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Lists / The 21 Most Applied to Colleges for Fall 2021

The 21 Most Applied to Colleges for Fall 2021

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Created by College Confidential

The 21 schools below received more applications than any other schools in 2021. The University of California schools were by far the most popular schools for students to apply to. Eight of the nine UC schools made the list, and the five most popular schools were all UC schools. Other California schools, like Cal Poly Slo, USC, and CSU Long Beach also made the list. Cornell was the most popular Ivy League school to apply to

1. University of California, Los Angeles

  • University of California, Los Angeles
    Los Angeles, CA 4-Year, Public
    Acceptance Rate11%
  • In 2021, 107,356 students applied to UCLA and only 15,352 were admitted.

    2. University of California, San Diego

  • University of California, San Diego
    La Jolla, CA 4-Year, Public
    Acceptance Rate24%
  • Out of 100,073 applications received in 2021, 38,325 students were offered admission to UC _

    3. University of California, Irvine

  • University of California, Irvine
    Irvine, CA 4-Year, Public
    Acceptance Rate21%
  • Last year, 97,942 students applied to UCI and 29,301 were admitted.

    4. University of California, Santa Barbara

  • University of California, Santa Barbara
    Santa Barbara, CA 4-Year, Public
    Acceptance Rate29%
  • 90,963 students applied to UC Santa Barbara in 2021, and 33,385 were admitted.

    5. University of California, Berkeley

  • University of California, Berkeley
    Berkeley, CA 4-Year, Public
    Acceptance Rate11%
  • Out of 85,682 applications received in 2021, 14,950 students were offered admission to UC Berkeley.

    6. New York University

  • New York University
    New York, NY 4-Year, Private
    Acceptance Rate12%
  • NYU received 80,210 applications in 2021, and admitted 16,918 students.

    7. University of California, Davis

  • University of California, Davis
    Davis, CA 4-Year, Public
    Acceptance Rate46%
  • In 2021, 35,304 of the 76,225 students who applied to UC Davis were admitted.

    8. Penn State - University Park

  • Penn State - University Park
    University Park, PA 4-Year, Public
    Acceptance Rate55%
  • Penn state had 73,861 applicant in 2021, 40,031 students go accepted to Penn State - University Park..

    9. California State University, Long Beach

  • California State University, Long Beach
    Long Beach, CA 4-Year, Public
    Acceptance Rate47%
  • In 2021, 67,402 students applied to CSU Long Beach and 28,400 were admitted.

    10. San Diego State University

  • San Diego State University
    San Diego, CA 4-Year, Public
    Acceptance Rate39%
  • SDSU received applications from 64,784 students in 2021, and admitted 23,778 for the Class of 2025.

    11. Northeastern University

  • Northeastern University
    Boston, MA 4-Year, Private
    Acceptance Rate7%
  • NEU admitted 13,199 of the 64,459 students who applied in 2021.

    12. Florida State University

  • Florida State University
    Tallahassee, FL 4-Year, Public
    Acceptance Rate25%
  • In 2021, 63,691 students applied to FSU; 20,668 were offered admission.

    13. Boston University

  • Boston University
    Boston, MA 4-Year, Private
    Acceptance Rate14%
  • Out of 61,007 students who submitted applications to BU in 2021, 12,254 students were offered admission.

    14. University of Southern California

  • University of Southern California
    Los Angeles, CA 4-Year, Private
    Acceptance Rate13%
  • In 2021, just 9,618 out of the 59,712 students who applied were accepted.

    15. Purdue University

  • Purdue University
    West Lafayette, IN 4-Year, Public
    Acceptance Rate53%
  • Purdue received 57,279 applications in 2021. Out of those, 38,479 were ad

    16. The University of Texas at Austin

  • The University of Texas at Austin
    Austin, TX 4-Year, Public
    Acceptance Rate31%
  • Out of 57,241 applications received in 2021, 18,291 students were offered admission.

    17. University of California, Santa Cruz

  • University of California, Santa Cruz
    Santa Cruz, CA 4-Year, Public
    Acceptance Rate47%
  • Out of 54,041 applications received in 2021, 35,174 students were offered admission.

    18. Arizona State University at Tempe

  • Arizona State University at Tempe
    Tempe, AZ 4-Year, Public
    Acceptance Rate90%
  • In 2021, 53,516 students applied to ASU Tempe and 47,290 were admitted.

    19. California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

  • California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
    San Luis Obispo, CA 4-Year, Public
    Acceptance Rate30%
  • Out of 52,371 applications Cal Poly Slo received in 2021, 20,127 students were offered admission.

    20. University of California, Riverside

  • University of California, Riverside
    Riverside, CA 4-Year, Public
    Acceptance Rate69%
  • Last year, 49,434 students applied to UC Riverside and 32,786 were admitted.

    21. Cornell University

  • Cornell University
    Ithaca, NY 4-Year, Private
    Acceptance Rate7%
  • Cornell received more applications than any other ivy league school. In 2021, just 5,330 out of the 49,114 students who applied were accepted.

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