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University of California - Berkeley

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University of California - Berkeley Overview

University of California - Berkeley is a public institution situated in Berkeley, California. Berkeley is a great location for students who prefer city over country life.

What Is University of California - Berkeley Known For?

10,523 Undergraduate Awards
$52,551 Avg Cost After Aid
17% Acceptance Rate
  • The 2% student loan default rate at UC Berkeley is better than the national rate of 10.1%. That's a good sign that you may be able to pay off student loans easier than your peers at other schools can.
  • The highest award offered at UC Berkeley is the doctor's degree.
  • For the 2019-2020 academic year, 70% of the faculty were full-time.
  • After graduation, UC Berkeley bachelor's degree recipients go on to jobs where they make $80,364 a year. That's about 97% more than their peers at other schools.
  • On average, it takes about 4.2 years for students from UC Berkeley to earn a bachelor's degree. This is excellent when compared to the average of 4.4 years.

Best Schools

University of California - Berkeley Rankings

UC Berkeley is ranked #26 out of 2,018 schools in the nation for overall quality on our 2023 Best Colleges list. This puts it in the top 5% of all schools in the nation. UC Berkeley also holds the #3 spot on the Best Colleges in California ranking.

Our rankings are based on an outcomes-based approach rather than subjective ones used by other media outlets. As such, we utilize data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and the College Scorecard, among other sources. Visit our rankings and methodology section to learn more.

UC Berkeley has also been awarded the following overall awards by our latest rankings.

Rank Ranking Name Share
#17 Best Master’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#22 Best Doctor’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#31 Best Bachelor’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#34 Best Graduate Certificate Schools Tweet It - Post It

Program Level Awards

These are highlights of some of the most noteworthy awards granted to specific programs at UC Berkeley.

Rank Ranking Name Share
#3 Best Public & Social Service Bachelor’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#4 Best Communication & Journalism Bachelor’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#5 Best Natural Resources & Conservation Bachelor’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#10 Best Health Professions Bachelor’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#10 Best Computer & Information Sciences Master’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#12 Best Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#14 Best Business, Management & Marketing Master’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#20 Best Visual & Performing Arts Bachelor’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#22 Best Biological & Biomedical Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#28 Best Education Master’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It

Awards From Around the Web

The following table lists some notable awards UC Berkeley has earned from around the web.

Rank Ranking Name Source
#3 Best Legal Professions Schools College Factual
#4 Best Natural Resources & Conservation Schools College Factual
#5 Best Public Administration & Social Service Schools College Factual
#10 Best Health Professions Schools College Factual
#11 Best Healthcare Schools Healthcare Degree Search
#22 Best Business, Management & Marketing Schools College Factual

Where Is University of California - Berkeley?

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Contact details for UC Berkeley are given below.

Contact Details
Address: 200 California Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720
Phone: 510-642-6000
Website: www.berkeley.edu
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UCBerkeley
Twitter: https://twitter.com/UCBerkeley

How Do I Get Into UC Berkeley?

You can apply to UC Berkeley online at: admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/apply-now.html

Admission Requirements for UC Berkeley

Submission Required?
High School GPA required
High School Rank neither required nor recommended
High School Transcript required
College Prep Program neither required nor recommended
Recommendations considered but not required
SAT or ACT Scores required
TOEFL required

How Hard Is It To Get Into UC Berkeley?

17% Acceptance Rate
57% Of Accepted Are Women
82% Submit SAT Scores
With an acceptance rate of 17%, UC Berkeley is one of the most selective schools in the country. If the admissions department requests additional materials, be sure to submit them promptly. This could be a sign that you're on the border line of being accepted or denied.

Approximately 43% of accepted students are men and 57% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 15%, and the acceptance rate for women is 19%.

Average Test Scores

About 82% of students accepted to UC Berkeley submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 650 and 740. Math scores were between 660 and 790.

SAT Reading and Writing Scores for University of California - Berkeley  ( 650 to 740 )
200
800

SAT Math Scores for University of California - Berkeley  ( 660 to 790 )
200
800
UC Berkeley received ACT scores from 41% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT English scores ranged between 27 and 35. Math scores were between 27 and 34. Composite scores were between 30 and 35.

