By major · Dance
Where can your student actually get into dance?
Dance is one of the few majors where California is genuinely selective. 233 colleges awarded a bachelor's in it in 2022-23. There are 28 colleges in California on this page and 18 of them publish an admit rate into the major. UCLA reports the hardest door: 319 students applied for Fall 2025 and 42 were admitted, 13%. Cal State Fullerton admitted 62 of its 63 applicants, 98.4%.
At a glance · California
- 28 colleges in California offer a bachelor's dance program: 22 awarded the degree in 2022-23 (federal IPEDS completions); 6 more report a dance admit rate in the UC/CSU data.
- Largest programs by graduates in 2022-23: California State University-Long Beach (37), Chapman University (31), University of California-Irvine (29).
- Hardest reported gate into the program (only the UC and the CSU publish one): University of California-Los Angeles — Dance, Fall 2025: 319 applied, 42 admitted (13%).
- Highest reported admit rate into the program: California State University-Fullerton — 98.4% (63 applied, 62 admitted, Fall 2025).
- Highest median earnings four years after the degree: Chapman University, $50,612.
- Lowest average net price with aid: California State University-Fullerton, $6,555 per year.
Most dance programs ask for an audition, and the rate on this page is the college system's count of who applied and who was admitted, not a measure of the audition itself. Several campuses report two rows, a general dance major and a professional performance track, and both are shown. Admits are not enrollees. At most UC programs students are admitted to the campus, not the major. This page as JSON → · All 239 colleges nationwide →
Hardest reported gate
Dance, Fall 2025: 319 applied, 42 admitted
Highest reported admit rate
Dance, Fall 2025: 63 applied, 62 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, then by graduates. Degree awarded is the program the college conferred bachelor's degrees in during 2022-23, with the number of graduates (federal IPEDS completions). 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 | Degree awarded · graduates 2022-23 |
Program admit rate |
Campus admit rate |
Net price with aid |
Full price |
Earnings 4 yrs out |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
University of California-Los Angeles
CA · Public · Test-blind
|
Dance
Fall 2025: 319 applied, 42 admitted · admit GPA 3.81–4.22
|
Dance, General
24 graduates
|
13% | 11% | $12,548 | $38,614 | $36,277 |
|
University of California-San Diego
CA · Public · Test-blind
|
Dance
Fall 2025: 182 applied, 50 admitted · admit GPA 4.04–4.25
|
Dance, General
2 graduates
|
27% | 27% | $12,470 | $38,701 | — |
|
University of California-Santa Barbara
CA · Public · Test-blind
|
Dance
Fall 2025: 256 applied, 82 admitted · admit GPA 3.77–4.24
|
Dance, General
18 graduates
|
32% | 44% | $16,109 | $41,573 | $44,858 |
|
San Diego State University
CA · Public · Test-blind
|
Dance (Professional Performance)
Fall 2025: 155 applied, 61 admitted
impacted
Dance: 38.5%
|
Dance, General
7 graduates
|
39.4% | 34% | $15,364 | $27,780 | — |
|
California State University-Long Beach
CA · Public · Test-blind
|
Dance
Fall 2025: 308 applied, 122 admitted
impacted
Dance (Professional Performance): 35.0% (transfer)
|
Dance, General
37 graduates
|
39.6% | 47% | $10,440 | $22,679 | $46,387 |
|
University of California-Irvine
CA · Public · Test-blind
|
Dance
Fall 2025: 270 applied, 112 admitted · admit GPA 3.78–4.22
|
Dance, General
29 graduates
|
41% | 30% | $14,251 | $38,632 | $40,466 |
|
University of California-Davis
CA · Public · Test-blind
|
Theatre And Dance
Fall 2025: 292 applied, 187 admitted · admit GPA 3.82–4.21
|
— | 64% | 46% | $14,741 | $41,238 | — |
|
California State Polytechnic University-Humboldt
CA · Public · Test-blind
|
Dance
Fall 2025: 29 applied, 23 admitted
|
— | 79.3% | 99% | $13,171 | $25,170 | — |
|
San Francisco State University
CA · Public · Test-blind
|
Dance
Fall 2025: 64 applied, 52 admitted
|
Dance, General
8 graduates
|
81.2% | 96% | $12,278 | $26,488 | $44,627 |
