By major · Art (Studio)
Where can your student actually get into a studio art program?
Art looks like one major until you set the reporting side by side. At UCLA, 1,404 students applied naming art and 46 were admitted, a 3% rate; at Cal State Fresno, 278 applied and 270 were admitted, 97.1%. Plenty of colleges never report an admit rate for this major at all, so the two comparisons that always work are cost and pay: $3,967 a year at Cal State LA after aid, and $72,428 in median earnings four years out at USC. The 37 California colleges below come from the college systems' own reporting and the federal earnings data, assembled in one place.
At a glance · California
- 37 colleges in California report a bachelor's studio art program in federal outcome data or a studio art admit rate in the UC/CSU data.
- Hardest reported gate: University of California-Los Angeles — Art, Fall 2025: 1,404 applied, 46 admitted (3%).
- Highest reported admit rate into the program: California State University-Fresno — 97.1% (278 applied, 270 admitted, Fall 2025).
- Highest median earnings four years after the degree: University of Southern California, $72,428.
- Lowest average net price with aid: California State University-Los Angeles, $3,967 per year.
A college with no first-year row is not reporting art separately, so there is no admit rate for the major to read and the campus decision is the one that applies. At a UC the row shows what happened to students who named art on the application rather than a decision made by the art department. Where a program does report its own rate, that rate runs from 3% at UCLA to 97.1% at Cal State Fresno, so the size of the gate depends on the school far more than on the major. Admits are not enrollees. At most UC programs students are admitted to the campus, not the major. This page as JSON → · Show all 439 colleges nationwide →
Hardest reported gate
Art, Fall 2025: 1,404 applied, 46 admitted
Highest reported admit rate
Art, Fall 2025: 278 applied, 270 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-Los Angeles
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Art
Fall 2025: 1,404 applied, 46 admitted · admit GPA 3.78–4.14
|
3% | 11% | $12,548 | $38,614 | $46,173 |
|
University of California-Berkeley
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Art
Fall 2025: 1,049 applied, 61 admitted · admit GPA 4.11–4.27
|
6% | 10% | $13,481 | $45,619 | $51,699 |
|
University of California-Santa Barbara
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Art
Fall 2025: 721 applied, 86 admitted · admit GPA 3.85–4.14
|
12% | 44% | $16,109 | $41,573 | $46,428 |
|
California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Art (Studio/Professional Performance)
Fall 2025: 635 applied, 159 admitted
impacted
|
25.0% | 30% | $16,665 | $32,265 | $59,721 |
|
University of California-San Diego
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Visual Arts - Media
Fall 2025: 883 applied, 249 admitted · admit GPA 4.08–4.26
|
28% | 27% | $12,470 | $38,701 | $48,506 |
|
University of California-Irvine
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Art
Fall 2025: 1,211 applied, 375 admitted · admit GPA 3.80–4.16
|
31% | 30% | $14,251 | $38,632 | $39,010 |
|
San Diego State University
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Art
Fall 2025: 430 applied, 147 admitted
impacted
|
34.2% | 34% | $15,364 | $27,780 | $35,416 |
|
California State University-Long Beach
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Art (Studio/Professional Performance)
Fall 2025: 1,443 applied, 648 admitted
impacted
Art: 52.4%
|
44.9% | 47% | $10,440 | $22,679 | $43,349 |
|
University of California-Santa Cruz
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Art
Fall 2025: 728 applied, 446 admitted · admit GPA 3.76–4.13
|
61% | 82% | $17,890 | $41,179 | $40,156 |
|
California State University-Bakersfield
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Art
Fall 2025: 369 applied, 289 admitted
|
78.3% | 88% | $5,652 | $19,522 | $43,534 |
|
California State University-Fullerton
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Art
Fall 2025: 1,957 applied, 1,638 admitted
impacted
|
83.7% | 87% | $6,555 | $18,269 | $44,365 |
|
San Jose State University
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Art (Studio/Professional Performance)
Fall 2025: 521 applied, 440 admitted
impacted
Art: 85.5%
|
84.5% | 80% | $13,760 | $26,593 | — |
|
Sonoma State University
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Art
Fall 2025: 84 applied, 73 admitted
|
86.9% | 95% | $12,885 | $24,648 | $46,022 |
|
California State University-East Bay
