UC Riverside Class of 2031 Official Thread

Colleges & Universities University of California - Riverside
1

Welcome prospective Highlanders. It’s that time of year again as the UC application has now opened and submission starts October 1 through November 30. I am @Gumbymom one of the two UC Forum Champions/Moderators. My Co-Forum Champion is @lkg4answers and we are knowledgeable on the increasingly complicated UC admissions process and hopefully we can help any prospective UC applicants with their questions.

UC Riverside like all the UC’s are test blind this admission cycle and will use 13 areas of criteria to review Freshman applicants. Each campus will weight the various areas of criteria differently so one size does not fit all. The UC application website has plenty of information that can help determine if UC Riverside is a good option when applying.

2025 Freshman (First year) profile 25th-75th percentile:
Capped weighted GPA: 3.66-4.17

Overall Freshman Admit rate: 88.2%

Freshman admission information:
Admission by major but alternate/2nd choice major will be considered if applicant does not meet their primary choice admission standards.

UCR For Business: Freshmen students must apply to Pre-Business under the College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHASS). The College breadth requirements and the prerequisites for a Business major are completed during the freshman and sophomore years. An application is submitted at the end of the sophomore year. Upon acceptance, students become Business majors and are then advised in the Business Department. Students from any academic major may also complete a Business minor.

Selective majors include majors in the College of Engineering and the College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences.

Most applied majors:
Biology, Psychology, Business Economics, Business Analytics, Computer Science, Biochemistry, Mechanical Engineering, Political Science, Cell/Molecular and Developmental Biology

New Majors:
Computer Science with Applications
-Business Track, Health Track or Psychology Track
Genetics and Molecular Biotechnology
Education Society and Human Development with Multiple Subject Teaching Credential

UCR Campus tours: https://connect.ucr.edu/portal/ucr_tours

UCR Student Events: Prospective Student Events | Undergraduate Admissions

Best of luck to all applicants.

3

UCR has a strong engineering school with easy access to faculty and research offering some unique majors like robotics engineering and computer science with business applications. (based on our experience with S22). It also has fairly large population of students from the bay area in case that is a concern.

UC Riverside’s Bourns College of Engineering offers 11 undergraduate majors: eight engineering majors and three additional computing/data majors. Its current list includes Robotics Engineering as well as the traditional engineering fields below.

Engineering majors

Major Main focus
Bioengineering Engineering applied to medicine, biological systems, and health-care technology
Chemical Engineering Chemical processes, energy, biotechnology, and manufacturing
Computer Engineering Computer hardware, embedded systems, and hardware–software integration
Electrical Engineering Electronics, circuits, communications, and electrical systems
Environmental Engineering Air and water quality, wastewater treatment, and environmental protection
Materials Science and Engineering Developing and testing materials for batteries, electronics, manufacturing, and other applications
Mechanical Engineering Mechanical systems, machines, energy systems, and design
Robotics Engineering Combining mechanical systems, electronics, computer science, and AI to build intelligent machines

UCR lists all eight as undergraduate offerings; descriptions are drawn from its engineering and admissions program pages.

Computing and data majors

These are also housed in the engineering college, but are distinct from the eight engineering majors above:

Major Main focus
Computer Science Software, algorithms, and computational systems
Computer Science with Business Applications Computing combined with business applications
Data Science Computational and statistical methods for working with data