Top 10 Best Universities in California 2025/26: All You Needed to Know
Going to a university can be a really good experience which lets you study and also learn new things. California has more than 280 universities they all have different courses Some of these universities are known as some of the best in the world. This is because they have a good level of study, and it is hard to get in they have a good environment. So, here is a list of the top 10 universities in California.
Why You Should Study in California
California has a lot of universities. And so, some of those universities are known as some of the best in the world of course, you would love to study in one of the best universities in the world. It is good to study there because they have good levels of study, and they are hard to get into, and they have a good environment. And so, if you want to go to a good university, you should think about going to California.
List of 10 Best Universities In California
Stanford University
University of California, Berkeley
California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
University of Southern California (USC)
University of California, San Diego (UCSD)
University of California, Irvine (UCI)
University of California, Davis (UC Davis)
University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB)
University of California, Riverside (UCR)
Stanford University
Stanford is a really well-known and good private university in California. It is for both men and women, and it is for higher education. It was dedicated after Leland Stanford's and his wife's late son. So, the institution was founded in 1885 by Leland Stanford, who was important in the railroad business, and also by his wife, Jane. It was opened in 1891. The university is always trying to be good and to come up with new ideas and it keeps trying to shape the future of education and learning.
Stanford University gets a lot of applications from people who want to get in each year. The university gets tens of thousands of applications every year, and those applications are just for the undergraduate programs. But the exact number changes from year to year. But the number is often more than 40,000. So, that means that it is hard to get in, because so many people are trying to get in, and they all want those spots. But the university only accepts a small number of people. And so, the acceptance rate is usually less than 5%.
The number of people who apply for graduate programs changes. It depends on the specific program and the specific department. But the graduate programs at Stanford are hard to get into and people from all over the world apply.
Stanford is located in Silicon Valley, and that is where all the technology and all the new ideas are based and because it is in Silicon Valley, that has helped Stanford become so well-known. The university is close to all the technology companies, and because of that, the students and the teachers have a lot of chances to work with those companies, and they can get internships, and they can start their own businesses, and so, it's very helpful.
Stanford University has a lot of different departments where people can get a higher education. And so, those include the School of Humanities and Sciences, and the School of Engineering, and the Graduate School of Business, and the School of Medicine, and the School of Law. And so, it has a lot of schools that focus on different things those things include Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences, and Education, and Humanities. And so, each of those schools has different programs that are very specific, and they all have great research opportunities that are perfect for what each school teaches. For more information about the university visit the Stanford University official website.
2. University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley is a research institution, and it has students living there, and it is well-known. And so, it has programs for people who want to get their bachelor's degree, and it has programs for people who want to get their doctorate. The university was established in 1868. So, it has been around for a long time.
And because it has been around for a long time, it has become known for being excellent in academics and also for coming up with new ideas and the university is always trying to help people learn and to help people do research. And so, you can see that in the different kinds of programs that it has, and you can see it in all the different kinds of research initiatives that it has.
It was started to help the public, and it is open to a lot of people and it is still helping to shape education, so that education will be good in the future , because of all that, the university attracts a lot of students and scholars from all over the world.
UC Berkeley gets a lot of applications from people who want to be admitted to the school every year. The number changes. But the number is always big. And often, it is more than 50,000 applications. So, because there are so many applications, that means that it is hard to get in. The university has very high standards for academics.
The number of people who apply to the graduate programs at UC Berkeley changes from department to department. It changes across different fields of study. But what is always true is that each program gets a lot of different candidates, and they are very talented. And so, the graduate programs at Berkeley are hard to get into, and they attract a lot of people from different backgrounds and also from different disciplines.
Berkeley is located in the San Francisco Bay Area. And that area is known for having a lot of cultural diversity. It is also known for having a lot of innovation. So, because Berkeley is located in the San Francisco Bay Area, that helps Berkeley be very important in academics. The university is close to a lot of important companies and it is also close to a lot of important research institutions. And so, that gives the students and the faculty a lot of good chances. They can collaborate, and they can get internships, and they can try to start their own businesses.
At UC Berkeley, the university has a lot of different departments. And so, those departments cater to a lot of different fields of study. Those fields include the College of Letters and Science, the College of Engineering, and the Haas School of Business, the School of Public Health, and the School of Law. And so, every department has specific programs. And they also have different kinds of research opportunities and those programs and opportunities are specifically tailored and that means that they fit well with the specific field. This makes sure that Berkeley is always at the front of academic excellence and innovation. For more information visit the University of California, Berkeley official website.
