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University of California - Santa Cruz

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University of California - Santa Cruz Overview

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

What Is University of California - Santa Cruz Known For?

5,391 Undergraduate Awards
$47,423 Avg Cost After Aid
65% Acceptance Rate
  • The student loan default rate at UC Santa Cruz is 3%, 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 UC Santa Cruz.
  • For the 2019-2020 academic year, 75% of the faculty were full-time.
  • After graduation, UC Santa Cruz bachelor's degree recipients go on to jobs where they make $58,112 a year. That's about 42% more than their peers at other schools.

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University of California - Santa Cruz Rankings

These rankings may look different from those published by other outlets, because we use an outcomes-based approach rather than a subjective one. We get our data from a number of places, including the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and the College Scorecard. For more information, check out our rankings and methodology page.

Program Level Awards

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

Rank Ranking Name Share
#1 Best Education Philosophy Bachelor’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#1 Best Value Education Philosophy Bachelor’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#3 Best Educational Assessment Master’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#5 Most Popular Physical Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#6 Most Popular Foreign Languages & Linguistics Bachelor’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#7 Best Education Bachelor’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#7 Most Popular Ethnic, Culture & Gender Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#9 Best Value Educational Assessment Master’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#12 Most Popular Computer & Information Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#16 Best Teacher Education Subject Specific Bachelor’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It

Awards From Around the Web

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

Rank Ranking Name Source
#5 Best Educational Assessment Schools College Factual
#6 Best Teaching Schools Teaching Degree Search
#14 Best Education Graduate Degree Schools College Factual
#22 Best Legal Professions Schools College Factual
#72 Best Psychology Schools College Factual
#137 Best Business, Management & Marketing Schools College Factual

Where Is University of California - Santa Cruz?

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Contact details for UC Santa Cruz are given below.

Contact Details
Address: 1156 High St, Santa Cruz, CA 95064-1011
Phone: 831-459-0111
Website: www.ucsc.edu/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ucsantacruz
Twitter: http://twitter.com/ucsc

How Do I Get Into UC Santa Cruz?

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

Admission Requirements for UC Santa Cruz

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 UC Santa Cruz?

65% Acceptance Rate
55% Of Accepted Are Women
89% Submit SAT Scores
With an acceptance rate of 65%, UC Santa Cruz does not let just anybody through their doors! Make sure you spend enough time polishing up your application so you will make a great impression.

Approximately 45% of accepted students are men and 55% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 65%, and the acceptance rate for women is 64%.

Average Test Scores

About 89% of students accepted to UC Santa Cruz submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 580 and 670. Math scores were between 580 and 690.

SAT Reading and Writing Scores for University of California - Santa Cruz  ( 580 to 670 )
200
800

SAT Math Scores for University of California - Santa Cruz  ( 580 to 690 )
200
800
UC Santa Cruz received ACT scores from 32% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT English scores ranged between 23 and 31. Math scores were between 23 and 29. Composite scores were between 25 and 33.

ACT English Scores for University of California - Santa Cruz  ( 23 to 31 )
1
36
ACT Math Scores for University of California - Santa Cruz  ( 23 to 29 )
1
36
ACT Composite Scores for University of California - Santa Cruz  ( 25 to 33 )
1
36

Can I Afford University of California - Santa Cruz?

$47,423 Net Price
36% Take Out Loans
2.9% Loan Default Rate
The overall average net price of UC Santa Cruz is $47,423. 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 Santa Cruz, approximately 36% of students took out student loans averaging $6,332 a year. That adds up to $25,328 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at UC Santa Cruz is 2.9%. 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 Cruz Undergraduate Student Diversity

16,521 Full-Time Undergraduates
47% Women
61% Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
There are 17,207 undergraduate students at UC Santa Cruz, with 16,521 being full-time and 686 being part-time.

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There are also 1,954 graduate students at the school.

