By major · Cognitive Science
Where can your student actually study cognitive science?
Cognitive science asks how the mind works, and it borrows from psychology, computer science, linguistics and biology to answer. In California it is mostly a UC major, and the campuses report very different numbers for it: 21% at UC Berkeley, 42% at UC San Diego, 98% at UC Merced. Each of those is the admit rate among the applicants who named cognitive science as their intended major, not the campus's general admit rate, because at most UC programs a student is admitted to the campus rather than to a separate cognitive science program. Stanford reports the highest median earnings four years after the degree, $131,650, and shows no admit rate here because private colleges reach this page through federal outcome data.
At a glance · All states
- 26 colleges nationwide report a bachelor's cognitive science program in federal outcome data or a cognitive science admit rate in the UC/CSU data.
- Hardest reported gate: University of California-Berkeley — Cognitive Science, Fall 2025: 1,126 applied, 232 admitted (21%).
- Highest reported admit rate into the program: California State University-Stanislaus — 100.0% (30 applied, 30 admitted, Fall 2025).
- Highest median earnings four years after the degree: Carnegie Mellon University, $162,106.
- Lowest average net price with aid: California State University-Stanislaus, $6,067 per year.
A college on this list with no first-year row is not reporting cognitive science admissions separately; the major is small, and most colleges fold it into the campus application. Where a UC does report a row it counts only the applicants who named the major, so UC Berkeley's 1,126 applied and 232 admitted describes that group, and at most UC programs the admission is to the campus rather than to the major. Admits are not enrollees. At most UC programs students are admitted to the campus, not the major. This page as JSON → · Back to the 12 California colleges →
Hardest reported gate
Cognitive Science, Fall 2025: 1,126 applied, 232 admitted
Highest reported admit rate
Cognitive Studies, Fall 2025: 30 applied, 30 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
|
Cognitive Science
Fall 2025: 1,126 applied, 232 admitted · admit GPA 4.18–4.29
|
21% | 10% | $13,481 | $45,619 | $120,193 |
|
University of California-Irvine
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Cognitive Sciences
Fall 2025: 1,084 applied, 240 admitted · admit GPA 4.15–4.29
|
22% | 30% | $14,251 | $38,632 | — |
|
University of California-Davis
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Cognitive Science
Fall 2025: 1,046 applied, 381 admitted · admit GPA 4.07–4.28
|
36% | 46% | $14,741 | $41,238 | $68,463 |
|
University of California-San Diego
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Cognitive Science
Fall 2025: 1,550 applied, 649 admitted · admit GPA 4.11–4.28
|
42% | 27% | $12,470 | $38,701 | $81,160 |
|
University of California-Santa Cruz
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Cognitive Science
Fall 2025: 757 applied, 612 admitted · admit GPA 3.92–4.23
|
81% | 82% | $17,890 | $41,179 | $72,125 |
|
University of California-Merced
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Cognitive Science
Fall 2025: 369 applied, 360 admitted · admit GPA 3.70–4.20
|
98% | 95% | $11,983 | $39,665 | $51,147 |
|
California State University-Stanislaus
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Cognitive Studies
Fall 2025: 30 applied, 30 admitted
|
100.0% | 98% | $6,067 | $19,739 | — |
|
Carnegie Mellon University
PA · Private nonprofit · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 11% | $31,944 | $83,654 | $162,106 |
|
Stanford University
CA · Private nonprofit · Required
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 4% | $13,807 | $87,833 | $131,650 |
|
Tufts University
MA · Private nonprofit · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 10% | $39,998 | $88,300 | $130,801 |
|
University of Pennsylvania
PA · Private nonprofit · Required
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 6% | $28,699 | $89,028 | $109,784 |
|
University of California-Los Angeles
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 11% | $12,548 | $38,614 | $102,066 |
|
University of Southern California
CA · Private nonprofit · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 10% | $32,740 | $90,300 | $93,440 |
|
University of Virginia-Main Campus
VA · Public · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 17% | $21,565 | $39,926 | $83,554 |
|
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
MI · Public · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 18% | $13,138 | $34,654 | $79,016 |
|
Occidental College
CA · Private nonprofit · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 40% | $38,263 | $84,800 | $78,782 |
|
State University of New York at Oswego
NY · Public · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 80% | $16,236 | $27,052 | $76,118 |
|
University of Georgia
GA · Public · Required
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 37% | $13,936 | $27,993 | $69,169 |
|
Washington University in St Louis
MO · Private nonprofit · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 12% | $21,786 | $88,488 | $67,212 |
|
Rice University
TX · Private nonprofit · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 8% | $13,370 | $79,788 | $66,913 |
|
University of Delaware
DE · Public · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 65% | $17,799 | $30,952 | $66,716 |
|
California State University-Fresno
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 96% | $7,000 | $20,095 | — |
|
Case Western Reserve University
OH · Private nonprofit · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 29% | $41,190 | $85,851 | — |
|
Johns Hopkins University
MD · Private nonprofit · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 8% | $18,809 | $85,947 | — |
|
Rutgers University-New Brunswick
NJ · Public · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 65% | $24,406 | $36,993 | — |
|
Vanderbilt University
TN · Private nonprofit · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 6% | $15,846 | $89,590 | — |
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/cognitive-science, then open each college profile it links to. Build a reach / match / likely list for a cognitive science applicant in the US 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
This list mixes campuses that report cognitive science admissions directly with private colleges that appear only through federal earnings data, so a good list checks each program's own page before assuming every row offers the same major. Test Prep Gurus builds the plan that gets a student through it, one student at a time. prepgurus.com · 949.229.5359