UC Santa Barbara Offers Admission to 24,127 for Fall 2014

UC Santa Barbara has offered a place in its fall 2014 entering class to a total of 24,127 high school seniors. The prospective UCSB freshmen were selected from a total of 66,803 freshman applicants — the largest applicant pool in UCSB history. The campus expects its fall 2014 entering freshman class to number about 4,510.

Both the academic qualifications and the diversity of the applicant class accepted by UCSB continue to be very high:

• The average high school GPA of applicants admitted is 4.05

• The average total score achieved by applicants admitted by UCSB on the required SATR Test is 1902 out of a possible 2400.

• Of all applicants admitted, 64.4 percent identify themselves as members of a racial or ethnic minority group. (Individual applicants to UC are not identified to the campuses by race or ethnicity until after admission decisions are made.)

Admission to UC Santa Barbara continues to be competitive. This year, just over 36 percent were offered a place in next fall’s entering class, down from 44 percent last year.

Applications from 14,137 students seeking to transfer to UC Santa Barbara are still under review, with decisions to be announced by the end of April. The number of transfer applications increased this year by 500, or 3.7 percent. All UC undergraduate campuses except Merced saw an increase in transfer applications.

UCSB acceptance letters were sent in mid-March, and applicants were able to check their admission status via a protected website. Freshman applicants who have been accepted by any UC campus have until May 1 to submit a Statement of Intent to Register.

Led by Chancellor Henry T. Yang, UCSB officials and faculty and staff members have been working diligently to ensure that the class enrolled this fall is the campus’s most talented and diverse ever. In March, Yang served as the host of three well-attended California receptions, one each in Los Angeles, Irvine and San Jose, for high-achieving applicants. At these events, volunteers from the UCSB campus — faculty and staff members, as well as alumni and students — met with applicants and their family members to answer questions about UCSB academic programs, student life, financial aid and other topics. Receptions were also hosted at several locations outside of California.

“We’re very impressed by the academic quality of our freshman and transfer applicants and anticipate that the entering class will be the highest-achieving group ever,” said Lisa Przekop, director of admissions at UCSB. “We’ve admitted students who are extremely bright and actively involved in community service and leadership activities.  These students will enhance our community and we look forward to welcoming them to campus in the fall.”

The UC system received a record 183,510 applications for fall 2014 — 148,688 from freshman applicants and 34,822 from transfer applicants. All nine undergraduate campuses experienced increases in freshman applicants.

The 2014 freshman enrollment target of 4,510 is slightly lower than last year’s target of 4,550. The smaller target is related to an increased undergraduate retention rate. For the same reason, the 2014 enrollment target for new transfer students remains steady at 1,550.

Of all applicants admitted, 78 percent, or 18,539, are California residents. Among those California students, members of underrepresented minority groups (African-American, American Indian and Chicano and Latino students) totaled 5,361 or 28.5 percent, up slightly from 26.8 percent last year.

Of the total number of admitted applicants, 2,875, or 12 percent, are international nonresident students. With the exception of UC Berkeley, the number of international nonresident admitted applicants has increased at every undergraduate UC campus.