Acceptance Rate and Admission Trends for California Colleges

47.17%

Applicants Changes

6.18%

Acceptance Rate

California Colleges Acceptance Rate Trends (2015-2025)

  • Overall Trend: The average acceptance rate has increased over the last decade, rising from 59.95% to 66.13%.
  • Current Admission (2025): The average acceptance rate is 66.13%, with 955,369 students accepted out of 2,025,182 total applicants.
  • Gender Split (2024-2025):
    • Men's acceptance rate: 65.01%
    • Women's acceptance rate: 67.32%

Admission Yield (Enrollment Rate) Changes

  • Overall Trend: The admission yield (the percentage of admitted students who actually enroll) has consistently decreased.
  • 10-Year Change: The yield dropped from 37.42% to 31.14%.
  • Gender Split (2024-2025):
    • Men's yield: 31.14%
    • Women's yield: 30.45%

Applicants, Admitted, and Enrolled Headcount Changes

  • Applicants: The number of applicants has shown a strong upward trend, increasing to 2,025,182 in 2025. This represents a 1.31% increase from the previous year.
  • Admitted Students: The number of admitted students also increased to 955,369.
  • Enrolled Students: The number of enrolled students reached 148,191 in 2024-2025.

Note: The acceptance rate is calculated as the number of admitted students divided by the number of applicants. The admission yield (enrollment rate) is calculated as the number of enrolled students divided by the number of admitted students.

Acceptance Rate Trends

The average acceptance rate over the last 10 years is 61.47% where the current academic year rate is 66.13% at California Colleges. By gender, men students' acceptance rate is 59.89% and women students' rate is 62.33%.

The following table and chart illustrate the acceptance rates changes at California Colleges over the past 11 years (2014-2025).

YearTotalMenWomen
2014-15 59.95% 57.63% 60.19%
2015-16 58.99%
-0.96%		 57.03%
-0.60%		 59.53%
-0.66%
2016-17 58.73%
-0.26%		 56.85%
-0.18%		 59.50%
-0.03%
2017-18 58.82%
0.09%		 57.51%
0.66%		 60.14%
0.65%
2018-19 59.09%
0.28%		 58.32%
0.81%		 59.96%
-0.18%
2019-20 59.61%
0.52%		 58.47%
0.15%		 61.32%
1.36%
2020-21 62.11%
2.50%		 60.83%
2.35%		 61.93%
0.61%
2021-22 63.90%
1.79%		 61.99%
1.17%		 64.73%
2.80%
2022-23 64.33%
0.42%		 62.18%
0.19%		 66.24%
1.52%
2023-24 64.56%
0.24%		 62.99%
0.81%		 64.82%
-1.42%
2024-25 66.13%
1.57%		 65.01%
2.02%		 67.32%
2.50%
Average 61.47% 59.89% 62.33%
California Colleges Acceptance Rate Changes Chart

Admission Yield (Enrollment Rate) Changes

The average admission yield of the last 12 years is 35.11% where the current academic year yield is 31.14%. The yield, also known as enrollment rate is the percentage of admitted students who finally enrolled. The following table and chart illustrate the changes in yield at California Colleges from 2014 to 2025.

YearTotalMenWomen
2014-15 37.42% 40.64% 34.11%
2015-16 36.96%
-0.46%		 37.99%
-2.65%		 35.05%
0.93%
2016-17 38.14%
1.18%		 39.00%
1.01%		 35.04%
-0.01%
2017-18 37.96%
-0.18%		 38.36%
-0.64%		 37.05%
2.01%
2018-19 36.93%
-1.03%		 40.10%
1.74%		 34.95%
-2.10%
2019-20 33.32%
-3.60%		 35.05%
-5.05%		 31.87%
-3.07%
2020-21 34.82%
1.49%		 34.43%
-0.62%		 32.76%
0.88%
2021-22 31.83%
-2.99%		 34.35%
-0.07%		 30.11%
-2.65%
2022-23 33.46%
1.63%		 34.92%
0.56%		 31.52%
1.41%
2023-24 34.23%
0.77%		 35.45%
0.54%		 31.88%
0.36%
2024-25 31.14%
-3.09%		 31.38%
-4.08%		 30.45%
-1.43%
Average 35.11% 36.51% 33.16%
California Colleges Yield (Enrollment Rate) Changes Chart

Applicants, Admitted, and Enrolled Headcount Changes

The average number of applicants is 1,696,279, the average number of admitted is 739,147, and the average number of enrolled students is 142,124 over the last 10 years.

The number of applicants to California Colleges decreased by 1.31% (26,205 applicants) compared to last year.

The following table and chart show the changes of applicants, admitted, and enrolled headcount at California Colleges from 2014 to 2025.

YearApplicantsAdmittedEnrolled
2014-15 1,376,101 593,539 135,631
2015-16 1,450,832
5.43%		 598,237
0.79%		 136,550
0.68%
2016-17 1,522,756
4.96%		 651,332
8.88%		 140,015
2.54%
2017-18 1,578,897
3.69%		 662,235
1.67%		 143,787
2.69%
2018-19 1,699,460
7.64%		 676,914
2.22%		 145,395
1.12%
2019-20 1,713,287
0.81%		 728,518
7.62%		 142,438
-2.03%
2020-21 1,627,424
-5.01%		 784,158
7.64%		 136,152
-4.41%
2021-22 1,770,098
8.77%		 797,423
1.69%		 142,522
4.68%
2022-23 1,896,058
7.12%		 805,927
1.07%		 143,907
0.97%
2023-24 1,998,977
5.43%		 876,960
8.81%		 148,780
3.39%
2024-25 2,025,182
1.31%		 955,369
8.94%		 148,191
-0.40%
Average 1,696,279 739,147 142,124
California Colleges Applicants Trends Chart