By major · Mathematics
Where can your student actually get into mathematics?
Mathematics is one degree with very different odds depending on where your student applies: at UC Berkeley, 2,105 students applied under Applied Mathematics and 476 were admitted, a rate of 23%, while at Cal State San Bernardino 137 applied to mathematics and 136 were admitted, 99.3%. Campuses list the tracks of the major on their own lines, so UC Santa Barbara reports Actuarial Science separately from its two mathematics majors, 383 applied and 162 admitted, 42%. A UC decides admission at the campus level for most programs, so a UC figure here is the record for students who applied under that major, not a separate decision by the math department. Every number below is the college system's own reporting, assembled in one place.
At a glance · California
- 36 colleges in California report a bachelor's mathematics program in federal outcome data or a mathematics admit rate in the UC/CSU data.
- Hardest reported gate: University of California-Berkeley — Applied Mathematics, Fall 2025: 2,105 applied, 476 admitted (23%).
- Highest reported admit rate into the program: California State University-San Bernardino — 99.3% (137 applied, 136 admitted, Fall 2025).
- Highest median earnings four years after the degree: Santa Clara University, $147,013.
- Lowest average net price with aid: California State University-Los Angeles, $3,967 per year.
No CSU campus reports mathematics on the transfer side only, the pattern that means freshmen enter as a pre-major and compete for the program later, so the first-year rate in the table is the one to plan around. A college showing no rate for the major has not published one, and that gap says nothing about how selective the program is. Admits are not enrollees. At most UC programs students are admitted to the campus, not the major. This page as JSON → · Show all 361 colleges nationwide →
Hardest reported gate
Applied Mathematics, Fall 2025: 2,105 applied, 476 admitted
Highest reported admit rate
Mathematics, Fall 2025: 137 applied, 136 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-Berkeley
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Applied Mathematics
Fall 2025: 2,105 applied, 476 admitted · admit GPA 4.18–4.30
Mathematics: 18%
|
23% | 10% | $13,481 | $45,619 | $118,414 |
|
University of California-San Diego
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Applied Mathematics
Fall 2025: 1,318 applied, 596 admitted · admit GPA 4.15–4.29
Mathematics: 37% · Mathematics - Computer Science: 52% · Mathematics - Applied Science: 47% · Mathematical Biology: 53%
|
45% | 27% | $12,470 | $38,701 | $137,218 |
|
University of California-Davis
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Applied Mathematics
Fall 2025: 1,207 applied, 643 admitted · admit GPA 4.12–4.28
Mathematics: 65% · Mathematical Analytics And Operations Research: 86%
|
53% | 46% | $14,741 | $41,238 | $72,640 |
|
California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Mathematics
Fall 2025: 885 applied, 518 admitted
impacted
|
58.5% | 30% | $16,665 | $32,265 | $83,187 |
|
San Diego State University
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Applied Mathematics
Fall 2025: 548 applied, 324 admitted
impacted
Mathematics: 56.2%
|
59.1% | 34% | $15,364 | $27,780 | $69,606 |
|
University of California-Irvine
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Mathematics
Fall 2025: 1,752 applied, 1,100 admitted · admit GPA 4.00–4.24
Applied And Computational Mathematics: 74%
|
63% | 30% | $14,251 | $38,632 | $77,472 |
|
University of California-Santa Barbara
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Applied Mathematics
Fall 2025: 1,467 applied, 939 admitted · admit GPA 4.12–4.28
Mathematics: 55% · Actuarial Science: 42%
|
64% | 44% | $16,109 | $41,573 | $109,360 |
|
University of California-Santa Cruz
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Mathematics
Fall 2025: 611 applied, 492 admitted · admit GPA 3.85–4.22
|
81% | 82% | $17,890 | $41,179 | $59,214 |
|
San Jose State University
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Applied Mathematics
Fall 2025: 388 applied, 326 admitted
impacted
Mathematics: 85.7%
|
84.0% | 80% | $13,760 | $26,593 | — |
|
California State University-Long Beach
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Mathematics
Fall 2025: 376 applied, 326 admitted
impacted
Applied Mathematics: 96.1%
|
86.7% | 47% | $10,440 | $22,679 | $61,754 |
|
California State University-East Bay
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Mathematics
Fall 2025: 56 applied, 49 admitted
|
87.5% | 97% | $9,320 | $22,850 | — |
|
University of California-Riverside
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Mathematics
Fall 2025: 850 applied, 769 admitted · admit GPA 3.72–4.21
Actuarial Science: 88%
|
90% | 88% | $14,304 | $38,942 | $63,596 |
|
