<\/p>\n
The University of California at Berkeley puts thousands of applicants per year on its waiting list.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Yalonda M. James\/S.F. Chronicle<\/p>\n
The prestigious University of California system<\/a> saw a record number of applications<\/a> for entry in the fall of 2026, making it likely that acceptance rates also go down at the most popular campuses\u00a0\u2014 and making this year yet another unpredictable nail-biter for those who wind up on waiting lists.<\/p>\n For those tens of thousands of students, data from past years on waitlist acceptance rates can help provide context on the odds they\u2019ll get in.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n How do UC waiting lists work?<\/p>\n College waiting lists, used by both public and private universities, are a kind of admissions purgatory. Making the list means a student isn\u2019t rejected, but isn\u2019t accepted yet either. Instead, once the school begins to see how many students are choosing to enroll, it can see how many spots are left available for the incoming class and can offer students on the waiting list those open spots later than it would in the typical admission cycle.<\/p>\n While students can accept only one offer of admission to a college<\/a>, they can accept spots on multiple waiting lists as well as an offer of admission. That means that students can accept a spot at a school they got into while also accepting a spot on a waiting list for another school that might be their top choice.\u00a0<\/p>\n San Francisco Chronicle Logo<\/p>\n Make us a Preferred Source to get more of our news when you search.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n But they won\u2019t know whether they got into that preferred school until the late spring or summer, as opposed to the end of March, when regular offers of admission go out. So while students might have a plan to attend a certain college by May, those plans could change if they get off a waiting list during the summer and decide to switch schools.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Of the nine UC campuses<\/a> with undergraduate programs, all but the newest, UC Merced<\/a>, have waiting lists. But exactly how many students get off that waiting list and into the school varies from year to year and from campus to campus.<\/p>\n UC waitlist acceptance rates<\/p>\n UCLA<\/a>, the most selective UC campus, typically has a relatively low rate of admission from its waiting list. That held true for the current freshman class (entering in fall 2025), with 11% of those who opted into the waitlist getting accepted. That compares to 13% in 2024, 12% in 2023 and just 3% in 2022.\u00a0<\/p>\n UC Berkeley<\/a> has yet to release its 2025-2026 data, but it saw a stark swing in recent years: For the class entering in fall 2024, only 0.33% of students got off the waitlist\u00a0\u2014 26 people. That compares to 24% in 2023 and just under 1% in 2022.<\/p>\n Santa Barbara\u2019s waitlist acceptance rate has risen substantially in recent years and is now among the highest of the UCs: 53% of those who opted in to the waitlist were accepted for fall of 2025, 82% were admitted in 2024 and 57% in 2023.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Can applicants increase their odds of getting in?<\/p>\n The differing numbers are the result of a complicated calculus each UC campus undertakes each year as it tries to fill the limited number of spots it has available. When colleges send out offers of admission, they do not know exactly how many of the accepted students will choose to enroll.\u00a0<\/p>\n The waiting list allows the colleges to fill spots that admitted students didn\u2019t take, ensuring that the college has a full incoming class, UC admissions officers explained. Those spots vary by school or major: if someone hoping to major in economics and theater decides not to attend UC Santa Barbara<\/a>, for instance, then UC Santa Barbara admissions officers will likely look for someone on the waiting list with a similar profile to fill that spot.<\/p>\n \u201cThey are looking to fill different niches within a class,\u201d Ariel Mazel-Gee, a college admissions consultant based in San Francisco, said.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n