University of California-Davis

Public · Selective · CA

Photo: KMashian (CC BY 4.0)

School data & stats

TypePublic

LocationCA · West

SettingSuburban

Undergrads32,253

Student:faculty22:1

Outcomes

4-yr grad rate70.8%

6-yr grad rate85.7%

Drop-out rate7.2%

Study abroad—

Cost

In-state tuition$17k

Out-of-state tuition$51k

Application fee—

Community

Racial diversity80.1%

Gender diversity58.6%

International12.8%

Identity—

Overview

UC Davis is a major public research university just outside Sacramento, historically rooted in agriculture and still a national leader in agricultural, veterinary, environmental, and biological sciences. It carries a collaborative, outdoorsy reputation distinct from the more competitive feel some peer UC campuses have, and its origins as the university's agricultural experiment station still show up in the scale of its land, farms, and research facilities.

Academics

Agricultural and environmental sciences, veterinary medicine, and biological sciences are the clearest signature strengths, backed by extensive research facilities, farmland, and a veterinary school considered among the strongest in the country. Beyond those, the university offers full research-university breadth across engineering, social sciences, and the humanities, with sizable lecture courses common at the introductory level and more seminar-style teaching as students move into upper-division and major coursework.

Campus & student life

The flat, sprawling campus is famous for its bicycle culture, with bikes serving as the default way to get around and dedicated bike infrastructure built directly into campus design. The surrounding city of Davis is a genuine college town built around the university, with a walkable downtown and a strong sense of integration between student and town life. Students describe the atmosphere as collaborative and community-minded rather than competitive, and outdoor recreation and sustainability-minded student culture are both visible parts of campus identity.

Getting in

As part of the University of California system, admission runs on the systemwide UC application, with heavy emphasis on the personal insight questions and a comprehensive review of academic record across all four years. UC campuses do not use letters of recommendation as standard practice, which shifts more of the qualitative weight onto essays and the activities list than at many private schools, and course rigor relative to what a student's high school offers is read closely.

After graduation

Graduates have particularly strong placement into agriculture, environmental science, veterinary medicine, and biotech fields, aided by the university's research strength and California's large agricultural and life-sciences industries nearby. The veterinary program in particular feeds a well-regarded pipeline into veterinary medicine nationally, and public and environmental policy work is another common path given the university's environmental-sciences strength.

Worth knowing

Davis's agricultural and veterinary identity is worth understanding as central to the university's character, not a historical footnote — even students in unrelated majors will notice the working farms and research land around campus. The bike-centric campus layout is also a genuinely practical consideration, since most students get around entirely without a car.

ucdavis.edu ↗

Admissions

Acceptance rate41.8%

Enrolled mid-50%—

Test policynot used

Rec letters0

Deadlines (2026–27 cycle)

Regular decisionNov 30

Verified from the school’s admissions page ↗

Applying (2026-27 cycle)

Apply through UC application.

Financial aid formsMar 2

Verified from the school’s admissions pages ↗