ACT English Scores for University of California - Berkeley  ( 27 to 35 )
1
36
ACT Math Scores for University of California - Berkeley  ( 27 to 34 )
1
36
ACT Composite Scores for University of California - Berkeley  ( 30 to 35 )
1
36

Can I Afford University of California - Berkeley?

$52,551 Net Price
21% Take Out Loans
1.8% Loan Default Rate
The overall average net price of UC Berkeley is $52,551. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group.

The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.

Student Loan Debt

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 UC Berkeley, approximately 21% of students took out student loans averaging $7,086 a year. That adds up to $28,344 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at UC Berkeley is 1.8%. 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.

University of California - Berkeley Undergraduate Student Diversity

29,300 Full-Time Undergraduates
54% Women
62% Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
There are 30,799 undergraduate students at UC Berkeley, with 29,300 being full-time and 1,499 being part-time.

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There are also 11,528 graduate students at the school.

Gender Diversity

Of the 29,300 full-time undergraduates at UC Berkeley, 46% are male and 54% are female.

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Racial-Ethnic Diversity

The racial-ethnic breakdown of University of California - Berkeley students is as follows.

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Race/Ethnicity Number of Grads
Asian 10,523
Black or African American 580
Hispanic or Latino 5,328
White 6,335
International Students 3,781
Other Races/Ethnicities 2,753

Geographic Diversity

California students aren't the only ones who study at University of California - Berkeley. At this time, 44 states are represented by the student population at the school.

Over 129 countries are represented at UC Berkeley. The most popular countries sending students to the school are China, South Korea, and India.

Online Learning at University of California - Berkeley

31,439 Took All Classes Online
41,164 Took At Least One Class Online
894.2% Avg Growth Over 4 Years
In 2019-2020, 41,164 students took at least one online class at the school.

The following chart shows how the online learning population at UC Berkeley has changed over the last few years.

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Online Affordability Rankings of UC Berkeley

During the most recent year for which we have data, the full-time undergraduate tuition at University of California - Berkeley was $14,312 for in-state students. Out-of-state students paid $44,066. The following table shows how UC Berkeley is ranked for affordability for both in-state and out-of-state students among colleges and universities that are not mostly online.

Major Tuition for In-State Students Tuition for Out-of-State Students
Electrical Engineering #73 #100

Online Growth Rankings of UC Berkeley

The average growth rate over the last four years of online students at University of California - Berkeley was 894.2%. This is the #119 largest growth rate of all schools that are mostly online. This refers to all students at UC Berkeley regardless of major.

When we speak of partially online, we are referring to schools whose online population is less than 50% of its total student body. Mostly online refers to those with online populations greater than or equal to 50%.

University of California - Berkeley Undergraduate Concentrations

The table below shows the number of awards for each concentration.