California State University-Stanislaus
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Mathematics
Fall 2025: 41 applied, 37 admitted
|
90.2% | 98% | $6,067 | $19,739 | $65,184 |
|
California State University-San Marcos
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Mathematics
Fall 2025: 184 applied, 169 admitted
|
91.8% | 96% | $10,229 | $21,649 | — |
|
University of California-Merced
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Applied Mathematics
Fall 2025: 1,543 applied, 1,414 admitted · admit GPA 3.64–4.18
|
92% | 95% | $11,983 | $39,665 | $82,156 |
|
California State University-Fullerton
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Mathematics
Fall 2025: 410 applied, 381 admitted
impacted
Applied Mathematics: 98.5%
|
92.9% | 87% | $6,555 | $18,269 | $80,055 |
|
California State University-Los Angeles
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Mathematics
Fall 2025: 214 applied, 201 admitted
|
93.9% | 92% | $3,967 | $18,403 | $70,677 |
|
California State University-Bakersfield
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Mathematics
Fall 2025: 147 applied, 138 admitted
|
93.9% | 88% | $5,652 | $19,522 | $64,470 |
|
California State University-Channel Islands
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Mathematics
Fall 2025: 50 applied, 47 admitted
|
94.0% | 93% | $9,849 | $23,561 | $70,628 |
|
California State University-Chico
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Mathematics
Fall 2025: 54 applied, 51 admitted
Applied Mathematics: 92.3%
|
94.4% | 94% | $14,480 | $26,283 | $77,891 |
|
California State University-Northridge
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Mathematics
Fall 2025: 127 applied, 120 admitted
Applied Mathematics: 94.7%
|
94.5% | 93% | $7,021 | $20,485 | $63,077 |
|
California State Polytechnic University-Pomona
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Applied Mathematics
Fall 2025: 455 applied, 436 admitted
Mathematics: 94.2%
|
95.8% | 74% | $11,531 | $23,955 | $63,059 |
|
San Francisco State University
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Applied Mathematics
Fall 2025: 76 applied, 73 admitted
Mathematics: 93.4%
|
96.1% | 96% | $12,278 | $26,488 | $71,323 |
|
California State University-Sacramento
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Mathematics
Fall 2025: 133 applied, 128 admitted
|
96.2% | 94% | $9,338 | $22,945 | $59,162 |
|
California State Polytechnic University-Humboldt
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Mathematics
Fall 2025: 101 applied, 98 admitted
|
97.0% | 99% | $13,171 | $25,170 | — |
|
Sonoma State University
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Mathematics
Fall 2025: 47 applied, 46 admitted
Applied Mathematics: 100.0%
|
97.9% | 95% | $12,885 | $24,648 | $64,913 |
|
California State University-Monterey Bay
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Mathematics
Fall 2025: 115 applied, 113 admitted
|
98.3% | 95% | $13,663 | $26,987 | $62,943 |
|
California State University-Dominguez Hills
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Mathematics
Fall 2025: 131 applied, 129 admitted
|
98.5% | 91% | $8,615 | $23,191 | $68,900 |
|
California State University-Fresno
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Mathematics
Fall 2025: 161 applied, 159 admitted
|
98.8% | 96% | $7,000 | $20,095 | $55,664 |
|
California State University-San Bernardino
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Mathematics
Fall 2025: 137 applied, 136 admitted
Applied Mathematics: 95.8%
|
99.3% | 98% | $4,564 | $17,427 | $57,603 |
|
Santa Clara University
CA · Private nonprofit · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 44% | $50,062 | $82,026 | $147,013 |
|
University of California-Los Angeles
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 11% | $12,548 | $38,614 | $103,887 |
|
University of Southern California
CA · Private nonprofit · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 10% | $32,740 | $90,300 | $101,094 |
|
Occidental College
CA · Private nonprofit · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 40% | $38,263 | $84,800 | $88,080 |
|
Harvey Mudd College
CA · Private nonprofit · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 13% | $35,924 | $90,165 | — |
|
Pomona College
CA · Private nonprofit · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 7% | $19,285 | $85,300 | — |
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.
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Other majors
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A mathematics list needs campuses from both ends of that range, with the net price and the earnings figure next to each one, so the choice comes down to cost and outcome and not to the odds alone. Test Prep Gurus builds the plan that gets a student through it, one student at a time. prepgurus.com · 949.229.5359