University of California Santa Barbara

As per an unofficial source, the UCSB acceptance rate is 28%, which shows extremely tough selection chances. The official website states that the university considers various factors on which students must focus to improve their chances. Some of them are rigor of secondary school record, academic GPA, application essay, and more. This all can be achievable only if students excel in academics and score well throughout their studies. The 2024-2025 official statistics show over 1.1 L applications were received of which only 5,008 first-year students got enrolled.

While the tier status of the university as a whole is unknown, the University of California Santa Barbara is among a select number of "R1 institutions" in the United States for research. 

R1 is used to refer those institutions that are known for conducting a very high volume of research work over the course of an academic year, with a large chunk of the budget, also invested to the institute's research work.

The "R1" tag is granted by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education.