Community College to UC Guide · Target UC Campuses

Community College to UC Riverside:Admission and Majors

UC Riverside admitted 69.6% of transfer applicants for Fall 2026, making it a relatively safe UC choice. Each college sets a minimum GPA and major preparation requirements, and the TAG threshold for computer science is 3.6.

Fall 2026 transfer admission rate: 69.6%
Fall 2026 transfer applicants / admits: 14,915 / 10,382
Admits from California Community Colleges: 96%
Minimum TAG GPA: 2.7 to 3.6, depending on college and major
Major excluded from TAG: Art Studio

Transferring from a community college to UC Riverside is a relatively safe UC choice. For Fall 2026, UC Riverside received 14,915 transfer applications and admitted 10,382 students, an admission rate of 69.6%. Of the admitted transfer students, 96% came from California Community Colleges. Calculated from the applicant and admit counts, this rate is lower only than that of UC Merced among the nine undergraduate campuses. A distinctive feature of UC Riverside is that each college sets its own minimum GPA, and most science, engineering, and business majors require completion of specified major preparation courses.

UC Riverside Community College Transfer Admission Data

UC Riverside received 14,915 transfer applications for Fall 2026 and admitted 10,382 students, an admission rate of 69.6%. The minimum transferable GPA ranges from 2.4 to 2.8 depending on the college.

Item	Fall 2026
Transfer applicants	14,915
Admits	10,382
Admission rate	69.6%
Share of admits from California Community Colleges	96%

The University of California describes these figures as an admissions snapshot and cautions parents not to use them to predict an individual student’s chances of admission. The official UC page for Fall 2026 does not publish a GPA range for admitted transfer students, and the UC Riverside admissions office does not publish one either.

The UC Riverside admissions office states that transfer students must complete 60 semester units (90 quarter units) with a transferable GPA of at least 2.4, or at least 2.8 for nonresidents. Some majors require a higher GPA. The minimum transferable GPA listed by college in the UC Riverside Majors Preparation Guide is as follows:

College	Minimum transferable GPA	Additional requirements
Bourns College of Engineering (BCOE)	2.8	2.5 GPA in the calculus series and 2.5 GPA in one other major preparation series
College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences (CNAS)	2.7	C or higher in all required courses
College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (CHASS)	2.4	2.7 for Psychology and Neuroscience
School of Business	2.7	2.5 GPA in all major preparation courses
School of Education	2.4	C or higher in all required courses

The GPA includes only UC-transferable courses; the calculation rules are explained in How the Transfer GPA Is Calculated.

Selective Majors and Prerequisites for Transfer to UC Riverside

UC Riverside requires Economics applicants to complete only Calculus Math 9A before transfer, while Computer Science and Mechanical Engineering require Calculus Math 9A, 9B, and 9C, Physics 40A, and other courses.

The UC Riverside Majors Preparation Guide lists selecting major requirements for each major. The course numbers in the table are UC Riverside course numbers; the equivalent community college courses must be looked up in ASSIST, the official course articulation system for California public colleges and universities.

Major	Courses to complete before transfer	Grade requirements and notes
Computer Science (B.S.)	Calculus Math 9A, 9B, 9C; CS 10A, 10B; Physics 40A; plus 3 courses chosen from CS 11, CS 10C, CS 61, Math 10A, Physics 40B, 40C	College of Engineering GPA requirements apply
Mechanical Engineering (B.S.)	Calculus Math 9A, 9B, 9C; Chemistry 1A, 1B with labs; Physics 40A; plus 3 courses chosen from EE 5, ME 2, ME 9, ME 10, ME 18A, ME 18B, Physics 40B, 40C	College of Engineering GPA requirements apply
Data Science (B.S.)	Calculus Math 9A, 9B, 9C; CS 10A, 10B; plus 3 additional courses	2.7 GPA in the calculus series, 2.5 GPA in one other major preparation series
Business Administration (B.S.)	Calculus Math 9A or Math 22; Business 10, 20; Economics Econ 2, 3; Statistics Stat 8 or 10	2.7 transferable GPA, 2.5 major preparation GPA
Economics (B.A.)	Calculus Math 9A	2.4 transferable GPA
Psychology (B.A. and B.S.)	1 course chosen from Math 4, 5A, 6A, 9A, 22	2.7 transferable GPA
Biology (B.A. and B.S.)	Two calculus courses; general chemistry 1A, 1B, 1C with labs; plus one of the Biology 5 series, the Chemistry 8 series, or a physics series	2.7 transferable GPA

