Which majors are most competitive across the University of California system?
The University of California consists of nine campuses with undergraduate programs and they are all ranked among the best universities in the US (according to US News). All nine rank within the top 45 public schools including #1 and #2 and top 85 national universities in the US.
This data visualization focuses on the acceptance rates for students based on their indicated preferred majors in their application to the various University of California campuses in the Fall of 2023 admissions cycle. When you apply to a given university campus, you need to specify a major and this choice can affect the student’s chances of getting accepted, especially if the major is very sought after. Subjects like computer science are very popular and as a result, the data shows that most campuses have a lower acceptance rate for computer science as compared to the university as a whole.
Data visualization
The graph shown in the data visualization is a marimekko graph which shows a percentage based bar graph showing the acceptance rate (in blue) for a given major at a given university. The height of each horizontal bar is proportional to the number of applicants to that major, so taller bars have more applicants vs bars that are shorter. If you hover over (or click on mobile) a bar, it provides more information about the acceptance rate, enrollment rate (i.e. yield rate) and the GPA of accepted students. You can choose to sort the graph by subject name, admit rate or number of applicants.
The data visualization can help you explore different campuses and major categories. If you are viewing “School View“, you can see how the various disciplines compare for a single university at one time. Whereas if you view “Subject View” you can see the comparison of a single discipline across the University campuses that offer those majors.
The University of California has over 240,000 undergraduate students and extends about 140,000 acceptances to fill out 42,000 slots for first year students. There is a significant amount of overlap as most students applying for admission apply to several campuses, and many students get accepted to multiple campuses.
The broad disciplines used in the visualization are composed of a number of individual majors and these are detailed in the table below.
GPA calculation
The University of California only considers grades from 10th grade and 11th grade for admissions decisions, and uses a weighted system where honors and AP classes are given an extra point in GPA calculations above the normal A=4, B=3, C=2, etc. . GPA calculation. So for an honors math class, for example, an A would be worth 5 points.
Sources and Tools:
Data comes directly from the University of California website for the fall of 2023, which has quite a bit of interesting data about students and admissions. I downloaded the data and processed it with python to organize it. The webtool is made using javascript, HTML and CSS and graphed using the open-source plotly graphing library.
Table of Disciplines to majors
This table lists the specific areas and majors that make up the broad disciplines shown in the data visualization.
| Broad discipline | CIP Family Title | CIP Subfamily Title |
|---|---|---|
| Architecture | ARCHITECTURE AND RELATED SERVICES | Architecture. |
| Architecture | ARCHITECTURE AND RELATED SERVICES | City/Urban, Community, and Regional Planning. |
| Architecture | ARCHITECTURE AND RELATED SERVICES | Environmental Design. |
| Architecture | ARCHITECTURE AND RELATED SERVICES | Landscape Architecture. |
| Architecture | ARCHITECTURE AND RELATED SERVICES | Real Estate Development. |
| Arts & Humanities | FOREIGN LANGUAGES, LITERATURES, AND LINGUISTICS | Linguistic, Comparative, and Related Language Studies and Services. |
| Arts & Humanities | FOREIGN LANGUAGES, LITERATURES, AND LINGUISTICS | African Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics. |
| Arts & Humanities | FOREIGN LANGUAGES, LITERATURES, AND LINGUISTICS | East Asian Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics. |
| Arts & Humanities | FOREIGN LANGUAGES, LITERATURES, AND LINGUISTICS | Slavic, Baltic and Albanian Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics. |
| Arts & Humanities | FOREIGN LANGUAGES, LITERATURES, AND LINGUISTICS | Germanic Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics. |
| Arts & Humanities | FOREIGN LANGUAGES, LITERATURES, AND LINGUISTICS | Romance Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics. |
| Arts & Humanities | FOREIGN LANGUAGES, LITERATURES, AND LINGUISTICS | Middle/Near Eastern and Semitic Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics. |