|
San Jose State University
CA · Public · Test-blind
|
Dance
Fall 2025: 34 applied, 28 admitted
impacted
Dance (Professional Performance): 73.3%
|
Dance, General
23 graduates
|
82.4% | 80% | $13,760 | $26,593 | — |
|
California State University-Northridge
CA · Public · Test-blind
|
Dance
Fall 2025: 69 applied, 57 admitted
|
— | 82.6% | 93% | $7,021 | $20,485 | — |
|
University of California-Riverside
CA · Public · Test-blind
|
Dance
Fall 2025: 121 applied, 101 admitted · admit GPA 3.36–3.95
|
Dance, General
8 graduates
|
83% | 88% | $14,304 | $38,942 | $45,804 |
|
California State University-Channel Islands
CA · Public · Test-blind
|
Dance
Fall 2025: 27 applied, 23 admitted
|
Dance, General
1 graduate
|
85.2% | 93% | $9,849 | $23,561 | — |
|
California State Polytechnic University-Pomona
CA · Public · Test-blind
|
Dance
Fall 2025: 30 applied, 26 admitted
|
— | 86.7% | 74% | $11,531 | $23,955 | — |
|
California State University-Sacramento
CA · Public · Test-blind
|
Dance
Fall 2025: 46 applied, 42 admitted
|
— | 91.3% | 94% | $9,338 | $22,945 | — |
|
California State University-Dominguez Hills
CA · Public · Test-blind
|
Dance
Fall 2025: 59 applied, 54 admitted
|
Dance, General
1 graduate
|
91.5% | 91% | $8,615 | $23,191 | — |
|
California State University-Fresno
CA · Public · Test-blind
|
Dance
Fall 2025: 39 applied, 37 admitted
|
— | 94.9% | 96% | $7,000 | $20,095 | — |
|
California State University-Fullerton
CA · Public · Test-blind
|
Dance
Fall 2025: 63 applied, 62 admitted
impacted
|
Dance, General
11 graduates
|
98.4% | 87% | $6,555 | $18,269 | — |
|
Chapman University
CA · Private nonprofit · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system |
Dance, General
31 graduates
|
— | 56% | $46,555 | $83,146 | $50,612 |
|
Loyola Marymount University
CA · Private nonprofit · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system |
Dance, General
9 graduates
|
— | 40% | $48,381 | $83,943 | $35,288 |
|
University of Southern California
CA · Private nonprofit · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system |
Dance, General
18 graduates
|
— | 10% | $32,740 | $90,300 | — |
|
California Institute of the Arts
CA · Private nonprofit · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system |
Dance, General
13 graduates
|
— | 26% | $46,080 | $77,560 | — |
|
Dominican University of California
CA · Private nonprofit · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system |
Dance, General
11 graduates
|
— | 96% | $35,333 | $71,751 | — |
|
University of California-Berkeley
CA · Public · Test-blind
|
Not reported by the college system |
Dance, General
6 graduates
|
— | 10% | $13,481 | $45,619 | — |
|
Saint Mary's College of California
CA · Private nonprofit · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system |
Dance, General
5 graduates
|
— | 89% | $30,378 | $77,659 | — |
|
Harvey Mudd College
CA · Private nonprofit · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system |
Dance, General
1 graduate
|
— | 13% | $35,924 | $90,165 | — |
|
Scripps College
CA · Private nonprofit · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system |
Dance, General
1 graduate
|
— | 34% | $36,294 | $87,564 | — |
|
Sonoma State University
CA · Public · Test-blind
|
Not reported by the college system |
Dance, General
1 graduate
|
— | 95% | $12,885 | $24,648 | — |
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); IPEDS Completions ↗ (bachelor's degrees conferred by 6-digit program, 2022-23, first major); 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/dance?state=CA, then open each college profile it links to. Build a reach / match / likely list for a dance 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 dance list has to be built audition by audition, which is why the spread here matters: the same degree ran from 13% to 98.4% across California in one year. Pick campuses from both ends, and read each program's audition requirements before the application goes in. Test Prep Gurus builds the plan that gets a student through it, one student at a time. prepgurus.com · 949.229.5359