By major · Linguistics
Where can your student actually get into linguistics?
Linguistics is a small major, and how hard it is to get in depends far more on the campus than on the subject. UCLA had 261 students apply naming linguistics and admitted 34, a 13% rate; Cal State San Marcos had 183 applicants and admitted 173, 94.5%. Most UC campuses admit students to the campus rather than to the major, so a UC number here describes what happened to the students who named linguistics, not a decision made by the linguistics department. The 18 colleges in California below come from the college systems' own reporting and the federal earnings data, assembled in one place.
At a glance · California
- 18 colleges in California report a bachelor's linguistics program in federal outcome data or a linguistics admit rate in the UC/CSU data.
- Hardest reported gate: University of California-Los Angeles — Linguistics, Fall 2025: 261 applied, 34 admitted (13%).
- Highest reported admit rate into the program: California State University-San Bernardino — 100.0% (23 applied, 23 admitted, Fall 2025).
- Highest median earnings four years after the degree: University of California-Berkeley, $76,724.
- Lowest average net price with aid: California State University-San Bernardino, $4,564 per year.
Every California public campus that reports a linguistics number reports it for first-year applicants, so this is not a major where a freshman enters as a pre-major and applies into the program later. A college with no row here is not an easier door; it means the system publishes no separate linguistics figure for it, and the campus decision is the one that applies. Admits are not enrollees. At most UC programs students are admitted to the campus, not the major. This page as JSON → · Show all 108 colleges nationwide →
Hardest reported gate
Linguistics, Fall 2025: 261 applied, 34 admitted
Highest reported admit rate
Linguistics, Fall 2025: 23 applied, 23 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
|
Linguistics
Fall 2025: 261 applied, 34 admitted · admit GPA 4.18–4.31
|
13% | 11% | $12,548 | $38,614 | $62,927 |
|
University of California-Berkeley
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Linguistics
Fall 2025: 445 applied, 101 admitted · admit GPA 4.13–4.29
|
23% | 10% | $13,481 | $45,619 | $76,724 |
|
University of California-Santa Barbara
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Linguistics
Fall 2025: 683 applied, 275 admitted · admit GPA 4.09–4.28
|
40% | 44% | $16,109 | $41,573 | $61,580 |
|
University of California-San Diego
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Linguistics
Fall 2025: 198 applied, 92 admitted · admit GPA 4.11–4.28
|
46% | 27% | $12,470 | $38,701 | $55,776 |
|
University of California-Irvine
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Language Science
Fall 2025: 336 applied, 163 admitted · admit GPA 4.00–4.25
|
49% | 30% | $14,251 | $38,632 | — |
|
University of California-Davis
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Linguistics
Fall 2025: 316 applied, 225 admitted · admit GPA 4.00–4.25
|
71% | 46% | $14,741 | $41,238 | $58,443 |
|
San Diego State University
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Linguistics
Fall 2025: 143 applied, 111 admitted
impacted
Linguistics and Anthropology: 70.6%
|
77.6% | 34% | $15,364 | $27,780 | $42,922 |
|
University of California-Santa Cruz
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Linguistics
Fall 2025: 224 applied, 180 admitted · admit GPA 3.86–4.23
|
80% | 82% | $17,890 | $41,179 | $49,763 |
|
California State University-Long Beach
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Linguistics
Fall 2025: 92 applied, 76 admitted
impacted
|
82.6% | 47% | $10,440 | $22,679 | $38,996 |
|
California State University-Fullerton
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Linguistics
Fall 2025: 79 applied, 68 admitted
impacted
|
86.1% | 87% | $6,555 | $18,269 | $29,715 |
|
San Jose State University
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Linguistics
Fall 2025: 45 applied, 39 admitted
impacted
|
86.7% | 80% | $13,760 | $26,593 | — |
|
California State University-Northridge
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Linguistics
Fall 2025: 43 applied, 38 admitted
|
88.4% | 93% | $7,021 | $20,485 | $32,939 |
|
San Francisco State University
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Linguistics
Fall 2025: 21 applied, 19 admitted
|
90.5% | 96% | $12,278 | $26,488 | $48,959 |
|
University of California-Riverside
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Linguistics
Fall 2025: 193 applied, 182 admitted · admit GPA 3.64–4.16
|
94% | 88% | $14,304 | $38,942 | $46,306 |
|
California State University-San Marcos
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Linguistics
Fall 2025: 183 applied, 173 admitted
|
94.5% | 96% | $10,229 | $21,649 | — |
|
California State University-Dominguez Hills
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Linguistics
Fall 2025: 40 applied, 38 admitted
|
95.0% | 91% | $8,615 | $23,191 | — |
|
California State University-Fresno
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Linguistics
Fall 2025: 35 applied, 34 admitted
|
97.1% | 96% | $7,000 | $20,095 | — |
|
California State University-San Bernardino
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Linguistics
Fall 2025: 23 applied, 23 admitted
|
100.0% | 98% | $4,564 | $17,427 | $49,732 |
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/linguistics, then open each college profile it links to. Build a reach / match / likely list for a linguistics 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 linguistics list needs the rate reported for the major where a campus publishes one, the price after aid next to each name, and the department's own course list, because the same word covers programs that study very different things. Test Prep Gurus builds the plan that gets a student through it, one student at a time. prepgurus.com · 949.229.5359