Is Vanderbilt harder to get into than UCLA for undergraduate admissions?

Yes. In a broad, year-to-year sense, Vanderbilt is typically harder to get into than UCLA for undergraduate admission. Vanderbilt is a highly selective private university with a smaller incoming class and a national applicant pool competing for fewer spots, while UCLA is also extremely selective but enrolls a much larger freshman class as a public university.

For a student applying from anywhere in the country, Vanderbilt usually represents the steeper admissions hurdle overall. Its process is often especially tough because many applicants are academically exceptional and the school is building a relatively small class, so small differences in essays, activities, and institutional priorities can matter a lot.

UCLA is still very difficult to enter, but the difficulty can feel a little different. Because it is part of the UC system, UCLA gets an enormous volume of applications and is highly selective, yet it also has more total seats than Vanderbilt. For California residents, UCLA can be somewhat more accessible than it is for out-of-state applicants, though it remains a reach-level school for most students.

So if your question is simply which school is more selective in the usual overall sense, Vanderbilt is the tougher admit. UCLA is absolutely in the same conversation as an elite admissions challenge, but Vanderbilt is more often the narrower gate.