By major · Aerospace Engineering
Where can your student actually get into aerospace engineering?
Aerospace engineering is one major with a very wide door. The same degree admitted 95 of 2,890 first-year applicants at UC Berkeley and 1,075 of 1,110 at UC Merced, and among the Cal States it runs from 12.0% at Cal Poly SLO to 77.1% at San Jose State. At the UC campuses, admission is to the campus rather than to the major at most programs, so a low rate here describes the students who applied under that major name, not a separate door. Every number below is the college system's own reporting, assembled in one place.
At a glance · California
- 12 colleges in California report a bachelor's aerospace engineering program in federal outcome data or an aerospace engineering admit rate in the UC/CSU data.
- Hardest reported gate: University of California-Berkeley — Aerospace Engineering, Fall 2025: 2,890 applied, 95 admitted (3%).
- Highest reported admit rate into the program: University of California-Merced — 97% (1,110 applied, 1,075 admitted, Fall 2025).
- Highest median earnings four years after the degree: University of Southern California, $125,514.
- Lowest average net price with aid: California State University-Long Beach, $10,440 per year.
Every California program on this page reports a first-year row, so families can see the freshman door at each one rather than a transfer path only. A college with no row, such as USC, is one that does not report to the UC or CSU systems, and the federal earnings figure is all this page can show for it. Admits are not enrollees. At most UC programs students are admitted to the campus, not the major. This page as JSON → · Show all 63 colleges nationwide →
Hardest reported gate
Aerospace Engineering, Fall 2025: 2,890 applied, 95 admitted
Highest reported admit rate
Aerospace Engineering, Fall 2025: 1,110 applied, 1,075 admitted
Highest earnings, 4 yrs out
median, graduates of this program
Lowest net price with aid
average for aid recipients, per year
Every college, one row each
Colleges with a reported gate into the program come first, hardest first; the rest are sorted by earnings. Program admit rate is the college system's own number for this major (UC Information Center, CSU Chancellor's Office). Net price is the average paid by aid recipients; full price is the cost of attendance. Earnings are federal College Scorecard medians four years after the degree.
| College | Gate into the program | Program admit rate |
Campus admit rate |
Net price with aid |
Full price |
Earnings 4 yrs out |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
University of California-Berkeley
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Aerospace Engineering
Fall 2025: 2,890 applied, 95 admitted · admit GPA 4.20–4.29
|
3% | 10% | $13,481 | $45,619 | — |
|
University of California-Los Angeles
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Aerospace Engineering
Fall 2025: 2,887 applied, 136 admitted · admit GPA 4.25–4.30
|
5% | 11% | $12,548 | $38,614 | $115,706 |
|
California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Aerospace Engineering
Fall 2025: 2,399 applied, 289 admitted
impacted
|
12.0% | 30% | $16,665 | $32,265 | $107,498 |
|
University of California-San Diego
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Aerospace Engineering
Fall 2025: 1,823 applied, 307 admitted · admit GPA 4.17–4.30
|
17% | 27% | $12,470 | $38,701 | $100,173 |
|
University of California-Irvine
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Aerospace Engineering
Fall 2025: 2,193 applied, 502 admitted · admit GPA 4.16–4.29
|
23% | 30% | $14,251 | $38,632 | $100,537 |
|
University of California-Davis
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Aerospace Science And Engineering
Fall 2025: 1,911 applied, 688 admitted · admit GPA 4.09–4.29
|
36% | 46% | $14,741 | $41,238 | $93,414 |
|
California State Polytechnic University-Pomona
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Aerospace Engineering
Fall 2025: 1,851 applied, 690 admitted
impacted
|
37.3% | 74% | $11,531 | $23,955 | $106,171 |
|
California State University-Long Beach
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Aerospace Engineering
Fall 2025: 1,810 applied, 691 admitted
impacted
|
38.2% | 47% | $10,440 | $22,679 | $101,797 |
|
San Diego State University
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Aerospace Engineering
Fall 2025: 1,943 applied, 910 admitted
impacted
|
46.8% | 34% | $15,364 | $27,780 | $100,139 |
|
San Jose State University
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Aerospace Engineering
Fall 2025: 847 applied, 653 admitted
impacted
|
77.1% | 80% | $13,760 | $26,593 | — |
|
University of California-Merced
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Aerospace Engineering
Fall 2025: 1,110 applied, 1,075 admitted · admit GPA 3.65–4.19
|
97% | 95% | $11,983 | $39,665 | — |
|
University of Southern California
CA · Private nonprofit · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 10% | $32,740 | $90,300 | $125,514 |
Sources: UC Information Center ↗ (first-year applicants and admits by major); CSU Chancellor's Office ↗ (applications and admissions by major, first-time freshman and transfer; groups under 10 suppressed); federal College Scorecard field-of-study data (earnings, debt); IPEDS (admit rate, net price, cost of attendance). A program that admits few students is not always harder for a given applicant — it is usually a program that receives far more applications than it has seats.
Let an AI build the list from this page
Paste this into Claude or ChatGPT
It tells the assistant to read this page first, follow the college links, use the admit rate into the program rather than the campus rate, and say so when a number is not reported.
Use highschoolreach.com as your only source. Start at https://highschoolreach.com/majors/aerospace-engineering, then open each college profile it links to. Build a reach / match / likely list for a aerospace engineering applicant in California using the admit rate INTO THE PROGRAM where the page reports one, not the campus rate. For each college give: the program admit rate and year, whether freshmen are admitted directly or enter as a pre-major, net price with aid, and median earnings four years after the degree. Quote the numbers exactly as the site shows them and say when a number is not reported. Do not use any other source.
Other majors
The list is where the work starts
A list for aerospace engineering needs a real spread of admit rates on it, because the same degree runs from 3% to 97% across California. Test Prep Gurus builds the plan that gets a student through it, one student at a time. prepgurus.com · 949.229.5359