Science (114),Materials Science (22),General Engineering (19),Data Science (12)

Most-reported programs

Programs with at least 5 results, by number of results.

UCB

Program	Results	Admit rate
Electrical Engineering & Computer Sciences (Master's)	38	15.8%
Information Management & Systems (Master's)	8	0.0%
Materials Science & Engineering (Master's)	7	71.4%
Electrical Engineering & Computer Sciences (PhD)	6	0.0%

UCSD

Program	Results	Admit rate
Computer Science and Engineering (Master's)	59	47.5%
Electrical and Computer Engineering (Master's)	46	65.2%
Material Science and Engineering (Master's)	22	86.4%
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (Master's)	11	72.7%
Data Science (Master's)	9	33.3%

Applicants to both schools

49 applicants reported results at both schools: 12 were admitted to UCB, 27 to UCSD, and 9 to both.

Of those admitted to both who reported a final choice, 2 chose UCB and 1 chose UCSD. A small sample; treat it as a hint only.

AI summary (from OfferLand data and posts on the site, 2026-10-21)

In OfferLand's data, UC Berkeley's overall admit rate is only 30.9% against UCSD's 61.6%; Berkeley admits report a higher median GPA (3.81 vs 3.72) and the same median TOEFL (102). The gap is widest in EECS: Berkeley's EECS program admitted 15.8% of 38 results, while UCSD's CSE master's admitted 47.5% of 59 and its ECE master's 65.2% of 46. Of the 49 people who applied to both, only 9 were admitted to both and 3 of them reported a decision (2 chose Berkeley, 1 chose UCSD), a very small sample.

UCSD's results are spread more widely, with Materials Science (22 results, 86.4% admitted) and Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (11 results, 72.7%); close to half of Berkeley's data is in EECS.Source: data on this page
A 2023 Fall CS applicant with an NTU EE degree was admitted to UCSD's MS in CSE and rejected by Berkeley's EECS MEng.Source: 2023 Fall CS 申請心得

Written by AI from the data on this page and the cited posts and interview reports. It may contain mistakes and is neither official school information nor application advice; check the original posts and the schools’ own announcements.

When citing these figures, please credit OfferLand. How the data is collected: About the data.