UC San Diego Facts & Campus Profile

UC San Diego’s rich academic portfolio includes six undergraduate colleges, five academic divisions and five graduate and professional schools. The university’s award-winning scholars are experts at the forefront of their fields with an impressive track record for achieving scientific, medical and technological breakthroughs.

The following is a subset of information included in the UCSD Campus Portrait [PDF] and UCSD Campus Narrative Accountability Profile [PDF]. For information and metrics relating to all UC campuses, see the UC 2009 Accountability Report.

Undergraduate Education

• UC San Diego’s current undergraduate enrollment is 23,143.
• Female students represent 52%, an increase of 42% over the past 10 years.
• The number of new students in Fall 2009 was 5,691, which represents an overall increase of 33% over the past 10 years. Of these new students, 66% were freshmen and 34% were transfer students.

Our student population has changed in response to the shifting demographics in California, increased selectivity, high school preparation levels and other demographic and economic factors.

• Approximately 64% of undergraduates are students of color, including African American, Asian, Mexican American, Filipino, Latino, and Native American, which represents a 94% increase in the past decade.
• 44% are Asian.
• 34% of incoming freshmen are of the first geeneration in their family to attend college.
• 37% do not speak English as their native language.

Over the last 13 years, UC San Diego has continued to improve student retention and graduation rates.

• The overall freshmen retention and six-year graduation rates of 94% and 85%, respectively. This places UC San Diego in the top one-third of the UC system with respect to student performance on these two important indicators.

Transfer students are also retained and graduate at high rates.

• First-year retention rate of UC San Diego community college transfer students is 92%
• Four-year graduation rate of community college transfers is over 82%.
• In 2008-09, more than 5,325 undergraduate degrees were conferred, which represent a 49% overall increase over the past 10 years.
• These degrees constitute 74% of the total degrees awarded.

Undergraduate Access

UC San Diego continues to recruit and admit students with strong academic preparation as evidenced by the high school grades and standardized examination scores of entering freshmen.

• The 2009 entering class of UC San Diego freshmen had an incoming average GPA of 3.96.
• Composite SAT I Math and Verbal scores were 1257.

These indicators of strong student preparation, campus selectivity and student outcomes as indicated by our high retention and graduation rates have contributed to the rapid rise of UC San Diego in national rankings.

• The campus application/admit rate has decreased by 8% over the past 10 years.
• The registered/ admit rate has decreased by 14%.
• In 2008-09, the number of students receiving undergraduate degrees who were the first generation to attend college was 1,530. This is a 79% overall increase over the past 10 years.
• During the 2009-10 academic year, 67% of UC San Diego undergraduates were expected to receive financial aid, including student and parent loans.

Graduate & Professional Education

UC San Diego continues to develop an environment that is attractive to and supportive of graduate students as they prepare for academic and professional careers.

• Current graduate enrollment is 4,274 (including health sciences academic programs).
• Since 2004, there has been a 37% increase in underrepresented graduate student enrollment, with a 6% increase in 2009 over 2008.
• The campus has set a goal for the graduate student population to represent 20% of the total general campus student FTE by 2020. Graduate students currently represent 17%.
• UC San Diego awarded 1,349 graduate and professional degrees in 2007-08. In 2008-09, 1,416 degrees were awarded with an increase of 10% at the master's level.

University Extension/Lifelong Learning

As the professional education and public service division of UC San Diego, Extension is focused on being a major catalyst for the continued economic, intellectual, and cultural growth of the San Diego and Baja California region. 

• Extension offers more than 130 distinct academic programs ranging from the life sciences and engineering to arts and business leadership.
• Approximately 50,000 enrollees, representing 22,600 students in over 4,200 courses, were served by Extension in 2007-08.
• In addition, Extension’s public outreach programs are designed to improve the region’s economy through entrepreneurial development, research, public forums and civic conversations.

Opportunities for continued learning are also offered through extension programs in the Health Sciences, Jacobs School of Engineering, Rady School of Management, the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies, and the Education Studies Program.