UC Riverside also offers guidance on general education. The College of Engineering and the College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences recommend that students prioritize major preparation courses over Cal-GETC (California General Education Transfer Curriculum). The College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences does not accept Cal-GETC to satisfy its college general education requirements. The School of Business, by contrast, strongly recommends completing Cal-GETC or the UC Riverside School of Business general education pattern.

UC Riverside TAG (Transfer Admission Guarantee)

UC Riverside TAG for Fall 2027 entry requires a minimum GPA of 2.7 to 3.0 depending on the college, or 3.6 for Computer Science.

The Transfer Admission Guarantee (TAG) is an admission guarantee that six UC campuses offer to California community college students. For the Fall 2027 entry cycle, the UC Riverside TAG GPA must be reached by the end of the Summer 2026 term:

College	Minimum TAG GPA	Exceptions
College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences	2.8	3.3 for Psychology and for Theatre, Film, and Digital Production
Bourns College of Engineering	3.0	Computer Science 3.6; Computer Science with Business Applications 3.3; Computer Engineering 3.3; Mechanical Engineering 3.1
College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences	2.8	Data Science 3.0
School of Business	2.8	None
School of Education	2.7	None
School of Public Policy	2.7	None

Other key points of TAG are as follows:

All majors in the College of Engineering, the College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, and the School of Business, as well as Economics, Business Economics, Psychology, and Neuroscience, require completion of major preparation courses.
The only excluded major is Art Studio.
TAG is submitted through the UC Transfer Admission Planner (UC TAP) between September 1 and 30, 2026, and only fall entry is accepted.
UC Riverside pre-reviews the courses, and the official UC matrix recommends submitting the UC application after receiving the TAG result.
When all conditions are met, TAG also guarantees the intended major.

At the time of submission, the student must have completed at least 30 semester units, and must complete 1 English composition course (UC-E) and 1 mathematics course (UC-M) by the end of Fall 2026. The full rules are explained in TAG: Transfer Admission Guarantee.

Applying to Transfer to UC Riverside: Timeline and Materials

Students applying to transfer to UC Riverside for Fall 2027 submit the UC application between October 1 and November 30, 2026. Students applying for TAG must first submit the TAG application through UC TAP between September 1 and 30, 2026. The following dates come from the UC Riverside admissions office transfer timeline.

Date	Task
September 1 to 30, 2026	Submit TAG
October 1 to November 30, 2026	Submit the UC transfer application
January 31, 2027	Deadline for the Transfer Academic Update (TAU)
March 2, 2027	Priority deadline for the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) or the California Dream Act Application (CADAA)
April 2027	Admission decisions begin to be released
June 1, 2027	Deadline to submit the Statement of Intent to Register (SIR)
July 1, 2027	Deadline to submit official transcripts through spring and other materials

UC Riverside has two major-specific materials requirements. Art applicants must upload a digital portfolio after submitting the UC application, containing 10 images of original work or up to 3 video or audio clips. Applicants to Education, Society, and Human Development (including the teaching credential option) must take part in an interview during review.

The UC Riverside admissions office reminds transfer applicants that they must answer 1 required question and choose 3 of 7 questions to answer, with a maximum of 350 words per question. Guidance is available in Transfer Personal Insight Questions (PIQ).

