University of California - Santa Barbara Overview

University of California - Santa Barbara is a public institution situated in Santa Barbara, California. UCSB is located in a safe and convenient suburb.

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.
• The doctor's degree is the highest award offered at UCSB.
• In 2017-2018, 85% 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 #304 out of 2,320 schools in the nation for overall quality on our 2021 Best Colleges list. This puts it in the top 15% of all schools in the nation. UCSB also holds the #28 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
#57	Most Popular 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 Foreign Language, Literature & Linguistics (Other) Doctor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#9	Best Film, Video & Photographic Arts Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#10	Best Natural Resources Conservation Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#14	Best Linguistics & Comparative Literature Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#16	Best Natural Resources & Conservation Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#17	Best Dance Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#19	Best Visual & Performing Arts Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#23	Best Geography & Cartography Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#24	Best Music Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#53	Best Communication & Media Studies Bachelor’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
#2	Best Colleges for Natural Resources Conservation	College Factual
#9	Best Colleges for Foreign Languages & Linguistics	College Factual
#10	Best Colleges for Sociology	College Factual
#25	Best Colleges for Social Sciences	College Factual
#33	Best Colleges for Biological & Biomedical Sciences	College Factual
#103	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
Website:	www.ucsb.edu
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?

UCSB has a fairly low acceptance rate of 33%, which makes it more selective than most schools. Take time to make sure you submit all the requested materials and you prepare the application in full. You don't want to get denied right off the bat due to an incomplete application!

Approximately 41% of accepted students are men and 59% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 30%, and the acceptance rate for women is 36%.

Average Test Scores

About 75% 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 600 and 680. Math scores were between 590 and 720.

UCSB received ACT scores from 59% 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 32. Composite scores were between 28 and 33.

Can I Afford University of California - Santa Barbara?

The overall average net price of UCSB is $46,886. 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 UCSB, approximately 37% of students took out student loans averaging $6,168 a year. That adds up to $24,672 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at UCSB is 2.3%. 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 23,349 undergraduate students at UCSB, with 22,846 being full-time and 503 being part-time.

There are also 2,965 graduate students at the school.

Gender Diversity

Of the 22,846 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	3,944
Black or African American	456
Hispanic or Latino	5,738
White	6,808
International Students	3,401
Other Races/Ethnicities	2,499

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 2017-2018, 365 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.

This is the #2,028 largest growth rate of all schools that are only partially online. This refers to all students at UCSB regardless of major.

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
Child Development & Psychology	696	0	3	3	702
Sociology	627	0	9	7	643
Economics	582	0	12	5	599
Communication & Media Studies	445	0	5	7	457
Natural Resources Conservation	329	0	76	10	415
General Biology	352	0	0	0	352
International Studies	333	0	8	0	341
Political Science & Government	273	0	10	9	292
General Education	0	69	95	20	184
Statistics	158	0	17	8	183
Physics	144	0	19	17	180
Computer Science	112	0	43	12	167
History	152	0	3	9	164
Film, Video & Photographic Arts	154	0	1	5	160
General English Literature	148	0	3	6	157
Electrical Engineering	62	0	61	24	147
Mathematics	114	0	14	13	141
Anthropology	124	0	6	6	136
Management Sciences & Quantitative Methods	84	0	50	0	134
Ethnic Studies	112	0	5	5	122
Linguistics & Comparative Literature	103	0	7	8	118
Chemistry	93	0	6	19	118
Mechanical Engineering	90	0	18	8	116
Fine & Studio Arts	99	0	8	6	113
Applied Mathematics	100	0	1	0	101
Philosophy	93	0	3	3	99
Geography & Cartography	76	0	4	18	98
Chemical Engineering	65	0	0	14	79
Biochemistry, Biophysics & Molecular Biology	70	0	1	3	74
Ecology, Evolution & Systematics Biology	59	0	4	11	74
Romance Languages	68	0	0	0	68
Geological & Earth Sciences	52	0	5	6	63
Computer Engineering	51	0	0	0	51
Cell Biology & Anatomical Sciences	42	0	5	2	49
Drama & Theater Arts	40	0	3	3	46
Music	22	0	8	6	36
Microbiological Sciences & Immunology	35	0	0	0	35
Religious Studies	25	0	5	5	35
Materials Sciences	0	0	5	28	33
Area Studies	19	0	8	0	27
Pharmacology & Toxicology	25	0	0	0	25
Zoology	23	0	0	0	23
Other Psychology	0	5	5	10	20
East Asian Languages	17	0	0	2	19
Classical Languages & Literature	11	0	0	3	14
Dance	14	0	0	0	14
Germanic Languages	13	0	0	0	13
Radio, Television & Digital Communication	0	0	5	3	8
Slavic, Baltic & Albanian Languages	5	0	0	0	5
Physiology & Pathology Sciences	4	0	0	0	4
Business/Managerial Economics	4	0	0	0	4
Liberal Arts General Studies	3	0	0	0	3
Other Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies	3	0	0	0	3
Foreign Language, Literature & Linguistics (Other)	0	0	0	2	2
Neurobiology & Neurosciences	0	0	0	1	1
Communication Sciences	1	0	0	0	1
Medieval Studies	1	0	0	0	1
Educational Administration	0	0	0	0	0
Non-Professional General Legal Studies	0	0	0	0	0
General Psychology	0	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	6,327	74	541	327	7,269

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.