Gender Diversity

Of the 16,521 full-time undergraduates at UC Santa Cruz, 53% are male and 47% are female.

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Racial-Ethnic Diversity

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

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Race/Ethnicity Number of Grads
Asian 3,842
Black or African American 317
Hispanic or Latino 4,518
White 4,918
International Students 1,275
Other Races/Ethnicities 1,651

Geographic Diversity

California students aren't the only ones who study at University of California - Santa Cruz. At this time, 35 states are represented by the student population at the school.

Over 72 countries are represented at UC Santa Cruz. The most popular countries sending students to the school are China, India, and Taiwan.

Online Learning at University of California - Santa Cruz

16,945 Took All Classes Online
18,592 Took At Least One Class Online
141,233.3% Avg Growth Over 4 Years
In 2019-2020, 18,592 students took at least one online class at the school.

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

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Online Growth Rankings of UC Santa Cruz

The average growth rate over the last four years of online students at University of California - Santa Cruz was 141,233.3%. This is the #3 largest growth rate of all schools that are mostly online. This refers to all students at UC Santa Cruz 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 Cruz Undergraduate Concentrations

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

Major Bachelor’s Master’s Doctor’s TOTAL
Computer Science 670 52 7 729
General Psychology 510 3 7 520
Cell Biology & Anatomical Sciences 297 3 13 313
Business/Managerial Economics 291 0 0 291
Sociology 261 6 6 273
Linguistics & Comparative Literature 216 6 4 226
Natural Resources Conservation 208 4 8 220
Economics 154 57 8 219
General Biology 204 0 0 204
Political Science & Government 196 3 2 201
Film, Video & Photographic Arts 177 0 2 179
Anthropology 161 2 6 169
Ethnic Studies 161 4 1 166
Ecology, Evolution & Systematics Biology 143 2 10 155
Non-Professional General Legal Studies 148 0 0 148
Fine & Studio Arts 142 5 0 147
Mathematics 125 11 6 142
Cognitive Science 140 0 0 140
Information Technology 135 0 0 135
History 119 12 4 135
Design & Applied Arts 108 0 0 108
Computer Engineering 85 12 9 106
Physics 75 14 6 95
Chemistry 76 4 13 93
Electrical Engineering 53 21 4 78
Astronomy & Astrophysics 65 5 6 76
Educational Assessment 0 70 3 73
Biochemistry, Biophysics & Molecular Biology 70 0 0 70
Philosophy 63 3 1 67
Geological & Earth Sciences 44 11 10 65
Neurobiology & Neurosciences 61 0 0 61
Biomathematics & Bioinformatics 36 9 7 52
Computer Software & Applications 0 47 2 49
Biomedical Engineering 37 0 0 37
Drama & Theater Arts 32 4 0 36
Community Organization & Advocacy 35 0 0 35
Romance Languages 25 0 0 25
Music 18 3 4 25
Plant Sciences 18 0 0 18
Applied Mathematics 1 15 0 16
General Physical Sciences 14 0 0 14
Statistics 0 11 2 13
Other Visual Art 0 10 3 13
Public Relations & Advertising 0 9 0 9
Natural Resource Management 0 7 0 7
Pharmacology & Toxicology 0 3 2 5
Area Studies 5 0 0 5
Classical Languages & Literature 5 0 0 5
Other Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies 1 0 4 5
Teacher Education Subject Specific 3 0 0 3
Archeology 2 0 0 2
Religious Studies 1 0 0 1
Biological & Biomedical Sciences (Other) 0 0 0 0
Communication & Media Studies 0 0 0 0
Computer Information Systems 0 0 0 0
Other Computer & Information Sciences 0 0 0 0
General Education 0 0 0 0
Systems Engineering 0 0 0 0
English Literature (Other) 0 0 0 0
Child Development & Psychology 0 0 0 0
Other Social Sciences 0 0 0 0
TOTAL 5,391 428 160 5,979

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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