| Arts & Humanities | FOREIGN LANGUAGES, LITERATURES, AND LINGUISTICS | Classics and Classical Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics. |
| Arts & Humanities | FOREIGN LANGUAGES, LITERATURES, AND LINGUISTICS | Celtic Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics. |
| Arts & Humanities | FOREIGN LANGUAGES, LITERATURES, AND LINGUISTICS | Foreign Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics, Other. |
| Arts & Humanities | ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE/LETTERS | English Language and Literature, General. |
| Arts & Humanities | ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE/LETTERS | Rhetoric and Composition/Writing Studies. |
| Arts & Humanities | ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE/LETTERS | Literature. |
| Arts & Humanities | ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE/LETTERS | English Language and Literature/Letters, Other. |
| Arts & Humanities | LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES, GENERAL STUDIES AND HUMANITIES | Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities. |
| Arts & Humanities | PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGIOUS STUDIES | Philosophy. |
| Arts & Humanities | PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGIOUS STUDIES | Religion/Religious Studies. |
| Arts & Humanities | VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS | Visual and Performing Arts, General. |
| Arts & Humanities | VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS | Dance. |
| Arts & Humanities | VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS | Design and Applied Arts. |
| Arts & Humanities | VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS | Drama/Theatre Arts and Stagecraft. |
| Arts & Humanities | VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS | Film/Video and Photographic Arts. |
| Arts & Humanities | VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS | Fine and Studio Arts. |
| Arts & Humanities | VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS | Music. |
| Arts & Humanities | VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS | Arts, Entertainment, and Media Management. |
| Arts & Humanities | VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS | Visual and Performing Arts, Other. |
| Arts & Humanities | HISTORY | History. |
| Broad discipline | CIP Family Title | CIP Subfamily Title |
|---|---|---|
| Business | BUSINESS, MANAGEMENT, MARKETING, AND RELATED SUPPORT SERVICES | Business Administration, Management and Operations. |
| Business | BUSINESS, MANAGEMENT, MARKETING, AND RELATED SUPPORT SERVICES | Business/Managerial Economics. |
| Business | BUSINESS, MANAGEMENT, MARKETING, AND RELATED SUPPORT SERVICES | Human Resources Management and Services. |
| Business | BUSINESS, MANAGEMENT, MARKETING, AND RELATED SUPPORT SERVICES | Management Information Systems and Services. |
| Business | BUSINESS, MANAGEMENT, MARKETING, AND RELATED SUPPORT SERVICES | Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods. |
| Computer Science | COMPUTER AND INFORMATION SCIENCES AND SUPPORT SERVICES | Computer and Information Sciences, General. |
| Computer Science | COMPUTER AND INFORMATION SCIENCES AND SUPPORT SERVICES | Computer Programming. |
| Computer Science | COMPUTER AND INFORMATION SCIENCES AND SUPPORT SERVICES | Information Science/Studies. |
| Computer Science | COMPUTER AND INFORMATION SCIENCES AND SUPPORT SERVICES | Computer Science. |
| Computer Science | COMPUTER AND INFORMATION SCIENCES AND SUPPORT SERVICES | Computer Software and Media Applications. |
| Computer Science | COMPUTER AND INFORMATION SCIENCES AND SUPPORT SERVICES | Computer/Information Technology Administration and Management. |
| Education | EDUCATION | Education, General. |
| Education | EDUCATION | Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education. |
| Education | EDUCATION | Special Education and Teaching. |
| Education | EDUCATION | Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Subject Areas. |
| Engineering | ENGINEERING | Engineering, General. |
| Engineering | ENGINEERING | Aerospace, Aeronautical, and Astronautical/Space Engineering. |
| Engineering | ENGINEERING | Agricultural Engineering. |
| Engineering | ENGINEERING | Biomedical/Medical Engineering. |
| Engineering | ENGINEERING | Chemical Engineering. |
| Engineering | ENGINEERING | Civil Engineering. |
| Engineering | ENGINEERING | Computer Engineering. |
| Engineering | ENGINEERING | Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering. |
| Engineering | ENGINEERING | Engineering Physics. |
| Engineering | ENGINEERING | Engineering Science. |
