By major · Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering

Where can your student actually get into biomedical engineering?

Biomedical engineering and bioengineering are the same major under two names, and the numbers behind that name swing further than almost anything else a family will put on a list. For Fall 2025 UCLA reported 2,632 applications to bioengineering and 213 admits, or 8%, while UC Merced reported 1,048 applications and 1,019 admits, or 97%. On the CSU side Cal Poly SLO reported 29.4% and San Jose State 84.9% for biomedical engineering. A UC admits a student to the campus rather than to the major at most programs, so read these as what each program reported for one fall, not as a separate door your student knocks on.

At a glance · California

15 colleges in California report a bachelor's biomedical engineering program in federal outcome data or a biomedical engineering admit rate in the UC/CSU data.
Hardest reported gate: University of California-Los Angeles — Bioengineering, Fall 2025: 2,632 applied, 213 admitted (8%).
Highest reported admit rate into the program: University of California-Merced — 97% (1,048 applied, 1,019 admitted, Fall 2025).
Highest median earnings four years after the degree: University of California-Los Angeles, $116,525.
Lowest average net price with aid: California State University-Long Beach, $10,440 per year.

A college here with no admit-rate row is not reporting biomedical engineering separately; it appears because federal earnings data covers its graduates, and the campus-wide rate is the only published gate. Where a program does report its own row, that row is one fall of applications and admits, and at a UC it sits inside the campus decision rather than replacing it. Admits are not enrollees. At most UC programs students are admitted to the campus, not the major. This page as JSON → · Show all 133 colleges nationwide →

Hardest reported gate

University of California-Los Angeles
Bioengineering, Fall 2025: 2,632 applied, 213 admitted

Highest reported admit rate

97%

University of California-Merced
Bioengineering, Fall 2025: 1,048 applied, 1,019 admitted

Highest earnings, 4 yrs out

$116,525

University of California-Los Angeles
median, graduates of this program

Lowest net price with aid

$10,440

California State University-Long Beach
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	Bioengineering Fall 2025: 2,632 applied, 213 admitted · admit GPA 4.24–4.32	8%	11%	$12,548	$38,614	$116,525
University of California-Berkeley CA · Public · Test-optional	Bioengineering Fall 2025: 3,128 applied, 249 admitted · admit GPA 4.21–4.29	8%	10%	$13,481	$45,619	$110,597
University of California-San Diego CA · Public · Test-optional	Bioengineering Fall 2025: 1,099 applied, 162 admitted · admit GPA 4.24–4.30 Bioengineering: Biosystems: 55%	15%	27%	$12,470	$38,701	$98,687
California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo CA · Public · Test-optional	Biomedical Engineering Fall 2025: 2,015 applied, 592 admitted impacted	29.4%	30%	$16,665	$32,265	$109,232
University of California-Irvine CA · Public · Test-optional	Biomedical Engineering Fall 2025: 1,574 applied, 614 admitted · admit GPA 4.16–4.29	39%	30%	$14,251	$38,632	$96,874
University of California-Davis CA · Public · Test-optional	Biomedical Engineering Fall 2025: 2,071 applied, 1,022 admitted · admit GPA 4.12–4.28	49%	46%	$14,741	$41,238	$98,504
California State University-Long Beach CA · Public · Test-optional	Biomedical Engineering Fall 2025: 1,166 applied, 774 admitted impacted	66.4%	47%	$10,440	$22,679	$106,540
San Jose State University CA · Public · Test-optional	Biomedical Engineering Fall 2025: 832 applied, 706 admitted impacted	84.9%	80%	$13,760	$26,593	—
University of California-Riverside CA · Public · Test-optional	Bioengineering Fall 2025: 947 applied, 835 admitted · admit GPA 3.82–4.25	88%	88%	$14,304	$38,942	$90,041
University of California-Merced CA · Public · Test-optional	Bioengineering Fall 2025: 1,048 applied, 1,019 admitted · admit GPA 3.75–4.23	97%	95%	$11,983	$39,665	$88,795
Santa Clara University CA · Private nonprofit · Test-optional	Not reported by the college system	—	44%	$50,062	$82,026	$114,426
University of Southern California CA · Private nonprofit · Test-optional	Not reported by the college system	—	10%	$32,740	$90,300	$105,415
University of California-Santa Cruz CA · Public · Test-optional	Not reported by the college system	—	82%	$17,890	$41,179	$98,567
Stanford University CA · Private nonprofit · Required	Not reported by the college system	—	4%	$13,807	$87,833	—
University of the Pacific CA · Private nonprofit · Test-optional	Not reported by the college system	—	95%	$25,447	$71,515	—

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/biomedical-engineering, then open each college profile it links to. Build a reach / match / likely list for a biomedical 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.

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The list is where the work starts

A biomedical engineering list needs schools from both ends of that range, because the same application meets an 8% reported rate at one campus and 84.9% at another. Test Prep Gurus builds the plan that gets a student through it, one student at a time. prepgurus.com · 949.229.5359