UC Berkeley extends over 700 additional admission offers to first-year students for fall 2025

More students gained admission to UC Berkeley’s first-year and transfer classes this fall compared to the prior year — and they did so while competing with a record number of student applicants, according to admissions data released today (Monday, July 28) by Berkeley officials. 

Among the 126,798 first-year students who applied to Berkeley’s fall 2025 admitted class, approximately 14,500 were offered admission, representing 787 more admission offers than last year. 

In addition, 23,277 students sought admission as transfer students, an all-time high, with more than 5,600 admitted, representing 128 more students than the prior year. 

The admissions figures were released in coordination with the University of California Office of the President (UCOP), which posted new first-year and incoming transfer student admissions data for all nine UC undergraduate campuses.  

“At Berkeley, we seek to find the most exceptional students wherever they are in the state, country or world, and it’s especially rewarding when we can offer admission to more of these incredible students,” said Olufemi Ogundele, Berkeley’s associate vice chancellor and dean of enrollment.

First-year students

Although students faced more competition given the increase in Berkeley applications, they benefited from more enrollment seats. There were about 350 more enrollment seats for first-year students this fall compared to last year, and 15 additional enrollment seats for transfer students. 

Ogundele said that officials consider various factors when setting undergraduate admission and enrollment targets. For example, they consider how many students graduated in the previous year, thus opening up more enrollment spaces.

This year’s first-year admitted students are very strong academically, with an unweighted average GPA of 3.93 (on a 4.0 scale), compared to 3.92 for last year’s admitted class, and a weighted average GPA of 4.49, up from 4.47 last year.

About 68% of admitted first-year students are Californians, hailing from 50 of the state’s 58 counties. One in four are first generation college students, meaning that neither parent has a four-year college degree. And about 15% of them attended under-resourced high schools.

Additional facts about this year’s admitted first-year students include:

• Gender: About 56% are female, with 1.4% gender nonbinary.
• Age: The two youngest are 14, and the oldest is 27.
• Racial diversity: About 26% are underrepresented minority students (including African American, Latinx, Native American, Pacific Islander, Hmong and Laotian students).
• Top California counties: Los Angeles, Orange, Santa Clara, Alameda, and San Diego.
• Top five states (after California): New York, Washington, Texas, New Jersey and Massachusetts.
• Top five countries: China, Canada, Korea, India and Saudi Arabia.

The newly admitted students include one who created an app to help low-income families overcome challenges in finding housing, such as a lack of credit or rental history, by matching tenants and properties via AI-driven models. Another student co-founded a product to detect land mines using drone flyby footage, while another co-founded an organization to preserve and support the Tongan culture in their U.S. region through mentorship and events. 

Many of this year’s class of admitted students are entrepreneurial and concerned about the public good, creating apps and AI-facilitated products and services to address matters of sustainability, the unhoused, or improving technology for individuals with certain health conditions. The class also includes elite athletes with national titles and medals in rowing, gymnastics and water polo.

Transfer students 

This year’s class of admitted transfers boasts a GPA of 3.78, compared to 3.76 for last year’s group. More than 80% of them are California residents, over 40% of them are first-generation college students, and 28% are underrepresented minority students. The youngest admitted transfer student in this year’s class is 13, and the oldest is 78.

“Our commitment to California community colleges remains unwavering,” said Ogundele. “We have and will continue to invest in initiatives that seek to bring representation from as many community colleges across the state as possible.” 

International students, first-year and transfer 

Among first-year students, the number of international students offered admission bounced back up compared to last year, when the overall applicant pool saw fewer admission offers. For fall 2025, 1,469 international applicants were offered admission, compared to about 760 for fall 2024, and compared to about 1,200 for fall 2023. (Admission offers to international students also rose notably UC systemwide.) At Berkeley, more international students sought admission this year, with 24,040 applicants for fall 2025, up from 22,300 last year. 

Among transfer students, 885 international students were offered admission, up from 365 the year before. More of these students applied this year as well, with 3,297 applicants for fall 2025, compared to 2,957 for fall 2024.

For more detailed data on Berkeley admissions, see this year’s campus admissions charts, which compare current preliminary data with final admission counts from prior years. Data in this news story compare current preliminary data to preliminary data from the same point in time last year.

Note that some UC systemwide charts may have data that differ from Berkeley’s and, for example, may show California resident counts only. Some Berkeley and UC data may not match because some UC charts may be limited only to fall admissions or may reflect a different point in time in UC’s systemwide data collection. Not all students who are offered admission choose to accept the offer and enroll.

Campus admissions officials notified students of their decisions in the spring, on March 27 for first-year students and April 18 for transfer students. Students submitted applications in late 2024.