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At a glance · California

  • 24 colleges in California report a bachelor's electrical engineering program in federal outcome data or an electrical engineering admit rate in the UC/CSU data.
  • Hardest reported gate: University of California-Los Angeles — Electrical Engineering, Fall 2025: 3,053 applied, 265 admitted (9%).
  • Highest reported admit rate into the program: Sonoma State University — 94.8% (252 applied, 239 admitted, Fall 2025).
  • Highest median earnings four years after the degree: University of California-Berkeley, $200,543.
  • Lowest average net price with aid: California State University-Los Angeles, $3,967 per year.

A college here that shows earnings but no first-year row is not missing a gate; its admissions simply are not part of the UC or CSU major reporting. Where a first-year row does exist, it counts the students who applied under electrical engineering at that campus, so read it against the other electrical engineering rows rather than against the campus admit rate. Admits are not enrollees. At most UC programs students are admitted to the campus, not the major. This page as JSON → · Show all 271 colleges nationwide →

Hardest reported gate

9%
University of California-Los Angeles
Electrical Engineering, Fall 2025: 3,053 applied, 265 admitted

Highest reported admit rate

94.8%
Sonoma State University
Electrical Engineering, Fall 2025: 252 applied, 239 admitted

Highest earnings, 4 yrs out

$200,543
University of California-Berkeley
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
Electrical Engineering
Fall 2025: 3,053 applied, 265 admitted · admit GPA 4.25–4.30
9% 11% $12,548 $38,614 $126,209
University of California-Santa Barbara
CA · Public · Test-optional
Electrical Engineering
Fall 2025: 2,617 applied, 721 admitted · admit GPA 4.20–4.30
28% 44% $16,109 $41,573 $117,215
California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo
CA · Public · Test-optional
Electrical Engineering
Fall 2025: 1,996 applied, 719 admitted
impacted
36.0% 30% $16,665 $32,265 $125,240
San Diego State University
CA · Public · Test-optional
Electrical Engineering
Fall 2025: 1,351 applied, 528 admitted
impacted
39.1% 34% $15,364 $27,780 $106,416
California State University-Long Beach
CA · Public · Test-optional
Electrical Engineering
Fall 2025: 1,513 applied, 658 admitted
impacted
43.5% 47% $10,440 $22,679 $103,075
California State Polytechnic University-Pomona
CA · Public · Test-optional
Electrical Engineering
Fall 2025: 1,548 applied, 729 admitted
impacted
47.1% 74% $11,531 $23,955 $103,924
San Jose State University
CA · Public · Test-optional
Electrical Engineering
Fall 2025: 777 applied, 473 admitted
impacted
60.9% 80% $13,760 $26,593
University of California-Santa Cruz
CA · Public · Test-optional
Electrical Engineering
Fall 2025: 2,429 applied, 1,797 admitted · admit GPA 3.86–4.22
74% 82% $17,890 $41,179 $118,290
University of California-Riverside
CA · Public · Test-optional
Electrical Engineering
Fall 2025: 1,651 applied, 1,327 admitted · admit GPA 3.70–4.18
80% 88% $14,304 $38,942 $102,630
California State University-Fullerton
CA · Public · Test-optional
Electrical Engineering
Fall 2025: 1,049 applied, 896 admitted
impacted
85.4% 87% $6,555 $18,269 $92,618
California State University-Bakersfield
CA · Public · Test-optional
Electrical Engineering
Fall 2025: 689 applied, 597 admitted
86.6% 88% $5,652 $19,522 $97,998
San Francisco State University
CA · Public · Test-optional
Electrical Engineering
Fall 2025: 530 applied, 466 admitted
87.9% 96% $12,278 $26,488 $112,454
California State University-Chico
CA · Public · Test-optional
Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Fall 2025: 318 applied, 282 admitted
88.7% 94% $14,480 $26,283
California State University-Northridge
CA · Public · Test-optional
Electrical Engineering
Fall 2025: 734 applied, 657 admitted
89.5% 93% $7,021 $20,485 $104,065
California State University-Los Angeles
CA · Public · Test-optional
Electrical Engineering
Fall 2025: 1,086 applied, 993 admitted
91.4% 92% $3,967 $18,403 $96,014
California State University-Sacramento
CA · Public · Test-optional
Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Fall 2025: 562 applied, 517 admitted
92.0% 94% $9,338 $22,945 $103,512
California State University-Fresno
CA · Public · Test-optional
Electrical Engineering
Fall 2025: 287 applied, 267 admitted
impacted
93.0% 96% $7,000 $20,095 $108,038
California State University-San Marcos
CA · Public · Test-optional
Electrical Engineering
Fall 2025: 689 applied, 647 admitted
impacted
93.9% 96% $10,229 $21,649
Sonoma State University
CA · Public · Test-optional
Electrical Engineering
Fall 2025: 252 applied, 239 admitted
94.8% 95% $12,885 $24,648 $112,757
University of California-Berkeley
CA · Public · Test-optional
Not reported by the college system 10% $13,481 $45,619 $200,543
University of Southern California
CA · Private nonprofit · Test-optional
Not reported by the college system 10% $32,740 $90,300 $131,532
University of California-San Diego
CA · Public · Test-optional
Not reported by the college system 27% $12,470 $38,701 $118,150
University of San Diego
CA · Private nonprofit · Test-optional
Not reported by the college system 47% $30,365 $78,720 $110,314
University of California-Irvine
CA · Public · Test-optional
Not reported by the college system 30% $14,251 $38,632 $106,871

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

An electrical engineering list needs campuses from across that range, because a student can only enroll where they are admitted and the reported rates run from 9% to 94.8% for 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