The University of California schools received a record number of applications this year, a year after setting an all-time applications benchmark. In all, 210,840 students applied to the University of California schools to join the Class of 2026. This marked a 3.5% increase from last year’s record tally, a record marked by increased applications from Californians, out-of-staters, and international students. Among the UC schools, it was the University of California, Los Angeles, which received the most applications — 149,779 in total (keep in mind that many of these applicants also applied to other UC schools as well). The record tally at UCLA in fact marked the most applications received by any university in America for this admissions cycle. But it was the University of California, Berkeley that experienced the biggest application spike year-over-year with applications surging 13.6% to 128,192. And what was the breakdown of the overall UC applicant pool for the Class of 2026? Wonder no more!

As Teresa Watanabe reports for The Los Angeles Times in a piece entitled “UC smashes record for first-year fall applications, with gains in most racial groups,” “Among them, California residents numbered 132,337, led again by Latinos at 38%, followed by Asian Americans at 31%, white students at 21%, Black applicants at 7%, American Indians at 1% and Pacific Islanders, less than 1%. Black applicants have made particularly striking gains, increasing at the fastest pace among all racial groups. In the last two years, their numbers have grown by 25% systemwide with an even greater surge at the most competitive campuses, including 57% at UC Berkeley and 47% at UCLA. During that same time, Latino, Asian American and white applicants have increased by about 17%.”

While transfer applications to the University of California schools were down this year due in large part to fewer students attending community colleges these days, it is unsurprising that the UC schools would record a record application tally after eliminating the SAT/ACT testing requirement in admissions. These schools are not test-optional, like so many of their peer elite universities across America. Rather, these schools do not consider SAT and ACT scores as a matter of law. The elimination of this requirement inspired more students to apply. It’s as simple as that.