California's nine undergraduate UC campuses, ranked by the fewest offers beyond demonstrated merit — the share of each campus's offers that exceed what applicants' school SBAC performance predicts, not explained by measured achievement. UC uses no standardized test in admissions; SBAC is the one common yardstick it ignores. #1 has the fewest — its offers follow the objective measure most closely.
UC Santa Cruz comes out #1. Its offers line up with students' actual SBAC scores better than any other UC — only 17.5% go beyond what those scores would predict, the lowest in the system. Because UC uses no test of its own, SBAC is the one fair, same-for-everyone yardstick available — and Santa Cruz stays closest to it. The big names — San Diego, Berkeley, UCLA — rank lower: more of their offers, not fewer, go beyond what test scores explain.
| Campus | Offers beyond demonstrated merit (fewest = best) | Total offers | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | UC Santa Cruz broad-access | 31,585 | |
| 2 | UC Santa Barbara | 20,066 | |
| 3 | UC Irvine | 16,447 | |
| 4 | UCLA | 6,562 | |
| 5 | UC Davis | 21,556 | |
| 6 | Berkeley | 7,618 | |
| 7 | UC Riverside broad-access | 47,330 | |
| 8 | UC San Diego | 18,744 | |
| 9 | UC Merced broad-access | 36,950 |