CC2UC Advice on Transferring to UC Riverside

CC2UC advisor’s advice

Students with a GPA between 2.8 and 3.3 who are targeting humanities and social sciences, biology, or business can treat UC Riverside as a safe choice and use TAG to secure admission. The TAG threshold for most of these majors is 2.8, clearly lower than the 3.4 required by UC Irvine and UC Santa Barbara. Students targeting computer science should note that the UC Riverside TAG threshold is 3.6 and that regular admission also requires about nine major preparation courses. These students should begin the calculus and programming series in their first year and aim for a GPA of 3.6. Business students need to track two thresholds at the same time: a 2.7 transferable GPA and a 2.5 major preparation GPA. To review courses one by one, students can book an advisor through CC2UC Community College Transfer Planning.

Community colleges that send the most transfer students to UC Riverside

The table below uses 2024-25 academic year data from the University of California Information Center to list the schools in the CC2UC community college library with the most students admitted to UC Riverside. The number admitted reflects the size of each school’s transfer pipeline and does not indicate any individual student’s chance of admission.

Community college	Applicants	Admitted	Admit rate	Average GPA of admitted students
Pasadena City College	653	420	64.3%	3.54
Santa Monica College	530	331	62.5%	3.45
Mt. San Antonio College	535	316	59.1%	3.50
De Anza College	498	301	60.4%	3.55
Irvine Valley College	486	297	61.1%	3.47
El Camino College	268	171	63.8%	3.51
Orange Coast College	281	168	59.8%	3.52
Saddleback College	229	134	58.5%	3.45

Compare all 18 schools by campus in the college library →

Community College to UC Riverside: Frequently Asked Questions

How difficult is it to transfer from a community college to UC Riverside?

For Fall 2026, UC Riverside received 14,915 transfer applications and admitted 10,382 students, an admission rate of 69.6%. Calculated from the applicant and admit counts, this rate is lower only than that of UC Merced among the nine UC undergraduate campuses. Most majors are relatively accessible to transfer students, but majors in engineering, the natural sciences, and the School of Business require completion of specified major preparation courses.

What GPA does UC Riverside require for TAG in computer science?

For the Fall 2027 entry cycle, TAG for UC Riverside Computer Science requires a transferable GPA of 3.6 by the end of the Summer 2026 term. The threshold is 3.3 for Computer Engineering and for Computer Science with Business Applications, 3.1 for Mechanical Engineering, and 3.0 for other majors in the College of Engineering. These thresholds are higher than the minimum GPA for regular admission.

Without TAG, what does a student need to transfer into business at UC Riverside?

The UC Riverside School of Business requires a GPA of at least 2.7 in all transferable courses and at least 2.5 in all major preparation courses. The Business Administration major requires one calculus course, Business 10 and 20, Econ 2 and 3, and one statistics course. These are UC Riverside course numbers; the equivalent community college courses must be looked up in ASSIST. Each major preparation course requires a grade of C or higher.

When are UC Riverside TAG results released?

UC Riverside pre-reviews the courses in TAG submissions. The official UC matrix recommends that students receive the TAG result before submitting the UC application between October 1 and November 30, 2026. The TAG submission period is September 1 to 30, 2026.

Sources and Verification Date5 official sources · Last checked September 26, 2026

UC Riverside Transfer Admit Data (UC Admissions, Fall 2026)admission.universityofcalifornia.edu
Majors Preparation Guide (UCR Admissions)admissions.ucr.edu
Transfer (UCR Admissions, including dates and deadlines)admissions.ucr.edu
UC TAG Matrix, Fall 2027 / Spring 2028 (June 9, 2026 version)admission.universityofcalifornia.edu
Basic requirements (UC Admissions, transfer basic requirements)admission.universityofcalifornia.edu

Admission rules, tuition, deadlines, and visa policies change every year. Before applying, confirm the current requirements published by each school and the relevant official agencies.