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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

3%
University of California-Los Angeles
Art, Fall 2025: 1,404 applied, 46 admitted

Highest reported admit rate

97.1%
California State University-Fresno
Art, Fall 2025: 278 applied, 270 admitted

Highest earnings, 4 yrs out

$72,428
University of Southern California
median, graduates of this program

Lowest net price with aid

$3,967
California State University-Los Angeles
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.

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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