3. California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
Caltech is in Pasadena, California. It is a leading private university for research and it is dedicated to the pure sciences and also the applied sciences. The university was founded in 1891. And over time, it has attracted a lot of influential scientists and those scientists include people like George Ellery Hale and Robert Andrews Millikan. And attracting those scientists has helped Caltech become prestigious in technological innovation. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory was established in the middle of the 20th century.
And that laboratory is managed by Caltech. Caltech has six academic divisions, and those divisions focus on science and also on engineering and Caltech manages a lot of sponsored research. The primary campus is 124 acres. The university is committed to being excellent and you can see that because people who went there have won 79 Nobel Prizes and that is the highest number of Nobel laureates per capita in America. It has contributed to breakthroughs in sustainability, and also quantum physics, and a lot of other things.
Admissions to Caltech are hard to get. The admit rate for the Class of 2026 was only 2.7% and that means that only 2.7% of people who applied got in. Even though Caltech doesn’t look at test scores, it still attracts a lot of good applicants. And so, Caltech is known as one of the hardest colleges to get into in the U.S. But Caltech also wants to have different kinds of people. And so, in the Class of 2025, 48% were women, and 32% were from ancestries that are underrepresented. For the Class of 2027, it is estimated that 66–67% of the people who got in will decide to go there. And that shows that people really want to go there.
Caltech’s undergraduate program focuses on arts and sciences. It has 28 majors and 12 minors, and those are across six divisions. And there are options to study more than one thing, like Applied Physics and Bioengineering. And some of the most popular majors are things like Computer Science and Electrical Engineering. The core curriculum is now more flexible. Students often take a lot of classes. And about 20% of the students end up getting two majors. People who graduate from Caltech often get good jobs. The median early career salary is $83,400 and the median salary for mid-career is $143,100. Caltech also collaborates with the University of Southern California and they work together for Army and Air Force ROTC programs. For more information visit the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) official website.
4. University of California, Los Angeles.
UCLA is a public university for research, and it’s in Los Angeles. It started a long time ago, because it traces its origins to 1881. But it became part of the University of California system in 1919. It has 337 programs for undergraduates and also for graduates. It is the most applied-to university in the US, and so a lot of people want to go there. And so, in Fall 2022, it got over 174,000 undergraduate applications. The university has the College of Letters and Science, and it also has twelve professional schools. And so, these schools teach a lot of different subjects, and those subjects span from arts and architecture to law and also public health. The university’s sports teams are called the Bruins. And so, UCLA’s student-athletes compete in the Pac-12 Conference. And they have a lot of good achievements in sports, because they have 121 NCAA team championships, and they also have 270 Olympic medals. And the university has really good teachers and really good students, and there are people there who have won Nobel Prizes and also people who have won Turing Awards. And because of this, UCLA is known as a Public Ivy, and it is also known as one of the best places for academics and also research.
UCLA’s admissions process is very hard to get through. U.S. News & World Report says it is “Most Selective,” and The Princeton Review gives it a selectivity rating of 98 out of 99. For Fall 2021, there were 149,815 applications from freshmen. And so, UCLA has very high admission standards, and they accepted 12.3% of the applicants overall. The admissions rates change based on what state you live in. If you are from California, then the admission rate is 12.0%. But if you are from out-of-state, then the U.S. residents have an admission rate of 16.4%. So, UCLA has had some challenges since Proposition 209. But it has adopted a holistic admissions process since Fall 2007. And so, this makes sure that there are fair chances for everyone who applies.
UCLA is a good university, and it has departments that are known for being the best in the country. And so, those include departments like Clinical Psychology and also Fine Arts. And there are also departments that are known across the world, including Chemistry and also Mathematics. UCLA is always recognized in different rankings, and this shows that it is one of the best universities in a lot of different academic fields, and that is the case both nationally and also internationally. For more information visit
University of California, Los Angeles official website.
5. University of Southern California (USC)
The University of Southern California (USC) is in Los Angeles, and it was founded in 1880. So, it is California’s oldest private university for research. It has the Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences, and it also has 22 other schools. And so, USC has a lot of students, because it has around 21,000 undergraduates and 28,500 post-graduate students and these students come from a lot of different backgrounds. USC is a member of the Association of American Universities. And so, notable achievements from students include a lot of Academy and Emmy Awards. And USC has produced more alumni who are billionaires and also more alumni who have won Nobel Laureates than a lot of other institutions.
