By major · Environmental Science
Where can your student actually get into environmental science?
Environmental science is one name stretched over very different programs. UCLA reported 1,724 applications and 198 admits under environmental science, 11%, while Fresno State reported 106 applications and 106 admits, 100.0%. At most UC programs the campus admits the student rather than the major, so a UC number tells you about that applicant pool and not about a separate door into the major. The 34 California colleges below come from the college systems' own reporting and the federal earnings data, gathered in one place.
At a glance · California
- 34 colleges in California report a bachelor's environmental science program in federal outcome data or an environmental science admit rate in the UC/CSU data.
- Hardest reported gate: University of California-Los Angeles — Environmental Science, Fall 2025: 1,724 applied, 198 admitted (11%).
- Highest reported admit rate into the program: California State University-Fresno — 100.0% (106 applied, 106 admitted, Fall 2025).
- Highest median earnings four years after the degree: California State University-Bakersfield, $82,315.
- Lowest average net price with aid: California State University-San Bernardino, $4,564 per year.
Almost every campus here reports a first-year row, so a student applies to environmental science directly out of high school. Where a campus reports the program on the transfer side only, as California State University-Long Beach does for Geography and Environmental Studies, freshmen enter as a related major and apply into the program later, which is a longer path and not a closed one. Admits are not enrollees. At most UC programs students are admitted to the campus, not the major. This page as JSON → · Show all 321 colleges nationwide →
Hardest reported gate
Environmental Science, Fall 2025: 1,724 applied, 198 admitted
Highest reported admit rate
Environmental Science, Fall 2025: 106 applied, 106 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-Los Angeles
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Environmental Science
Fall 2025: 1,724 applied, 198 admitted · admit GPA 4.22–4.30
Earth And Environmental Science: 10% · Geography/Environmental Studies: 14%
|
11% | 11% | $12,548 | $38,614 | $75,927 |
|
University of California-Berkeley
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Environmental Science
Fall 2025: 1,623 applied, 233 admitted · admit GPA 4.15–4.28
Molecular Environmental Biology: 15% · Society And Environment: 23% · Environmental Earth Science: 27%
|
14% | 10% | $13,481 | $45,619 | $78,624 |
|
University of California-San Diego
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Environmental Systems - Earth Sciences
Fall 2025: 753 applied, 270 admitted · admit GPA 4.15–4.29
Environmental Systems - Environmental Policy: 38% · Environmental Systems - Environmental Chemistry: 44%
|
36% | 27% | $12,470 | $38,701 | $69,061 |
|
University of California-Santa Barbara
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Environmental Studies
Fall 2025: 2,634 applied, 1,181 admitted · admit GPA 4.09–4.28
|
45% | 44% | $16,109 | $41,573 | $63,628 |
|
University of California-Irvine
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Environmental Science And Policy
Fall 2025: 1,400 applied, 628 admitted · admit GPA 4.00–4.25
|
45% | 30% | $14,251 | $38,632 | $59,908 |
|
San Diego State University
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Environmental Science
Fall 2025: 947 applied, 622 admitted
impacted
Geography and Environmental Studies: 64.7%
|
65.7% | 34% | $15,364 | $27,780 | $58,215 |
|
University of California-Davis
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Environmental Science And Management
Fall 2025: 1,305 applied, 927 admitted · admit GPA 4.00–4.25
Environmental Toxicology: 72%
|
71% | 46% | $14,741 | $41,238 | $65,983 |
|
California State University-Long Beach
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Environmental Science
Fall 2025: 428 applied, 321 admitted
impacted
Geography and Environmental Studies: 76.5% (transfer)
|
75.0% | 47% | $10,440 | $22,679 | $63,040 |
|
University of California-Santa Cruz
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Environmental Studies
Fall 2025: 656 applied, 524 admitted · admit GPA 3.85–4.23
Environmental Studies/Economics: 75% · Environmental Studies/Biology: 73%
|
80% | 82% | $17,890 | $41,179 | $55,240 |
|
San Jose State University
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Environmental Science
Fall 2025: 264 applied, 212 admitted
impacted
|
80.3% | 80% | $13,760 | $26,593 | — |
|
California State University-East Bay
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Environmental Science
Fall 2025: 81 applied, 70 admitted
