University of California - Santa Barbara Overview

University of California - Santa Barbara is a public institution situated in Santa Barbara, California. Santa Barbara is considered a suburb and offers tranquility and safety near the excitement of a city center.

What Is University of California - Santa Barbara Known For?

• The student loan default rate at UCSB is 2%, which is significantly lower than the national rate of 10.1%. That's great news for students who are worrying about paying off their student loans.
• Although it may not be available for every major, the doctor's degree is the highest award a student can attain at UCSB.
• In 2017-2018, 87% of the faculty were full-time.
• After graduation, UCSB bachelor's degree recipients go on to jobs where they make $55,300 a year. That's about 36% more than their peers at other schools.
• The average UCSB student graduates in 4.2 years. That's better than the national average of 4.4 years.

University of California - Santa Barbara Rankings

UCSB is ranked #154 out of 2,587 schools in the nation for overall quality on our 2022 Best Colleges list. This puts it in the top 10% of all schools in the nation. UCSB also holds the #20 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.

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

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#92	Best Graduate Certificate Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#149	Best Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#153	Best Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Program Level Awards

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

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#1	Best Other Psychology Doctor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#1	Best International Studies Doctor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#13	Best Physics Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#14	Best Geography & Cartography Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#15	Best Communication & Media Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#21	Best Physical Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#24	Best Communication & Journalism Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#40	Best Natural Resources & Conservation Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#77	Best Computer & Information Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#83	Best Education Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Awards From Around the Web

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

Rank	Ranking Name	Source
#15	Best Communication & Media Studies Schools	College Factual
#18	Best Communication & Journalism Schools	College Factual
#24	Best Physical Sciences Schools	College Factual
#86	Best Computer & Information Sciences Schools	College Factual
#93	Best Education Schools	College Factual
#126	Best Business Schools	Business Degree Central

Where Is University of California - Santa Barbara?

Contact details for UCSB are given below.

	Contact Details
Address:	5221 Cheadle Hall, Santa Barbara, CA 93106
Phone:	805-893-8000
Facebook:	https://www.facebook.com/ucsantabarbara
Twitter:	https://twitter.com/ucsantabarbara

How Do I Get Into UCSB?

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

Admission Requirements for UCSB

Submission	Required?
High School GPA	required
High School Rank	neither required nor recommended
High School Transcript	required
College Prep Program	required
Recommendations	neither required nor recommended
SAT or ACT Scores	required
TOEFL	required

How Hard Is It To Get Into UCSB?

The acceptance rate of University of California - Santa Barbara is 37%. While it may not be as selective as some schools, it does screen its applicants very carefully. Do what you can to stand out among others in the pool of applicants!

Approximately 42% of accepted students are men and 58% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 35%, and the acceptance rate for women is 38%.

Average Test Scores

About 82% of students accepted to UCSB submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 620 and 710. Math scores were between 610 and 750.

UCSB received ACT scores from 38% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT English scores ranged between 26 and 34. Math scores were between 26 and 31. Composite scores were between 28 and 34.

Can I Afford University of California - Santa Barbara?

The overall average net price of UCSB is $46,730. 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

It's not uncommon for college students to take out loans to pay for school. In fact, almost 66% of students nationwide depend at least partially on loans. At UCSB, approximately 30% of students took out student loans averaging $6,363 a year. That adds up to $25,452 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at UCSB is 1.5%. 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 - Santa Barbara Undergraduate Student Diversity

There are 23,196 undergraduate students at UCSB, with 22,480 being full-time and 716 being part-time.

There are also 2,983 graduate students at the school.

Gender Diversity

Of the 22,480 full-time undergraduates at UCSB, 45% are male and 55% are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

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

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	4,168
Black or African American	442
Hispanic or Latino	5,586
White	6,773
International Students	2,897
Other Races/Ethnicities	2,614

Geographic Diversity

California students aren't the only ones who study at University of California - Santa Barbara. At this time, 39 states are represented by the student population at the school.

Over 88 countries are represented at UCSB. The most popular countries sending students to the school are China, India, and South Korea.

Online Learning at University of California - Santa Barbara

In 2019-2020, 26,149 students took at least one online class at the school.

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

Online Growth Rankings of UCSB

The average growth rate over the last four years of online students at University of California - Santa Barbara was 42,265.0%. This is the #8 largest growth rate of all schools that are mostly online. This refers to all students at UCSB 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 - Santa Barbara Undergraduate Concentrations

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

Major	Bachelor’s	Graduate Certificate	Master’s	Doctor’s	TOTAL
Economics	703	0	16	8	727
Sociology	713	0	7	7	727
Child Development & Psychology	579	0	4	7	590
Communication & Media Studies	517	0	2	3	522
Natural Resources Conservation	358	0	74	6	438
General Biology	368	0	0	0	368
International Studies	366	0	1	1	368
Political Science & Government	297	0	6	2	305
Statistics	211	0	15	9	235
General Education	0	76	149	8	233
Mathematics	198	0	5	5	208
General English Literature	200	0	1	6	207
Physics	161	0	21	20	202
Computer Science	145	0	31	23	199
Anthropology	173	0	11	5	189
History	174	0	3	10	187
Film, Video & Photographic Arts	159	0	3	4	166
Electrical Engineering	52	0	78	34	164
Philosophy	139	0	3	2	144
Management Sciences & Quantitative Methods	79	0	54	0	133
Fine & Studio Arts	111	0	7	3	121
Ethnic Studies	118	0	1	1	120
Chemistry	100	0	1	18	119
Linguistics & Comparative Literature	108	0	3	6	117
Geography & Cartography	98	0	6	11	115
Applied Mathematics	107	0	0	0	107
Ecology, Evolution & Systematics Biology	81	0	8	15	104
Mechanical Engineering	88	0	9	6	103
Biochemistry, Biophysics & Molecular Biology	75	0	2	3	80
Geological & Earth Sciences	69	0	6	3	78
Romance Languages	71	0	1	0	72
Chemical Engineering	54	0	0	9	63
Cell Biology & Anatomical Sciences	40	0	10	7	57
Computer Engineering	55	0	0	0	55
Music	32	0	8	6	46
Drama & Theater Arts	41	0	0	1	42
Religious Studies	29	0	2	3	34
Microbiological Sciences & Immunology	32	0	0	0	32
Area Studies	27	0	3	0	30
Materials Sciences	0	0	10	20	30
Pharmacology & Toxicology	29	0	0	0	29
Dance	26	0	0	0	26
Zoology	24	0	0	0	24
East Asian Languages	21	0	0	2	23
Other Psychology	0	2	7	12	21
Germanic Languages	15	0	0	0	15
Classical Languages & Literature	10	0	2	0	12
Radio, Television & Digital Communication	0	0	0	6	6
Foreign Language, Literature & Linguistics (Other)	0	0	0	5	5
Business/Managerial Economics	3	0	0	0	3
Slavic, Baltic & Albanian Languages	3	0	0	0	3
Physiology & Pathology Sciences	2	0	0	0	2
Neurobiology & Neurosciences	0	0	0	1	1
Non-Professional General Legal Studies	1	0	0	0	1
Other Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies	1	0	0	0	1
Educational Administration	0	0	0	0	0
Communication Sciences	0	0	0	0	0
Liberal Arts General Studies	0	0	0	0	0
Medieval Studies	0	0	0	0	0
General Psychology	0	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	7,063	78	570	298	8,009

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.

• College Factual
• National Center for Education Statistics
• Image Credit: By Nandaro under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.