USC is known for its admissions process, and so it is very hard to get through. For the undergraduate class of 2021, the university had over 70,000 applications. And so, it only admitted 12% of those applicants. Enrolled freshmen for Fall 2019 had really good SAT and ACT scores. USC is also very popular, because it was ranked as the 10th most applied-to university in the nation for Fall 2014. USC also has a need-blind admission policy this makes sure that all applicants in the U.S. have equal opportunities.
At the University of Southern California (USC), the major departments are the Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, and also the USC Viterbi School of Engineering. The university also has the USC Marshall School of Business, and it also has the USC School of Cinematic Arts. And so, the Keck School of Medicine is also very important, and so is the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, and the USC Rossier School of Education. And so, these departments have different programs for undergraduate and graduate students they teach a lot of different things, because they teach liberal arts, and they also teach engineering, and they teach business and medicine, and they teach communication and journalism, and they teach education this gives the students good chances. For more information visit University of Southern California (USC) official website.
6. University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego)
The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego) is a good public university that does research. It was established in 1960. And so, it has over 200 programs for undergraduate students and also for graduate students. And it has a lot of students, because it has 33,096 undergraduates and also 9,872 graduates. It is a big campus, because it has 2,178 acres it has twelve schools and eight residential colleges. UC San Diego is known for being good at research, and it has 27 Nobel Prizes from its faculty and alumni. It is ranked 7th for how much it spends on research and development. And so, it is a good place to be innovative and to do well in academics.
For Fall 2022, the university got 150,963 applications. But it only admitted 31,102 prospective freshmen. And so, the acceptance rate is 23.7%. Sometimes things go wrong, like in 2009, when it sent emails that said that everyone was admitted. But UC San Diego is still committed to having good people who are admitted. The Office of Graduate Studies usually handles graduate admissions. But some schools, like the Rady School of Management and also the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, handle their own admissions separately. It is worth noting that the School of Medicine only admitted 5% of the people who applied in Fall 2012, so it is hard to get into those programs.
UC San Diego is ranked high in a lot of different departments, both in the U.S. and also around the world. In the U.S., things like biomedical engineering, neuroscience, and also econometrics are ranked in the top 10. Around the world, departments like biology, computer science, and also economics are consistently ranked in the top 20. UC San Diego’s mechanical engineering program is the best among public universities in the U.S., and it is known around the world. The university has a lot of good achievements in things like social psychology, oceanography, and also theatre. And so, this shows that it is committed to being good at academics and also research. For more information visit University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego) official website.
7. University of California, Irvine
UC Irvine is a good public university for research in California. It has a lot of graduate and undergraduate degrees. It is known for doing a lot of research and it has a lot of research expenditures. It is also a member of different associations. The university works with a good medical center and it has a really good Earth System Science Department. And so, people call UC Irvine a “Public Ivy.” The university also has sports teams and those teams are called the Anteaters, and they have had a lot of success in NCAA Division I competition. The university has a lot of successful alumni and faculty, those people include people who have won Nobel Prize laureates and also Pulitzer Prize winners.
It is hard to get into UC Irvine , it is ranked as one of the most selective universities in the U.S. A lot of people apply, and the university only admits a small percentage of those people. For Fall 2022, the university had an acceptance rate of 21%. The new freshmen are often from different counties in California. When the university is deciding who to admit, it does a good review. And so, the university looks at more than just your grades. It also looks at your personal background and it looks at the things you do outside of school. How much it costs to go to the university depends on where you live. If you live outside of California, then you have to pay a lot more.
UC Irvine (UCI) has a lot of different departments and those departments span different disciplines. One notable department is the Earth System Science Department, and it was the first one of its kind in the United States. The university also has departments for health sciences, and also for arts, and also for engineering, and also for social sciences, and more. And so, each department helps make UCI a leading place for research. And it gives students a good academic experience. For more information visit University of California, Irvine official website.
8. University of California, Davis
UC Davis is a good university for research, and it started as an agricultural branch and now it is the northernmost campus in the UC system. It has programs for graduate and professional studies, and those programs include medicine, and also veterinary medicine. It also has 90 research programs. The university is known for doing research and for being good at athletics. It has won Olympic medals. And it has won awards like Nobel Prizes and Pulitzer Prizes.
It is hard to get into UC Davis. For Fall 2019, the university had over 78,000 freshman applications. But it only admitted 39.1% of the applicants. The freshmen that got in had an average GPA of 4.13. Their SAT scores were usually between 610 and 710 for reading, and they were between 630 and 790 for math. The ACT Composite score was between 28 and 34. In 2021, UC Davis got a lot more applications, because it got over 105,000 applicants. And so, the admission rate for the incoming freshman class was 37.5%.
