Kinesiology is one of the most searched California transfer majors, and searching for it at the UCs returns almost nothing. That is not a mistake in your search. No UC campus offers an undergraduate major called kinesiology.
That does not mean the UCs have nothing for you. It means the degree you want exists under four different names, and knowing which one saves you from applying to a major that was never there. Here is the honest landscape.
Which UCs actually have kinesiology?
None of them, by that name. What the UCs offer instead are physiology and human biology majors that cover much of the same ground:
- Closest match: UC Irvine's Physiology and Exercise Sciences, B.S. It is the only UC major that names exercise science directly.
- Physiology-based equivalents: UCLA's Physiological Science B.S., UC Santa Barbara's Physiology B.S., and UC Davis's Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior B.S.
- Broader human biology route: Human Biology majors at Davis, Irvine, UCLA and Merced, and Biology with a Human Biology concentration at UC San Diego.
- Nothing comparable: UC Berkeley, UC Riverside and UC Santa Cruz have no direct equivalent.
So "does UCLA have kinesiology?"
No. UCLA has Physiological Science, and students routinely mistake the two. The content overlaps heavily, especially for pre-physical-therapy and pre-med students, but the coursework leans harder into anatomy, physiology and cell biology than a typical CSU kinesiology curriculum does.
The practical difference is the prerequisite list. A UC physiology major expects a full year of biology, a full year of chemistry, and usually organic chemistry and physics. A CSU kinesiology major often expects less chemistry. If you prepare for one and apply to the other, you will be short.
Can you actually get into these?
They are competitive, though not at the level of nursing. UCLA's Physiological Science and UC Irvine's Physiology and Exercise Sciences are among the more sought-after life-science majors on their campuses, and both draw heavily from students who arrive with the full science sequence finished and strong grades in it.
The honest read is that your science GPA matters more here than almost anywhere else, because every applicant has the same courses on their transcript. If a UC physiology major is your target, the science sequence is the whole application, and it needs to start early. Checking the actual biology course sequence from your community college is the fastest way to see whether your current schedule finishes in time.
If kinesiology is what you actually want
Go to the CSU. Kinesiology is offered at roughly 18 CSU campuses, which makes it by far the most transfer-accessible path to that specific degree in California. If your goal is athletic training, coaching, physical therapy or exercise physiology, a CSU kinesiology degree is the direct route and the UCs are the detour.
If a UC is non-negotiable, apply to physiology or human biology and understand that you are taking a science-heavy version of the same field. For pre-PT students that is often an advantage, since DPT programs care about prerequisites rather than your major's title.
Related: Which UCs have nursing programs · UC transfer acceptance rates by major · PCC to UCLA biology prerequisites · UC transfer GPA by major