| Engineering | ENGINEERING | Environmental/Environmental Health Engineering. |
| Engineering | ENGINEERING | Materials Engineering. |
| Engineering | ENGINEERING | Mechanical Engineering. |
| Engineering | ENGINEERING | Nuclear Engineering. |
| Engineering | ENGINEERING | Operations Research. |
| Engineering | ENGINEERING | Geological/Geophysical Engineering. |
| Engineering | ENGINEERING | Mechatronics, Robotics, and Automation Engineering. |
| Engineering | ENGINEERING | Biochemical Engineering. |
| Engineering | ENGINEERING | Biological/Biosystems Engineering. |
| Engineering | ENGINEERING | Engineering, Other. |
| Life Sciences | AGRICULTURAL/ ANIMAL/ PLANT/ VETERINARY SCIENCE AND RELATED FIELDS | Animal Sciences. |
| Life Sciences | AGRICULTURAL/ ANIMAL/ PLANT/ VETERINARY SCIENCE AND RELATED FIELDS | Food Science and Technology. |
| Life Sciences | AGRICULTURAL/ ANIMAL/ PLANT/ VETERINARY SCIENCE AND RELATED FIELDS | Plant Sciences. |
| Life Sciences | NATURAL RESOURCES AND CONSERVATION | Natural Resources Conservation and Research. |
| Life Sciences | NATURAL RESOURCES AND CONSERVATION | Forestry. |
| Life Sciences | NATURAL RESOURCES AND CONSERVATION | Wildlife and Wildlands Science and Management. |
| Life Sciences | NATURAL RESOURCES AND CONSERVATION | Natural Resources and Conservation, Other. |
| Life Sciences | BIOLOGICAL AND BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES | Biology, General. |
| Life Sciences | BIOLOGICAL AND BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES | Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology. |
| Life Sciences | BIOLOGICAL AND BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES | Botany/Plant Biology. |
| Life Sciences | BIOLOGICAL AND BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES | Cell/Cellular Biology and Anatomical Sciences. |
| Life Sciences | BIOLOGICAL AND BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES | Microbiological Sciences and Immunology. |
| Life Sciences | BIOLOGICAL AND BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES | Zoology/Animal Biology. |
| Life Sciences | BIOLOGICAL AND BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES | Genetics. |
| Life Sciences | BIOLOGICAL AND BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES | Physiology, Pathology and Related Sciences. |
| Life Sciences | BIOLOGICAL AND BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES | Pharmacology and Toxicology. |
| Life Sciences | BIOLOGICAL AND BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES | Biomathematics, Bioinformatics, and Computational Biology. |
| Life Sciences | BIOLOGICAL AND BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES | Biotechnology. |
| Life Sciences | BIOLOGICAL AND BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES | Ecology, Evolution, Systematics, and Population Biology. |
| Life Sciences | BIOLOGICAL AND BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES | Neurobiology and Neurosciences. |
| Life Sciences | BIOLOGICAL AND BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES | Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Other. |
| Broad discipline | CIP Family Title | CIP Subfamily Title |
|---|---|---|
| Nursing | HEALTH PROFESSIONS AND RELATED PROGRAMS | Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical |
| Other Health Science | HEALTH PROFESSIONS AND RELATED PROGRAMS | Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Administration. |
| Other Health Science | HEALTH PROFESSIONS AND RELATED PROGRAMS | Public Health. |
| Other/ Interdisciplinary | AGRICULTURAL/ ANIMAL/ PLANT/ VETERINARY SCIENCE AND RELATED FIELDS | Agricultural Business and Management. |
| Other/ Interdisciplinary | AGRICULTURAL/ ANIMAL/ PLANT/ VETERINARY SCIENCE AND RELATED FIELDS | Agricultural Production Operations. |
| Other/ Interdisciplinary | AGRICULTURAL/ ANIMAL/ PLANT/ VETERINARY SCIENCE AND RELATED FIELDS | International Agriculture. |
| Other/ Interdisciplinary | COMMUNICATION, JOURNALISM, AND RELATED PROGRAMS | Communication and Media Studies. |
| Other/ Interdisciplinary | COMMUNICATION, JOURNALISM, AND RELATED PROGRAMS | Journalism. |
| Other/ Interdisciplinary | LEGAL PROFESSIONS AND STUDIES | Non-Professional Legal Studies. |
| Other/ Interdisciplinary | MULTI/INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES | Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution. |
| Other/ Interdisciplinary | MULTI/INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES | Mathematics and Computer Science. |
| Other/ Interdisciplinary | MULTI/INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES | Medieval and Renaissance Studies. |
| Other/ Interdisciplinary | MULTI/INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES | Science, Technology and Society. |
