By major · Architecture
Where can your student actually get into architecture?
Architecture is one of the majors the UC and CSU systems report program by program, so at the colleges that report it you can see how many students asked for this major and how many were admitted. For Fall 2025 that is 2,247 applied and 150 admitted at UC Berkeley, a 7% rate, next to 18.5% at Cal Poly SLO, 33.9% at Cal Poly Pomona and 96.6% at Fresno State. Cal Poly Pomona also reports a second and much smaller architecture program, Architecture and Environmental Design, where 86 applied and 86 were admitted, so one college can sit in two very different places on this page. Private colleges do not publish admits this way, but they do report what graduates earn, which is how USC gets on this page at $78,741 four years after the degree.
At a glance · California
- 9 colleges in California report a bachelor's architecture program in federal outcome data or an architecture admit rate in the UC/CSU data.
- Hardest reported gate: University of California-Berkeley — Architecture, Fall 2025: 2,247 applied, 150 admitted (7%).
- Highest reported admit rate into the program: California State University-Fresno — 96.6% (176 applied, 170 admitted, Fall 2025).
- Highest median earnings four years after the degree: University of Southern California, $78,741.
- Lowest average net price with aid: California State University-Fresno, $7,000 per year.
The rate beside each college is that college's own reporting: the CSU campuses that report it are selecting students into architecture at the point of admission, while UC admits to the campus as a whole at most programs rather than to a single major. A college on this list with no applied and admitted count did not report one for architecture, which is not the same as being closed to freshmen. Admits are not enrollees. At most UC programs students are admitted to the campus, not the major. This page as JSON → · Show all 108 colleges nationwide →
Hardest reported gate
Architecture, Fall 2025: 2,247 applied, 150 admitted
Highest reported admit rate
Architecture, Fall 2025: 176 applied, 170 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
|
Architecture
Fall 2025: 2,247 applied, 150 admitted · admit GPA 4.16–4.30
|
7% | 10% | $13,481 | $45,619 | $76,679 |
|
California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Architecture
Fall 2025: 2,239 applied, 415 admitted
impacted
|
18.5% | 30% | $16,665 | $32,265 | $76,613 |
|
California State Polytechnic University-Pomona
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Architecture
Fall 2025: 2,041 applied, 691 admitted
impacted
Architecture and Environmental Design: 100.0%
|
33.9% | 74% | $11,531 | $23,955 | $76,969 |
|
California State University-Fresno
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Architecture
Fall 2025: 176 applied, 170 admitted
|
96.6% | 96% | $7,000 | $20,095 | — |
|
University of Southern California
CA · Private nonprofit · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 10% | $32,740 | $90,300 | $78,741 |
|
Art Center College of Design
CA · Private nonprofit · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 75% | $48,661 | $75,649 | $77,401 |
|
Woodbury University
CA · Private nonprofit · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 73% | $33,692 | $58,010 | $67,517 |
|
California State University-Sacramento
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 94% | $9,338 | $22,945 | — |
|
University of San Francisco
CA · Private nonprofit · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 51% | $41,431 | $80,141 | — |
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
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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/architecture, then open each college profile it links to. Build a reach / match / likely list for a architecture 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 workable architecture list pairs a 7% program like UC Berkeley with a 96.6% one like Fresno State, and it names the private colleges where earnings are the only number you will get. Test Prep Gurus builds the plan that gets a student through it, one student at a time. prepgurus.com · 949.229.5359