University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley)
Berkeley, California · Founded 1868
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Get your matchTesting policy
Test-free — scores not considered
Berkeley does not look at SAT or ACT scores at all. This is University of California policy, not a temporary test-optional window: its own Common Data Set marks SAT and ACT as NOT CONSIDERED FOR ADMISSION, EVEN IF SUBMITTED, and spells it out - "we do not take into account regular SAT or ACT scores". Sending a score cannot help you and cannot hurt you; there is no version of this application where your score matters. The same holds for scholarships. Two footnotes worth knowing: the CDS still lists test scores as CONSIDERED in its factor table and answers yes to "do you use SAT or ACT scores", but both refer to SAT Subject Tests, which College Board discontinued in 2021, and to placement advising after you enrol - not to admission. Applicants whose first language is not English still need TOEFL, IELTS or an equivalent. Source: UC Berkeley Common Data Set 2025-2026, section C8 (verified September 2026).
About
Berkeley is a large public university that reads applications without any standardized test score - the University of California does not look at them, so what you did in class and what you wrote carry the weight. It is big and it is academic: 184 departments and programs, 9 Nobel Prizes held by faculty teaching here now, and a student body where 26 percent of first-years are the first in their family to go to college. Transfer is a main road in rather than a side door.
History
The University of California was founded in 1868, out of a line in the State Constitution calling for a university that would contribute more than California's gold to the glory and happiness of advancing generations. Berkeley is where it started. The campus is also where the Free Speech Movement began in 1964.
What stands out
- No standardized tests in admissions - the University of California does consider them at all
- 184 academic departments and programs
- 9 Nobel Prizes held by current faculty
- Computing, sciences and social sciences are the three biggest fields by degrees awarded
- Transfer is a major route: Berkeley admitted 5,658 transfer students for fall 2025
Popular majors
Campus life
Most first-year students live in university housing (90 percent), but only about 30 percent of undergraduates do overall, so from the second year on most students rent in Berkeley and the surrounding cities - budgeting for Bay Area rent is part of choosing this school. Greek life is small: 3 percent of undergraduate men join a fraternity and 6 percent of undergraduate women join a sorority.