Is Santa Clara University or UCLA harder to get into?

UCLA is harder to get into overall. It draws a much larger applicant pool, is widely viewed as one of the most selective public universities in the country, and its admissions process is especially tough for out-of-state students. Santa Clara University is still selective, but it is typically considered less difficult to enter than UCLA.

For a student comparing the two in broad admissions terms, UCLA is the reachier option for almost everyone. Even very strong applicants with excellent grades, rigorous coursework, and solid activities cannot count on UCLA. The UC system also evaluates applicants in a highly competitive context, and UCLA sits at the top end of that system.

Santa Clara fits students who want a selective private university with strong academics, especially in business, engineering, and Silicon Valley-connected fields, but where admission is usually more attainable than at UCLA. A strong record still matters a lot there, and some majors can be more competitive than others, but it does not carry the same across-the-board admissions difficulty.

If you are building a list, it makes sense to treat UCLA as the tougher admit and Santa Clara as selective but more realistic for a wider range of strong students. The better comparison is not whether Santa Clara is easy, because it is not, but whether it is as hard as UCLA, and in most cases the answer is no.