|
86.4% | 97% | $9,320 | $22,850 | $59,333 |
|
University of California-Riverside
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Environmental Science
Fall 2025: 934 applied, 836 admitted · admit GPA 3.59–4.15
Environmental Studies: 91%
|
90% | 88% | $14,304 | $38,942 | $64,944 |
|
San Francisco State University
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Environmental Science
Fall 2025: 247 applied, 226 admitted
|
91.5% | 96% | $12,278 | $26,488 | $62,116 |
|
University of California-Merced
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Environmental Systems Science
Fall 2025: 523 applied, 494 admitted · admit GPA 3.60–4.14
|
94% | 95% | $11,983 | $39,665 | — |
|
California State University-Channel Islands
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Environmental Science
Fall 2025: 293 applied, 276 admitted
|
94.2% | 93% | $9,849 | $23,561 | $67,558 |
|
California State University-Northridge
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Environmental Science
Fall 2025: 150 applied, 143 admitted
|
95.3% | 93% | $7,021 | $20,485 | — |
|
California State University-Chico
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Environmental Science
Fall 2025: 196 applied, 187 admitted
|
95.4% | 94% | $14,480 | $26,283 | $69,531 |
|
California State University-Sacramento
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Environmental Science
Fall 2025: 158 applied, 151 admitted
|
95.6% | 94% | $9,338 | $22,945 | $67,795 |
|
California State University-San Bernardino
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Environmental Science
Fall 2025: 51 applied, 49 admitted
|
96.1% | 98% | $4,564 | $17,427 | $57,319 |
|
California State Polytechnic University-Pomona
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Environmental Biology
Fall 2025: 316 applied, 304 admitted
impacted
Geography and Environmental Studies: 92.9% · Sustainability Studies: 96.9%
|
96.2% | 74% | $11,531 | $23,955 | — |
|
California State University-San Marcos
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Environmental Science
Fall 2025: 174 applied, 169 admitted
|
97.1% | 96% | $10,229 | $21,649 | $55,903 |
|
California State Polytechnic University-Humboldt
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Environmental Science
Fall 2025: 424 applied, 413 admitted
|
97.4% | 99% | $13,171 | $25,170 | $50,915 |
|
California State University-Monterey Bay
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Environmental Science
Fall 2025: 523 applied, 515 admitted
|
98.5% | 95% | $13,663 | $26,987 | $51,598 |
|
Sonoma State University
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Environmental Science
Fall 2025: 72 applied, 71 admitted
|
98.6% | 95% | $12,885 | $24,648 | $69,077 |
|
California State University-Fresno
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Environmental Science
Fall 2025: 106 applied, 106 admitted
|
100.0% | 96% | $7,000 | $20,095 | — |
|
California State University-Bakersfield
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 88% | $5,652 | $19,522 | $82,315 |
|
University of Southern California
CA · Private nonprofit · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 10% | $32,740 | $90,300 | $78,731 |
|
Santa Clara University
CA · Private nonprofit · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 44% | $50,062 | $82,026 | $72,889 |
|
California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 30% | $16,665 | $32,265 | $68,965 |
|
Occidental College
CA · Private nonprofit · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 40% | $38,263 | $84,800 | $59,542 |
|
University of San Diego
CA · Private nonprofit · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 47% | $30,365 | $78,720 | $58,517 |
|
University of Redlands
CA · Private nonprofit · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 81% | $30,031 | $76,630 | $57,319 |
|
University of San Francisco
CA · Private nonprofit · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 51% | $41,431 | $80,141 | $53,369 |
|
Pitzer College
CA · Private nonprofit · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 17% | $34,191 | $86,466 | — |
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/environmental-science, then open each college profile it links to. Build a reach / match / likely list for a environmental science 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 related 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 list for this major should name the exact program at each campus, because Environmental Science, Environmental Studies and Environmental Systems - Environmental Policy are different degrees with different reported admit rates. Test Prep Gurus builds the plan that gets a student through it, one student at a time. prepgurus.com · 949.229.5359