Welcome prospective Gauchos. It’s that time of year again as the UC application has now opened and submission starts October 1 through November 30. I am @Gumbymom one of the two UC Forum Champions/Moderators. My Co-Forum Champion is @lkg4answers and we are knowledgeable on the increasingly complicated UC admissions process and hopefully we can help any prospective UC applicants with their questions.
UC Santa Barbara like all the UC’s are test blind and will use 13 areas of criteria to review Freshman applicants. Each campus will weight the various areas of criteria differently so one size does not fit all. The UC application website has plenty of information that can help determine if UC Santa Barbara is a good option when applying. Below is some admit information specific to the school.
Very important : Academic GPA, Personal Insight questions
Important : Rigor of secondary school record
Considered : Character/personal qualities, Extracurricular activities, First generation college student, State residency, Talent/ability, Volunteer work, Work experience
Special consideration for disadvantaged students.
College of Letters and Sciences: Choice of major is not considered in selection to the College of Letters and Science but applicants are admitted into the major or pre-major. If admitted into a Pre-Major, the student must meet course and GPA requirements before declaring the major. The exceptions to this rule are dance and music performance majors. Both majors require applicants to complete an audition in late January or early February.
College of Engineering: Students are selected by major for all engineering and computer science majors. Only applicants with a solid background in advanced high school mathematics will be considered for admission to engineering. This includes high grades in all math courses through grade 11 and enrollment in pre-calculus or higher in grade 12. A student not selected for their first choice major will be reviewed for admission to an alternate major outside of the College of Engineering if one was selected.
College of Creative Studies:
Applicants to the College of Creative Studies submit a supplementary application in addition to the general UC Application, which is reviewed by Creative Studies faculty. Students are selected within Creative Studies majors only. Applicants not selected for Creative Studies will automatically be considered for admission to the College of Letters and Science.
It’s been a while! I was really active on the 2026 threads and was just checking in to see how everyone’s applications were doing.
I applied during the Fall 2022 admissions season and was admitted to UCSB for Computer Engineering in the College of Engineering, and that’s where I currently attend!
If anybody has questions regarding UCSB student life, academics and admissions let me know.
Oh also @Gumbymom I’m not sure if people here have done this before, but recently I requested a FERPA review of admissions file from the UCSB Office of Admissions, and I got to see how they graded applications (and of course how the admissions officers graded my application). I wonder if that would be of interest here.
I’ve added a little bit about how readers graded my ECs and Essays in the thread that you linked. I think I’ll add more about the process if anybody else asks; it’s currently finals season here.
Quarter system is relentless!
And thank you, UCSB was definitely the right school for me
What happens if a student puts both a CCS major and a non-CSS major as the two options on the UC application but then doesn’t complete the CCS application? Could it impact admission to UCSB (not CCS)?
Also, CCS says they technically have rolling admissions but seems to encourage the initial application deadline. Given the limited class size, is there really room for them to admit many people who wait to apply until after the UCSB decisions are released or is the vast majority of the class set before that?
According to UCSB:
Applicants not selected for Creative Studies will automatically be considered for admission to the College of Letters and Science if such a major is selected in the UC application. So if the supplemental application is not completed for CCS, then it appears your student will be considered for their alternate major in L&S.
Regarding the rolling admissions after the priority deadline, I cannot answer that question. I would contact UCSB directly.
Will I automatically be considered for admission to the College of Letters & Science if I’m not admitted to CCS?
Answer: Not automatically. Both the College of Creative Studies and the College of Engineering require that you list our programs as your intended major on your UC application for initial admission review. The UCSB Office of Admissions will not admit you to L&S if you do not select an L&S major on your UC application. If admission to either COE and/or CCS is
of the utmost importance to you in considering attending UCSB, we encourage you to list us as your preferred major for admission. Transferring into the College of Engineering or the College of Creative Studies is not easy, as space in both colleges is extremely limited
What happens if a student puts both a CCS major and a non-CSS major as the two options on the UC application but then doesn’t complete the CCS application?
I may have mistakenly assumed the Non-CCS major noted was a major in College of L&S?
Chem E and CCS Chemistry. The reason is that he is interested in materials science (and he applied to this at most UCs) but they do not have an undergraduate major at UCSB… but on the other hand they have a strong grad program and research. So he hopes that one of these options would allow him to be involved in materials research.
UCSB admit rates and Average Fully weighted GPA by College for Fall 2022:
Letters and Sciences: 27% GPA: 4.40 (App-87,816 Admit-23,540)
Engineering: 22% GPA: 4.52 (App-21,350 Admit-4775)
CCS: 21% GPA: 4.37 (App-1840 Admit-383)
Some Preliminary Waitlist/Appeal data from the UC Counselor conference. UCSB took a cautious approach to their admissions for Fall 2022 and relied on the waitlist to meet target enrollment.
UCSB has a BS+MS program in Material Science where you can get a masters and a bachelors in 5 years It’s eligible for Chemical Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering majors.
It’s eligible for Chemical Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering majors.