The U.S. News Short List, separate from our overall rankings, is a regular series that magnifies individual data points in hopes of providing students and parents a way to find which undergraduate or graduate programs excel or have room to grow in specific areas. Be sure to explore The Short List: College, The Short List: Grad School and The Short List: Online Programs to find data that matter to you in your college or graduate school search.
Many colleges have large applicant pools. But some schools have enough applicants to fill a football stadium, making the admissions process feel as stressful as trying to win a homecoming game.
The University of California–Los Angeles, for example, received 97,121 applications for fall 2016. It had the most applications among 1,257 ranked institutions that submitted these data to U.S. News in an annual survey. The university accepted 18 percent of applicants for fall 2016.
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UCLA and the University of California–Berkeley, tied at No. 21 among National Universities, are the highest ranked schools among the 10 institutions with the most applications. National Universities offer a wide range of bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs.
California had eight public schools on the list with the most applications — more than any other state.
Only one Regional University made the list: California State University–Long Beach. Regional Universities offer a range of undergraduate programs, some master’s programs and few doctoral programs.
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Among the 10 schools with the most applications, the average number of applications was 72,588. The average among all schools that submitted these data to U.S. News was 7,835.
Below are the 10 schools with the highest number of applications for fall 2016. Unranked schools, which did not meet certain criteria required by U.S. News to be numerically ranked, were not considered for this report.
| School | Number of applications | U.S. News rank and category |
| University of California–Los Angeles | 97,121 | 21 (tie), National Universities |
| University of California–San Diego | 84,209 | 42 (tie), National Universities |
| University of California–Berkeley | 82,581 | 21 (tie), National Universities |
| University of California–Irvine | 77,810 | 42 (tie), National Universities |
| University of California–Santa Barbara | 77,098 | 37 (tie), National Universities |
| University of California–Davis | 67,472 | 46 (tie), National Universities |
| California State University–Long Beach | 60,732 | 39, Regional Universities (West) |
| New York University | 60,724 | 30 (tie), National Universities |
| San Diego State University | 60,691 | 140 (tie), National Universities |
| Boston University | 57,441 | 37 (tie), National Universities |
Don’t see your school in the top 10? Access the U.S. News College Compass to find admissions data, complete rankings and much more. Sign up for the U.S. News Extra Help: College Admissions free email newsletter to receive expert advice twice a month.
U.S. News surveyed more than 1,800 colleges and universities for our 2017 survey of undergraduate programs. Schools self-reported myriad data regarding their academic programs and the makeup of their student body, among other areas, making U.S. News’ data the most accurate and detailed collection of college facts and figures of its kind. While U.S. News uses much of this survey data to rank schools for our annual Best Colleges rankings, the data can also be useful when examined on a smaller scale. U.S. News will now produce lists of data, separate from the overall rankings, meant to provide students and parents a means to find which schools excel, or have room to grow, in specific areas that are important to them. While the data come from the schools themselves, these lists are not related to, and have no influence over, U.S. News’ rankings of Best Colleges, Best Graduate Schools or Best Online Programs. The admissions data above are correct as of Sept. 14, 2017.
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10 Colleges With the Most Applications originally appeared on usnews.com
