To be considered for admission to UC Davis, freshman applicants must earn a high school diploma (or equivalent) and satisfy the following UC admission requirements:
Meeting the UC admission requirements does not guarantee admission to UC Davis. Applicants that are admitted to UC Davis generally well-exceed UC admission requirements.
The following courses must be completed with a C grade or better and, for California residents, must be on your high school's UC-approved course list. At least 11 of the 15 units shown in the "a-g" requirements below must be completed before your senior year of high school.
| "A-G" Subjects | Units (One Unit=One Year of Study) |
| a. History/social science | Two units |
| b. English (or language of instruction) |
Four units |
| c. Mathematics | Three units (Four units recommended) |
| d. Laboratory science | Two units (Three units recommended) |
| e. Language other than English (or other second language) |
Two units (Three units recommended) |
| f. Visual and performing arts | One unit |
| g. College preparatory elective | One unit |
The scholarship requirement is satisfied if you earn a GPA of 3.0 or better in "a-g" courses taken during the tenth and eleventh grades. Applicants who are not California residents must earn a GPA of 3.4 or better.
Freshman applicants are required to take the ACT Assessment plus Writing or the SAT Reasoning Test* no later than December—official scores must be received by the end of January. When you report your ACT or SAT scores to one campus they will be shared with every UC campus to which you've applied, if authorized on your UC application. Only your highest scores from a single sitting will be considered.
* SAT Subject Tests are not required and UC Davis will consider submitted SAT Subject Test scores only if they benefit the applicant.
If you're a California resident applying to UC as a freshman and complete the UC Admission Requirements by the end of your senior year, the University of California offers two guaranteed paths for admission to a UC campus: Statewide Context and Local Context.
Through this pathway, the top 9 percent of graduating students in California according to the UC Admission Index are guaranteed admission to a UC campus. To be eligible, you must complete any 11 UC-approved Subject Requirement units before your senior year.
Through this pathway, also referred to as Eligibility in the Local Context (ELC), the University of California designates the top 9 percent of graduating students at each participating Calfornia high school guaranteed admission to a UC campus. To be eligible, you must complete the following 11 UC-approved units before your senior year:
| Subjects | Units |
| History/social science | One unit |
| English (or language of instruction) | Two units |
| Mathematics | Two units |
| Laboratory science | One unit |
| Language other than English (or other second language) | One unit |
| College preparatory elective | Four units |
UC Davis Undergraduate Admissions
178 Mrak Hall
530-752-2971
© 2013