We compared admission standards at these California universities. Here’s what we found

With some early application deadlines passing and others looming just around the corner, high school seniors across California are in the thick of it: tallying up their Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate classes, asking teachers for recommendations and putting together personal essays.

Students have more than enough work on their hands without spending time figuring out which schools require what information, and how their grade point average compares to other admitted students’ data. The Sacramento Bee organized key first-year admission information including important dates, acceptance rates and application fees for the University of California and California State University systems as well as Stanford and the University of Southern California so you can keep track of it all in one place.

Here’s what we found:

University of California

Important dates

• While fall 2022 applications became available Aug. 1, students could begin submitting their UC applications Nov. 1. The last day to submit a UC application is Nov. 30.

Test scores

• UC will not consider the SAT or the ACT in admissions or scholarship decisions, according to the website.
• Starting this application cycle, the UC admission by exam policy — employed in circumstances where students who don’t meet minimum course or GPA requirements — will no longer be accepted as a pathway to admissions. UC is looking into a replacement option for this pathway.

Minimum GPA requirement

• UC requires a 3.0 minimum GPA for Californians and a 3.4 minimum for nonresidents. For out-of-state students, UC allows honors weight to factor into GPA calculations for AP or IB classes only; school-designated honors courses will not be weighted in GPA calculations. The middle 25% to 75% of admitted students at Berkeley, for example, had a GPA ranging from 4.12 to 4.30.
• Home-schooled students follow the same admission requirements as students in traditional high schools if the home-schooling curriculum is provided by a regionally accredited school or is approved by the State Board of Education and you will receive an official transcript and diploma. Home-schooled students in other circumstances can be considered for admission by exception, which involves explaining your situation in either the personal insight question or the additional comments section of the UC application.

Application fees

• The domestic application fee is $70 per campus.
• The UC system does not use the Common Application, but it does have one application portal for its nine campuses. Students can apply for a fee waiver for up to four campuses as part of the online application process.

Test scores accepted as credit

• AP test scores of 3, 4 or 5 can be counted for credit. IB students who receive a score of 30 or above can receive college credit and students who earn a 5 or better on certain Higher Level can also receive credit.

Acceptance rates

• Starting this application cycle, Berkeley, San Diego and Los Angeles will be able to admit about 4,500 more California residents than in past years after out-of-state admissions were limited to 18%. In previous years, nearly 23% of acceptances went to out-of-state students, the Wall Street Journal reported.
• Berkeley: 14.5%
• Davis: 49%
• Irvine: 29%
• Los Angeles: 10.8%
• Merced: 87.6%
• Riverside: 65.8%
• San Diego: 34.3%
• Santa Barbara: 29.2%
• Santa Cruz: 58.8%

California State University

Important dates

• The priority application filing period for CSU opened on Oct. 1, and the last day to submit priority fall applications is Nov. 30.
• However, several schools in the system accept applications after Nov. 30. Bakersfield, Channel Islands, Chico State, Dominguez Hills, Monterey Bay, Northridge, Sacramento State, Cal State San Bernardino, San Marcos, Sonoma State and Stanislaus State accept applications through Dec. 15.
• Some schools have even later deadlines: Cal State East Bay accepts applications through Feb. 15, Humboldt State through Feb. 28, Cal Maritime through July 1 and San Francisco State through Dec. 30.

Test scores

• CSU temporarily suspended the ACT and SAT requirements in admissions through 2023. You may report your test scores, but it is optional.

Minimum GPA requirement

• California students need at least a 2.50 GPA, but students with a GPA between 2.00 and 2.49 can be evaluated for admission based on supplemental factors.
• Nonresidents need at least a 3.00 GPA, but students with a GPA between 2.47 and 2.99 may be evaluated for admission based on supplemental factors.
• Supplemental factors include extra courses above minimum requirements, GPA in math or science courses, household income, extracurricular and leadership involvement, educational program participation and other information that might help inform an admission decision.

Application fees

• The CSU application fee is $70 per campus.
• CSU does not use the Common Application system, but has its own application portal. Applicants are automatically considered for fee waivers.

Test scores accepted as credit

• CSU accepts AP Exam scores. Students need a passing grade — anything above 3 — to get credit.

Acceptance rates, according to U.S. News and World Report

• Bakersfield: 78%
• Channel Islands: 86%
• Chico: 90%
• Dominguez Hills: 87%
• East Bay: 73%
• Fullerton: 68%
• Long Beach: 42%
• Monterey Bay: 86%
• Northridge: 65%
• San Bernardino: 78%
• San Marcos: 79%
• Cal Maritime: 76%
• Cal Poly Pomona: 65%
• Cal Poly San Luis Obispo: 38%
• Cal State LA: 76%
• Fresno State: 90%
• Humboldt State: 83%
• Sacramento State: 83%
• San Diego State: 37%
• San Francisco State: 84%
• San José State: 67%
• Sonoma State: 89%
• Stanislaus State: 89%

Stanford

Important dates

• Some Stanford deadlines have already passed: the university offers “restrictive early action,” which is a non-binding early application pathway. But these applicants cannot apply early to any other colleges early. That deadline passed on Nov. 1, though some applicants under that plan may be deferred to regular decision.
• The regular decision deadline is Jan. 5.

Test scores

• ACT and SAT scores are not required for applications this cycle due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Minimum GPA requirement

• There is no minimum GPA requirement at Stanford, but the average unweighted GPA for admitted students is a 4.0.

Application fees

• The Stanford application fee is $90. Students who need it can request a fee waiver.

Test scores accepted as credit

• Depending on the subject, Stanford accepts AP Exam scores of 4 or 5 for credit.
• For IB Higher Exams, students need a score of 5 or higher for credit.

Acceptance rate

• Stanford’s acceptance rate reached a record low of 3.95% this year, according to The Stanford Daily.
• But the Daily also reported the university is considering increasing undergraduate enrollment by as much as 25% in the future.

University of Southern California

Important dates

• While USC does not have an early action or early decision program, students who want to be considered for merit scholarships need to apply by Dec. 1.
• Certain programs, including cinematic arts and music, dance, dramatic arts and the World Bachelor in Business programs require Dec. 1 submissions. Applicants to the USC Iovine and Young Academy must also apply by Dec. 1.
• The final application deadline for all other programs is Jan. 15.

Test scores

• USC is test optional: applicants decide whether they want to submit their ACT or SAT scores for consideration. Students who choose not to submit test scores will not be disadvantaged.

Minimum GPA requirement

• There is no minimum GPA requirement, but the middle 50% of students admitted for the 2020 to 2021 school year had an unweighted GPA ranging from 3.83 to 4.0. The average GPA for last year’s admitted class was 3.88.

Application fees

• The application fee is $85. Students can apply for a fee waiver on the Common Application website.

Test scores accepted as credit

• USC gives elective, general education and foreign language credit for AP Exams where students scored a 4 or 5. On a case-by-case basis, students can use AP Exam scores to wave certain prerequisites or degree requirements.
• IB students can get credit for Higher Level exams with scores of 5 or higher, or if they achieve the IB Diploma with a score of 30 or above.

Acceptance rate

• Last year, more than 70,000 people applied to USC. Close to 9,000 were accepted. The acceptance rate is about 12.4%.