Scientific Environment for UCLA

UCLA is the second-oldest campus of the University of California system. It offers over 125 undergraduate majors and nearly 200 graduate degree programs in a wide range of disciplines. With an enrollment of over 33,000 undergraduate and nearly 14,000 graduate students, UCLA has the largest student body in the UC system. It is a highly sought after destination; with over 145,000 freshman applications for Fall 2023, the admit rate was 9%.  

UCLA is home to a College that serves as a home for more than 85 percent of its undergraduates. The College of made up of four academic divisions: Humanities, Social Sciences, Physical Sciences and Life Sciences. The College is supplemented by 12 renowned professional schools focused on fields ranging from the arts to education, law to medicine, and music to public affairs. Amongst these is a School of Dentistry (top six globally); a School of Engineering (birthplace of the internet); a School of Nursing (#10 nationally); and a School of Public Health (#10 nationally). UCLA has produced world-changing research: 16 Nobel laureates, 11 National Medal of Science winners, and three Pulitzer Prize winners have been affiliated with it. Among the current faculty, 3 Pulitzer prize winners, 59 are members of the National Academy of Science; 29 are members of the National Academy of Engineering; 42, the National Academy of Medicine; and 167, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.    

UCLA ranked 6th among all universities for research expenditures in the sciences and engineering during FY21 according to a report by the National Science Foundation. In FY23, UCLA ranked 12th in NIH funding, with 888 awards totaling over $580M. In 2022, UCLA’s total research awards exceeded more than $1 billion, receiving $1.7 billion from federal agencies, industry-sponsored awards, nonprofit and charitable organizations, state government, and institutions of higher education. In the 2025-26 edition of the U.S. News & World Report, UCLA Medical Center was named the #1 hospital in California and Los Angeles, now with 36 consecutive years on the Honor Roll. UCLA Health was designated high performing in all 22 procedures and conditions rated. They include various cancers, hip and knee replacement, heart attack and bypass surgery, stroke and diabetes. Ten UCLA Health medical specialties placed in the top 10. They are: ear, nose and throat (#2); pulmonology and lung surgery (#4); diabetes and endocrinology (#5); ophthalmology (#5); psychiatry (#5); urology (#7); geriatrics (#7); gastroenterology/gastrointestinal surgery (#8); rheumatology (#8); and orthopedics (#10).

For more information, please visit the UCLA website.

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Last Updated
July 29, 2025