Major Bachelor’s Graduate Certificate Master’s Doctor’s TOTAL
Cell Biology & Anatomical Sciences 829 0 0 33 862
Computer Science 797 0 8 51 856
Economics 758 0 12 38 808
Electrical Engineering 516 0 161 53 730
Computer Information Systems 614 0 0 0 614
Natural Resources Conservation 482 0 78 44 604
Management Sciences & Quantitative Methods 0 0 595 0 595
Political Science & Government 496 0 29 12 537
Public Health 223 0 248 6 477
Business Administration & Management 392 0 15 8 415
Applied Mathematics 275 0 96 6 377
Sociology 356 0 7 11 374
Information Science 0 0 370 3 373
Law 0 0 0 327 327
Child Development & Psychology 303 0 5 18 326
Mechanical Engineering 170 0 116 34 320
Civil Engineering 89 0 179 26 294
Communication & Media Studies 268 0 0 0 268
Cognitive Science 265 0 0 0 265
General English Literature 247 0 0 7 254
General Biology 233 0 1 14 248
Other Social Sciences 217 0 0 0 217
Non-Professional General Legal Studies 216 0 0 0 216
Statistics 148 0 41 8 197
Physics 129 0 29 39 197
Social Work 79 27 86 5 197
Operations Research 76 0 111 5 192
Chemical Engineering 146 0 16 13 175
Chemistry 113 0 4 53 170
Biomedical Engineering 107 0 38 16 161
History 131 0 4 14 149
Mathematics 118 0 2 24 144
International Studies 128 0 7 0 135
General Architecture 115 0 5 9 129
Ethnic Studies 118 0 9 2 129
Other Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies 109 15 0 2 126
Legal Research 0 0 119 6 125
Anthropology 96 0 11 13 120
Public Policy 0 0 108 6 114
Fine & Studio Arts 97 0 6 4 107
Philosophy 101 0 1 4 106
Area Studies 96 0 8 1 105
Nutrition Science 99 0 0 4 103
Linguistics & Comparative Literature 78 0 2 16 96
Romance Languages 69 0 9 7 85
Optometry 0 19 0 64 83
Film, Video & Photographic Arts 75 0 0 4 79
Materials Sciences 27 0 30 17 74
Architectural Sciences & Technology 0 0 70 0 70
Astronomy & Astrophysics 49 0 11 5 65
Writing Studies 56 0 0 4 60
Sustainability Science 0 0 54 0 54
Music 40 0 6 8 54
Teacher Education Grade Specific 0 0 50 0 50
Geological & Earth Sciences 34 0 5 10 49
General Education 0 9 19 17 45
Nuclear Engineering 11 0 18 16 45
Drama & Theater Arts 38 0 1 2 41
Radio, Television & Digital Communication 0 0 40 0 40
Microbiological Sciences & Immunology 29 0 2 8 39
Urban Studies 35 0 0 0 35
Botany/Plant Biology 22 0 1 7 30
East Asian Languages 25 0 2 1 28
Environmental Design 26 0 0 0 26
Landscape Architecture 24 0 0 0 24
Biomathematics & Bioinformatics 0 0 12 10 22
Engineering Science 19 0 0 0 19
Germanic Languages 10 0 3 6 19
Engineering Physics 18 0 0 0 18
Educational Administration 0 0 17 0 17
Ecology, Evolution & Systematics Biology 0 0 5 9 14
Foreign Language, Literature & Linguistics (Other) 11 0 0 3 14
Classical & Ancient Studies 13 0 0 0 13
Slavic, Baltic & Albanian Languages 10 0 0 2 12
Forestry 6 0 6 0 12
Middle Eastern Semitic Languages 10 0 0 0 10
Biochemistry, Biophysics & Molecular Biology 0 0 1 8 9
Pharmacology & Toxicology 0 0 2 7 9
Physiology & Pathology Sciences 0 0 1 8 9
Environmental Engineering 9 0 0 0 9
Classical Languages & Literature 6 0 3 0 9
Neurobiology & Neurosciences 0 0 1 7 8
Other Engineering 8 0 0 0 8
Urban & Regional Planning 0 0 1 6 7
General Engineering 0 0 0 5 5
Atmospheric Sciences & Meteorology 5 0 0 0 5
Other Education 0 0 0 4 4
Legal Professions (Other) 0 0 0 4 4
Peace Studies & Conflict Resolution 4 0 0 0 4
Dance 4 0 0 0 4
Special Education 0 0 0 2 2
Demography & Population Studies 0 0 1 1 2
Plant Sciences 0 0 1 0 1
Agricultural Economics & Business 0 0 0 0 0
Other Agriculture 0 0 0 0 0
Real Estate Development 0 0 0 0 0
Biological & Biomedical Sciences (Other) 0 0 0 0 0
Journalism 0 0 0 0 0
Agricultural Engineering 0 0 0 0 0
Manufacturing Engineering 0 0 0 0 0
Celtic Language & Literature 0 0 0 0 0
Health & Medical Administrative Services 0 0 0 0 0
Liberal Arts General Studies 0 0 0 0 0
Natural Resource Management 0 0 0 0 0
Natural Resources Conservation (Other) 0 0 0 0 0
Wildlife Management 0 0 0 0 0
Religious Studies 0 0 0 0 0
General Physical Sciences 0 0 0 0 0
General Psychology 0 0 0 0 0
Geography & Cartography 0 0 0 0 0
Design & Applied Arts 0 0 0 0 0
TOTAL 10,523 70 2,899 1,187 14,679

References

*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.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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