| Other/ Interdisciplinary | MULTI/INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES | Nutrition Sciences. |
| Other/ Interdisciplinary | MULTI/INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES | International/Globalization Studies. |
| Other/ Interdisciplinary | MULTI/INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES | Classical and Ancient Studies. |
| Other/ Interdisciplinary | MULTI/INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES | Cognitive Science. |
| Other/ Interdisciplinary | MULTI/INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES | Human Biology. |
| Other/ Interdisciplinary | MULTI/INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES | Marine Sciences. |
| Other/ Interdisciplinary | MULTI/INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES | Sustainability Studies. |
| Other/ Interdisciplinary | MULTI/INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES | Geography and Environmental Studies. |
| Other/ Interdisciplinary | MULTI/INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES | Data Science. |
| Other/ Interdisciplinary | MULTI/INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES | Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies, Other. |
| Pharmacy | HEALTH PROFESSIONS AND RELATED PROGRAMS | Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Administration. |
| Physical Sciences/Math | MATHEMATICS AND STATISTICS | Mathematics. |
| Physical Sciences/Math | MATHEMATICS AND STATISTICS | Applied Mathematics. |
| Physical Sciences/Math | MATHEMATICS AND STATISTICS | Statistics. |
| Physical Sciences/Math | PHYSICAL SCIENCES | Astronomy and Astrophysics. |
| Physical Sciences/Math | PHYSICAL SCIENCES | Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology. |
| Physical Sciences/Math | PHYSICAL SCIENCES | Chemistry. |
| Physical Sciences/Math | PHYSICAL SCIENCES | Geological and Earth Sciences/Geosciences. |
| Physical Sciences/Math | PHYSICAL SCIENCES | Physics. |
| Physical Sciences/Math | PHYSICAL SCIENCES | Materials Sciences. |
| Physical Sciences/Math | PHYSICAL SCIENCES | Physical Sciences, Other. |
| Broad discipline | CIP Family Title | CIP Subfamily Title |
|---|---|---|
| Public Admin | PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND SOCIAL SERVICE PROFESSIONS | Community Organization and Advocacy. |
| Public Admin | PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND SOCIAL SERVICE PROFESSIONS | Public Administration. |
| Public Admin | PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND SOCIAL SERVICE PROFESSIONS | Public Policy Analysis. |
| Public Admin | PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND SOCIAL SERVICE PROFESSIONS | Social Work. |
| Public Admin | PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND SOCIAL SERVICE PROFESSIONS | Public Administration and Social Service Professions, Other. |
| Public Health | HEALTH PROFESSIONS AND RELATED PROGRAMS | Public Health. |
| Social Sciences | AGRICULTURAL/ANIMAL/ PLANT/VETERINARY SCIENCE AND RELATED FIELDS | Agricultural Business and Management. |
| Social Sciences | AREA, ETHNIC, CULTURAL, GENDER, AND GROUP STUDIES | Area Studies. |
| Social Sciences | AREA, ETHNIC, CULTURAL, GENDER, AND GROUP STUDIES | Ethnic, Cultural Minority, Gender, and Group Studies. |
| Social Sciences | AREA, ETHNIC, CULTURAL, GENDER, AND GROUP STUDIES | Area, Ethnic, Cultural, Gender, and Group Studies, Other. |
| Social Sciences | FAMILY AND CONSUMER SCIENCES/HUMAN SCIENCES | Human Development, Family Studies, and Related Services. |
| Social Sciences | FAMILY AND CONSUMER SCIENCES/HUMAN SCIENCES | Apparel and Textiles. |
| Social Sciences | PSYCHOLOGY | Psychology, General. |
| Social Sciences | PSYCHOLOGY | Research and Experimental Psychology. |
| Social Sciences | PSYCHOLOGY | Clinical, Counseling and Applied Psychology. |
| Social Sciences | PSYCHOLOGY | Psychology, Other. |
| Social Sciences | SOCIAL SCIENCES | Social Sciences, General. |
| Social Sciences | SOCIAL SCIENCES | Anthropology. |
| Social Sciences | SOCIAL SCIENCES | Archeology. |
| Social Sciences | SOCIAL SCIENCES | Criminology. |
| Social Sciences | SOCIAL SCIENCES | Economics. |
| Social Sciences | SOCIAL SCIENCES | Geography and Cartography. |
| Social Sciences | SOCIAL SCIENCES | International Relations and National Security Studies. |
| Social Sciences | SOCIAL SCIENCES | Political Science and Government. |
| Social Sciences | SOCIAL SCIENCES | Sociology. |
| Social Sciences | SOCIAL SCIENCES | Urban Studies/Affairs. |
| Social Sciences | SOCIAL SCIENCES | Social Sciences, Other. |
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