By major · Finance
Where can your student actually get into finance?
In California, every published admit rate for finance comes from a Cal State campus. The same major admitted 30.6% at San Diego State and 96.0% at Cal State Dominguez Hills in Fall 2025, so where a student applies matters far more than what the major is called. No UC campus reports a finance major in the admit-by-major data, and the private colleges here report cost and earnings rather than an admit rate, which is how Santa Clara University appears on this page with the highest median earnings four years after the degree, $118,737. Every number below is the college system's own reporting, assembled in one place.
At a glance · California
- 24 colleges in California report a bachelor's finance program in federal outcome data or a finance admit rate in the UC/CSU data.
- Hardest reported gate: San Diego State University — Finance, Fall 2025: 3,638 applied, 1,112 admitted (30.6%).
- Highest reported admit rate into the program: California State University-Dominguez Hills — 96.0% (699 applied, 671 admitted, Fall 2025).
- Highest median earnings four years after the degree: Santa Clara University, $118,737.
- Lowest average net price with aid: California State University-Los Angeles, $3,967 per year.
No campus here reports finance on the transfer side only, so a freshman applies into the major itself and the rate shown is the gate for that major rather than for the campus as a whole. A high rate is not the same as an easy program; it tells you the door was open in Fall 2025 and nothing about the coursework behind it. Admits are not enrollees. At most UC programs students are admitted to the campus, not the major. This page as JSON → · Show all 454 colleges nationwide →
Hardest reported gate
Finance, Fall 2025: 3,638 applied, 1,112 admitted
Highest reported admit rate
Finance, Fall 2025: 699 applied, 671 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
San Diego State University
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Finance
Fall 2025: 3,638 applied, 1,112 admitted
impacted
Financial Services: 31.4%
|
30.6% | 34% | $15,364 | $27,780 | $88,136 |
|
California State University-Long Beach
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Finance
Fall 2025: 3,213 applied, 994 admitted
impacted
|
30.9% | 47% | $10,440 | $22,679 | $78,085 |
|
California State Polytechnic University-Pomona
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Finance
Fall 2025: 2,202 applied, 1,316 admitted
impacted
|
59.8% | 74% | $11,531 | $23,955 | — |
|
San Jose State University
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Finance
Fall 2025: 1,035 applied, 626 admitted
impacted
Corporate Financial Management: 82.9%
|
60.5% | 80% | $13,760 | $26,593 | — |
|
California State University-Bakersfield
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Finance
Fall 2025: 552 applied, 439 admitted
|
79.5% | 88% | $5,652 | $19,522 | — |
|
California State University-East Bay
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Finance
Fall 2025: 424 applied, 370 admitted
|
87.3% | 97% | $9,320 | $22,850 | — |
|
San Francisco State University
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Finance
Fall 2025: 824 applied, 723 admitted
|
87.7% | 96% | $12,278 | $26,488 | $78,310 |
|
California State University-Chico
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Finance
Fall 2025: 674 applied, 599 admitted
|
88.9% | 94% | $14,480 | $26,283 | — |
|
California State University-Los Angeles
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Finance
Fall 2025: 1,959 applied, 1,771 admitted
|
90.4% | 92% | $3,967 | $18,403 | — |
|
California State University-Stanislaus
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Finance
Fall 2025: 153 applied, 142 admitted
|
92.8% | 98% | $6,067 | $19,739 | — |
|
California State University-Northridge
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Finance
Fall 2025: 881 applied, 823 admitted
|
93.4% | 93% | $7,021 | $20,485 | $74,656 |
|
California State University-Sacramento
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Finance
Fall 2025: 766 applied, 722 admitted
|
94.3% | 94% | $9,338 | $22,945 | — |
|
California State University-San Bernardino
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Finance
Fall 2025: 279 applied, 265 admitted
Financial Services: 100.0%
|
95.0% | 98% | $4,564 | $17,427 | $61,095 |
|
Sonoma State University
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Finance
Fall 2025: 242 applied, 231 admitted
Corporate Financial Management: 91.2%
|
95.5% | 95% | $12,885 | $24,648 | — |
|
California State University-Dominguez Hills
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Finance
Fall 2025: 699 applied, 671 admitted
|
96.0% | 91% | $8,615 | $23,191 | — |
|
Santa Clara University
CA · Private nonprofit · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 44% | $50,062 | $82,026 | $118,737 |
|
Loyola Marymount University
CA · Private nonprofit · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 40% | $48,381 | $83,943 | $109,303 |
|
Menlo College
CA · Private nonprofit · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 68% | $31,100 | $72,020 | $103,918 |
|
University of San Francisco
CA · Private nonprofit · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 51% | $41,431 | $80,141 | $103,605 |
|
University of San Diego
CA · Private nonprofit · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 47% | $30,365 | $78,720 | $93,099 |
|
California State University-San Marcos
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 96% | $10,229 | $21,649 | $77,312 |
|
California State University-Fresno
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 96% | $7,000 | $20,095 | $67,312 |
|
California State University-Fullerton
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 87% | $6,555 | $18,269 | — |
|
California State University-Monterey Bay
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 95% | $13,663 | $26,987 | — |
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/finance, then open each college profile it links to. Build a reach / match / likely list for a finance 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 finance list needs campuses at both ends of that range, because the same degree went from 30.6% to 96.0% in the same year and the difference is the campus, not the major. Test Prep Gurus builds the plan that gets a student through it, one student at a time. prepgurus.com · 949.229.5359