The present disclosure discloses a method for determining transmit power and a user equipment, which relates to the field of information technologies, and can improve a success rate of establishing a connection between the user equipment and a base station. The method includes: determining, according to a preconfigured rule, a transmit power used for sending a random access message; and, sending the random access message to a base station by using the determined transmit power. The present disclosure is applicable to establishment of the connection between the user equipment and the base station.