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Art (Studio/Professional Performance)
Fall 2025: 400 applied, 349 admitted
Art: 84.3%
|
87.2% | 97% | $9,320 | $22,850 | $46,136 |
|
California State University-Chico
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Art (Studio/Professional Performance)
Fall 2025: 287 applied, 256 admitted
Art: 88.7%
|
89.2% | 94% | $14,480 | $26,283 | $45,468 |
|
San Francisco State University
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Art
Fall 2025: 182 applied, 163 admitted
Art (Studio/Professional Performance): 87.6%
|
89.6% | 96% | $12,278 | $26,488 | $42,868 |
|
University of California-Riverside
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Art
Fall 2025: 724 applied, 649 admitted · admit GPA 3.46–4.00
|
90% | 88% | $14,304 | $38,942 | $40,774 |
|
California State University-Northridge
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Art
Fall 2025: 685 applied, 624 admitted
impacted
|
91.1% | 93% | $7,021 | $20,485 | $42,904 |
|
California State University-Los Angeles
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Art
Fall 2025: 816 applied, 746 admitted
|
91.4% | 92% | $3,967 | $18,403 | $40,783 |
|
California State University-Channel Islands
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Art
Fall 2025: 155 applied, 142 admitted
|
91.6% | 93% | $9,849 | $23,561 | $45,548 |
|
California State University-Sacramento
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Art
Fall 2025: 125 applied, 116 admitted
Art (Studio/Professional Performance): 93.8%
|
92.8% | 94% | $9,338 | $22,945 | $41,969 |
|
California State Polytechnic University-Humboldt
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Art (Studio/Professional Performance)
Fall 2025: 155 applied, 144 admitted
Art: 89.4%
|
92.9% | 99% | $13,171 | $25,170 | $34,812 |
|
California State University-Dominguez Hills
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Art
Fall 2025: 361 applied, 338 admitted
|
93.6% | 91% | $8,615 | $23,191 | — |
|
California State University-San Bernardino
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Art
Fall 2025: 209 applied, 196 admitted
|
93.8% | 98% | $4,564 | $17,427 | $30,319 |
|
California State University-Stanislaus
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Art
Fall 2025: 70 applied, 66 admitted
|
94.3% | 98% | $6,067 | $19,739 | $41,072 |
|
California State University-Monterey Bay
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Art
Fall 2025: 114 applied, 108 admitted
|
94.7% | 95% | $13,663 | $26,987 | $34,006 |
|
California State University-Fresno
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Art
Fall 2025: 278 applied, 270 admitted
|
97.1% | 96% | $7,000 | $20,095 | $39,878 |
|
University of Southern California
CA · Private nonprofit · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 10% | $32,740 | $90,300 | $72,428 |
|
Loyola Marymount University
CA · Private nonprofit · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 40% | $48,381 | $83,943 | $58,468 |
|
Biola University
CA · Private nonprofit · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 60% | $31,495 | $62,757 | $47,596 |
|
California College of the Arts
CA · Private nonprofit · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 73% | $53,909 | $79,776 | $44,012 |
|
University of California-Davis
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 46% | $14,741 | $41,238 | $40,453 |
|
Otis College of Art and Design
CA · Private nonprofit · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 84% | $51,248 | $75,861 | $38,997 |
|
Art Center College of Design
CA · Private nonprofit · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 75% | $48,661 | $75,649 | $33,073 |
|
California Institute of the Arts
CA · Private nonprofit · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 26% | $46,080 | $77,560 | $28,617 |
|
Azusa Pacific University
CA · Private nonprofit · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 80% | $22,212 | $56,313 | — |
|
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.
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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/art, then open each college profile it links to. Build a reach / match / likely list for a studio art 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 studio art needs the admit rate into the program where one is reported, the price after aid, and a note of what each program asks applicants to submit, which only the college's own admissions page will tell you. Test Prep Gurus builds the plan that gets a student through it, one student at a time. prepgurus.com · 949.229.5359