UC Freshman Admission Decision Timeline (Preliminary)

I just updated the confirmed and guesstimated (based on previous application cycles) Fall 2024 UC freshman decision release dates. You will receive an email from each campus when the decision becomes available (occasionally there may be a delay between when the decision becomes available and when the email goes out). Some UC campuses may state the decision within the email, while others will require you to log into the applicant portal to check the admission decision. All UCs will send admissions packets to admitted students; campuses will NOT mail letters to students who are NOT admitted.

If you want to try your hand at guesstimating the decision release dates, you can dig through online forums (e.g., College Confidential and Reddit) for past decision dates or, if you prefer to have the information handed to you on a platter, you can get the decision release date of every UC campus for the past 10 years I have compiled for just $18 here (remain on the payment page after you pay and you will be redirected to the PDF – please note, purchase of a digital product is NONREFUNDABLE).


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15 Comments

Join the discussion and tell us your opinion.

Stressed Out Parent of Stressed Out Studentreply
March 2, 2024 at 12:29 pm

Do you know if UC Freshman Admission decisions are posted when they are done? Or do the UCs hold admission decisions so they can release them on a certain magical date every year? I think decisions should be released as soon as they are made. The entire college application/admission process is too stressful for students and their families. Shortening the timeline of the process would help thousands or even tens of thousands of people!

Ms. Sunreply
March 2, 2024 at 8:52 pm
– In reply to: Stressed Out Parent of Stressed Out Student

UCs generally have a tentative list of admits by the end of January. February is used to finalize and double check the decisions (UCLA, at one point, said that all of the twins get an extra review and apparently an additional review if one is an admit and the other is not). Why the UCs release decisions at different times is beyond me (I think there was a mention of “final tweaks” at some point); if you ask me, I think there is a bit of hype/buzz building (although I’m sure the UCs will deny that) and probably some weird yield/recruitment strategy involved. Like I tell all of my students: “if you don’t like how they do things, think twice about spending four years with them.”

Everyone gets really stressed out for a short amount of time and then move on with their lives. Few people stick around to actually try to fix things (and by the time anyone is high up enough to fix things, they become embedded in the system and there is no incentive to make changes; the UCs are also very good at getting rid of naysayers). Getting national public opinion to turn on the UCs has been the only effective method of making anything happen (the UCs have been consistently very good at lobbying all state legislative attempts to make them comply with anything to a prompt death). So, again, like I say to all of my students: “do you want to spend four years with these people?”

Stressed parents of Relaxed studentreply
March 7, 2024 at 9:57 am

Will UC Davis release admission decision tomorrow? What’s time?

Is there early sign of admission like invitation for scholarships or campus events?

Ms. Sunreply
March 7, 2024 at 5:06 pm
– In reply to: Stressed parents of Relaxed student

Oh, you guys are too hilarious with your screen names! Davis is probably just a straight decision release and my best guess is tomorrow (Friday, 3/8/2024) in late afternoon (probably sometime between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m.).

mamaBearreply
March 11, 2024 at 4:30 pm

Ms. Sun, I heard UC San Diego already released the decisons 12 days ago, but some students didn’t receive the decision yet. Does UC San Diego have rolling decision?

Ms. Sunreply
March 11, 2024 at 5:50 pm
– In reply to: mamaBear

If you’re talking about the post on Reddit, that was referencing a thread on College Confidential for “University of San Diego,” which is a different college.

mamaBearreply
March 11, 2024 at 6:57 pm

Will UC San Diego release all scholarships with admission decision together? Or there is separate application?

Thanks!

Ms. Sunreply
March 12, 2024 at 8:12 pm
– In reply to: mamaBear

I think Regents come out at the same time as the decisions. Not sure if the full financial aid package (which would include other scholarships) would be available at the time of decision release. I believe UCSD now just uses the UC Application for scholarships (I think there was a separate scholarship application for a while but that does not seem to be the case right now).

Just a curious student!!reply
March 13, 2024 at 7:44 pm

Where did you find the information about “ UCLA, at one point, said that all of the twins get an extra review and apparently an additional review if one is an admit and the other is not”? Is there a link to the source? I’m actually a twin and am very curious about this statement.

Ms. Sunreply
March 13, 2024 at 9:27 pm
– In reply to: Just a curious student!!

An admission officer mentioned this during the training for alumni volunteers who would be attending high school college fairs. I must have heard this sometime before 2017, when UCLA officially banned me from the alumni volunteer training (the campus was incredibly annoyed with me for blabbing what I heard from the training all over the internet, because, obviously, admissions information should be kept a secret). Things might’ve changed since then, although giving twins an extra review seems like a good idea so I assume the campus will continue doing that (unless something dramatic happened, which it may have, I just don’t know, because, you know, secrecy is of the utmost importance). I’m not bitter about this at all!

Stressfully waitingreply
March 15, 2024 at 4:04 pm

Wondering when UCLA will send out the Decisions to the students? Do you have a date?

Ms. Sunreply
March 15, 2024 at 5:54 pm
– In reply to: Stressfully waiting

UCLA freshman decisions were released today (3/15/2024) at 5:10 p.m. Pacific Time.

Ms. Sunreply
March 15, 2024 at 5:54 pm
– In reply to: Stressfully waiting

They were released at 5:10 p.m. Pacific Time.

Lornareply
March 28, 2024 at 2:09 pm

For waitlisted students UCI, UCLA and UCSD when do we know the decision?

Ms. Sunreply
March 28, 2024 at 2:38 pm
– In reply to: Lorna

Probably after May 15 and hopefully before September.

Questions or Comments?