UC Davis is known for its good departments And these departments include agriculture, and also veterinary medicine, and also life sciences. The School of Veterinary Medicine is very good, and it is the largest one of its kind in the U.S. The university is also good in other areas. And those include medicine, and also law, and education, and nursing, and also business management. UC Davis continues to help innovation and is good at a lot of different academic things. So, that makes it a top university for higher education and research. For more information visit University of California, Davis official website.
9. University of California, Santa Barbara
UC Santa Barbara has a lot of different programs, so there are programs for undergraduate colleges and also programs for graduate schools in California. It is located on a place that used to be a Marine Corps air station during World War II , The university is known for having a lot of research activity and it has good research centers. The university has good teachers, and those teachers include people who have won Nobel Prizes. UCSB is a good place for people to be excellent in academics and for people to have new ideas.
To get admitted to UC Santa Barbara University, you don't have to use SAT or ACT scores anymore. And so, they don't use those scores for scholarships. The acceptance rate for the incoming freshman class of 2022 was 25.8%. It had over 111,000 applicants. And it admitted 28,589 people. And then 4,968 people decided to enroll. The average High School GPA of the students who got admitted was 4.29 and so, this shows that the university has good academic standards.
UC Santa Barbara has a lot of departments, and they are all good. The department's focus on being good at academics and also at coming up with new ideas. Departments like physics, engineering, environmental science, and psychology are very good. The university is committed to doing research. And so, that is why it is hard to get into, and it has good teachers, and those teachers have won Nobel Prizes, and they are also members of prestigious academies. UC Santa Barbara has a lot of programs and departments. And so, that helps it stay as one of the best universities for higher education and research. For more information visit University of California, Santa Barbara
10. University of California, Riverside
UC Riverside is part of the University of California system. It is a leading public university for research in Riverside. And so, it also has other facilities in Palm Desert. It started in 1907, and it started as the UC Citrus Experiment Station. It has grown, and so now it is a big institution, and it focuses on research and innovation. One thing that is important to note is that UCR has the School of Medicine and it was the first new public medical school for research in 40 years. UCR does a lot of research, and so it is a member of the Association of American Universities. The university also has sports teams, and those teams are called the Highlanders. They compete in NCAA Division I, and that makes them good.
In Fall 2018, there were almost 50,000 new people who wanted to get admitted. And so, about 50.6% of those people got admitted. The average GPA of the freshmen who enrolled was 3.83. The SAT scores were 620 for reading & writing, and also 635 for math. UCR has a lot of different kinds of students. And so, it has a lot of students who are the first people in their family to go to college and it also has a lot of people from families with low incomes. UCR has some challenges. But it has graduation rates that are like the national averages. And so, this shows that it is good for helping students from different backgrounds to succeed in higher education.
UCR has a lot of areas of study, these include biology, and also engineering, and also business, and also the humanities. The university wants to be diverse. And so, that is why it has different kinds of students. And that is why it has different academic options. It focuses on research and innovation. UCR gives students chances to do well in what they study. And it also lets them help make new things. For more information visit the University of California, Riverside official website.
Conclusion
The universities in California are good, and they have a lot of different academic programs and they have a lot of different chances to do research. They are in places that are vibrant. These universities help people come up with new ideas. They are diverse and they help people work together. And so, they get students ready to do well in different fields. They have good teachers. And so, California universities are important in helping to shape the future of higher education and the future of innovation. This article has listed the top universities in California. And so, that is why you should know about those universities.
FAQ
What is the number 1 university in California?
It is often said that Stanford University is the number 1 university in California. And people say this because it is very good in academics. And it does a lot of research contributions. And people know about it across the world.
What are the top 4 campuses in the University of California?
The top 4 University of California campuses are often said to be UC Berkeley, UCLA, UC San Diego, and UC Davis. And it is said that these campuses are the best because they are good in academics and research.
Which university in California is best for international students?
Stanford University, UC Berkeley, UCLA, and USC are often thought to be the best choices for international students in California and they are good choices because they have good support services for international students and they have students from all over the world. And they have academic programs that people know about.
Which University of California is easy to get into?
It is said that UC Merced is the easiest school to get into. It has an impressive acceptance rate, because it accepts 87% of the people who apply. And so, it is known as one of the most welcoming campuses in the UC system.
Is California the best place to study?
California is often thought of as an excellent place to study. And so, this is because it has a lot of good universities and colleges, and also because the weather is good. And so, the state has a lot of cultural diversity. And its economy is strong. And so, that all makes it a good place to study.
