Community College to UC Irvine:Admit Rates and TAG

UC Irvine is a common choice for community college students transferring to the UC system, and its campus is located in Irvine. According to official UC data, 27,004 students applied to transfer to UC Irvine for fall 2026 and 9,839 were admitted, an admit rate of 36.4%. Of those admitted, 95.6% came from California Community Colleges. UC Irvine participates in the Transfer Admission Guarantee (TAG), but computer science and business administration are not eligible, and more popular majors will be excluded beginning in fall 2028. In the assessment of EDUBUS advisors, UC Irvine is a realistic primary target for most majors, but whether a student can use TAG depends on the entry year and the major.

Transfer Admission Data

This section shows how competitive UC Irvine is overall. The table below presents preliminary official UC data for fall 2026 (as of June 2026).

Item	Fall 2026
Applicants	27,004
Admits	9,839
Admit rate	36.4%
Share of admits from California Community Colleges	95.6%

The 2025 admitted student profile published by the UC Irvine Office of Undergraduate Admissions shows a median GPA of 3.8 for admits from California Community Colleges. The same page lists 25,484 applicants and 10,030 admits for 2025, an admit rate of 39.51%. The 2026 applicant count is higher than in 2025 and the admit rate is lower than in 2025, but the two sets of figures come from different sources and were compiled at different times. UC Irvine states that it gives priority to junior-level transfer students from California Community Colleges and that every major is selective.

Selective Majors and Prerequisites

This section describes the additional thresholds for popular majors. UC Irvine sets minimum GPAs and prerequisites by school, and all major requirements must be completed by the end of the spring term before enrollment.

Target major	School	Minimum GPA	Required prerequisites
Computer Science	Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences	3.0; not eligible for TAG	Two semesters of calculus and one year of Python, Java, or C++ programming with grades of B or higher, plus one course from options such as data structures, discrete mathematics, and linear algebra
Business Administration	Paul Merage School of Business	3.0; not eligible for TAG	Calculus, microeconomics and macroeconomics, statistics, and two accounting courses
Economics, Business Economics	School of Social Sciences	2.8 (3.4 for TAG)	Microeconomics, macroeconomics, and two semesters of calculus with grades of B or higher
Psychology (BS)	School of Social Sciences	3.0 (3.4 for TAG)	Two introductory psychology courses, plus at least 4 courses in calculus, biology, chemistry, or physics
Psychology (BA)	School of Social Ecology	3.0 (3.4 for TAG)	No additional prerequisites listed by the admissions office
Biological Sciences	Charlie Dunlop School of Biological Sciences	3.0 (3.4 for TAG)	One year of general chemistry, one year of organic chemistry, and one year of biology, all with labs, with grades of C or higher
Mechanical Engineering	Henry Samueli School of Engineering	3.0 (3.4 for TAG)	Calculus, multivariable calculus, differential equations, linear algebra, three physics courses, one chemistry course, and one programming course, with a prerequisite GPA of at least 3.0

The rules above come from the UC Irvine Office of Undergraduate Admissions transfer requirements by school page. Applicants may list one alternate major, which is considered if the student meets its requirements and space is available. The admissions office states that majors cannot be changed during the admission process.

TAG

UC Irvine participates in TAG. The main requirements for the fall 2027 admission cycle are listed below; for the complete rules, see Transfer Admission Guarantee (TAG).

• Submit the TAG application between September 1 and 30, 2026, through the UC Transfer Admission Planner (UC TAP), with 30 transferable semester units completed at the time of submission.
• Reach a transferable GPA of 3.4 by the end of fall 2026 and complete one English composition course (UC-E) and one math course (UC-M).
• Complete the remaining core courses and 60 transferable semester units by the end of spring 2027, maintaining a GPA of 3.4.
• The first-choice major on the UC application must match the TAG major. UC Irvine does not pre-review TAG coursework.

Majors excluded for fall 2027: Art, Business Administration, Dance, Music (B.Mus.), Nursing, and all majors in the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences.

Additional majors excluded beginning in fall 2028: Aerospace Engineering, Biological Sciences, Biology/Education, Business Economics, Cognitive Sciences, Computer Engineering, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Economics, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Psychology (BA and BS), and Quantitative Economics.

This change directly affects students who enter community college in fall 2026 and plan to transfer in fall 2028. Students targeting the majors above will then be able to compete only through the regular application.

UC Irvine also offers the Honors to Honors partnership. Honors program directors at partner community colleges can nominate students for UC Irvine to consider for the Campuswide Honors Collegium and for scholarships. The program requires a GPA of 3.7 and completion of the honors program, and it is not an admission guarantee.

Application Timeline and Materials

This section lists the key dates for fall 2027 admission and the requirements specific to UC Irvine.

• September 1 to 30, 2026Submit the TAG application through UC TAP.
• October 1 to November 30, 2026Submit the UC application and complete the personal insight questions (PIQ).
• January 31, 2027Submit the Transfer Academic Update (TAU).
• Late January to early February 2027Applicants to the Dance major and the Music (B.Mus.) program must audition. Applicants to the Art major must also submit a portfolio.

IGETC is a general education transfer certification for California Community Colleges; students who first enroll in fall 2025 or later use Cal-GETC instead. UC Irvine states that completion of IGETC is not required for admission and notes that IGETC may not be appropriate for students in engineering, mathematics, and science majors.

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