Is UCLA or WashU more selective overall?

UCLA is usually viewed as the more selective school in the broad national admissions conversation. WashU is also highly selective, but its admissions process often feels different because it is a smaller private university with more room for institutional priorities like demonstrated fit, academic interests, and enrollment shaping. So if you are asking for the more commonly perceived “harder admit” in a general sense, UCLA is the answer most people would give.

That said, the harder school for a specific student can absolutely be WashU. A student with very strong academics and a profile that lines up well with WashU’s academic and campus culture may have a more realistic shot there than at UCLA, where the volume of applications makes outcomes less predictable.

For California residents, UCLA is still extremely difficult, but the admissions context is different because it is a public university serving in-state students. WashU, as a private school, does not split applicants the same way by residency, so its selectivity can feel more even across states.

A useful way to think about it is this: UCLA is often tougher in sheer competition and applicant volume, while WashU can be tougher in a more profile-dependent, school-specific way. If you are building a list, it makes sense to treat both as highly selective, with UCLA usually carrying the stronger overall reputation for admissions difficulty.