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The University of California was founded upon the inherent yet revolutionary principle that college should be available to everyone. Its founders wanted to create a state-run university that would “serve equally the children of immigrants and settlers, landowners and industrial barons.” In 1870, UC Regents degreed that the university should admit both women and men. Interestingly, many Ivy League colleges didn’t accept women for nearly 100 more years.
On March 23, 1868, California Governor Henty Haight signed the Organic Act, creating the University of California and designating 160 acres of land in Berkeley to build a campus. When the university opened its doors in 1869, it had ten faculty and 38 students.
Today, the UC system boasts more than 280,000 students and 227,000 faculty and staff. Two million UC graduates now live and work around the world.
The UC schools consist of nine undergraduate and graduate campuses across California. UC San Francisco wasn’t included in this list because it doesn’t have undergraduate programs.
Each UC campus features unique characteristics, demographics, admission requirements, specialties, strengths, and challenges. Students typically have a preference towards a specific UC school based on their desired major or career path. Some students prefer a particular campus because of its location, extracurricular activities, or sports teams.
The UC Schools do not have an internal ranking system, but they all rank in US News & World Report’s 2021 Best Colleges rankings. This highly reputable ranking system gathers data from each school, dividing it into 17 categories related to academics, student outcomes, university standing in the academic community, and overall student/faculty well-being. Each category is weighted (as a percentage) based on what matters most.
While each UC school possesses strengths and weaknesses, these rankings weigh several key factors before arriving at these numbers.
UC Ranked | US News Public University Ranking | US News National Ranking | QS World Ranking | |
---|---|---|---|---|
UCLA | 1 | 1 | 20 | 40 |
UC Berkeley | 2 | 2 | 22 | 32 |
UC Santa Barbara | 3 | 6 | 30 | 146 |
UC San Diego | 4 | 8 | 35 | 48 |
UC Irvine | 5 | 8 | 35 | 232 |
UC Davis | 6 | 11 | 39 | 138 |
UC Riverside | 7 | 34 | 88 | 403 |
UC Santa Cruz | 8 | 40 | 97 | 347 |
UC Merced | 9 | 40 | 97 | N/A |