Background Briefing: UCSB Receives 45,045 Undergraduate Applications For Fall 2004

The University of California, Santa Barbara has received a record 45,045 applications for admission to the campus for fall 2004.

Of this total:

• 36,651 applications were from prospective first-year students (657 fewer than last year)

• 8,256 were from applicants seeking to transfer to UCSB (1,107 more than last year)

• 138 were from students applying for the Dual Admissions Program, under which they will complete two years at a California community college before enrolling at a UC campus

The campus has a target enrollment of 3,950 first-year students for next fall and an estimated 1,400 transfer students. Decisions on freshman applications will be made by mid-March, and on transfer applications the following month.

The UC Office of the President today posted statistics on undergraduate applications to all UC campuses on its web site: http://www.ucop.edu/news/factsheets/fall2004app.htm

Applicants for the Fall 2004 Freshman Class

• The total number of applications received by UCSB for the freshman class is 657 fewer than last year, a decrease of 1.8 percent. While this marks the first decrease in freshman applications in 10 years, the decline is consistent with the experience of UC's other undergraduate campuses, six of which also saw applications decline and only one, UC Santa Cruz, saw an increase. The decrease in freshman applications across the entire UC system this year is 4.1 percent. A noticeable drop in the number of applications from out-of-state and international students accounts in part for the overall decrease in applications. (In UCSB's case, the drop in applications from non-resident students accounted for about half of the campus's overall decrease.)
• UC officials believe the decrease in freshman applications may be tied to a variety of factors, including:

   

  - Only modest growth (less than 1 percent) in the number of California high school graduates this year

  - UC's recent fee increases

  - New federal immigration policies that make it more difficult for foreign students to come to the United States

• Applications to UCSB from students in the top 4 percent of their high school class make up 12.6 percent of the applicant pool, or 4,601. (The University of California system, under its Eligibility in the Local Context program, guarantees that such students will be admitted to a UC campus, although that campus might not be a student's first choice.)
• Over the past 5 years, freshman applications to UC campuses have increased 11.4 percent. At UCSB, the increase over the same period has been 19 percent.
• Of the 73,794 prospective freshmen that applied to one or more UC campuses this year, half included UCSB among the campuses to which they applied.
• Californians account for 93 percent of UCSB's applicant pool.

Academic Quality of Prospective Freshmen

• The academic quality of UCSB's applicant pool, as measured by grades and test scores, is exceptionally high.
• Of the 36,651 applicants for the entering class, 10,893, or 29.6 percent, have a high-school Grade Point Average (GPA) of 4.0 or higher -- 780 more than last year.
• The average GPA of all freshmen applicants is 3.7, higher than last year's record 3.66.
• Combined average score on the required SAT I exams this year is 1176, 12 points higher than last year. Average scores on the three required SAT II exams are all higher than last year.

SAT

I

Verbal:      574 this year (566 last year)

Math:       603 this year (598 last year)

SAT

II

Writing:    585 this year (575 last year)

Math:       596 this year (594 last year)

3rd exam:  611 this year (605 last year)

Diversity of Applicants for the Freshman Class

• The applicant pool is the most racially and ethnically diverse ever. (The race or ethnicity of individual applicants is not disclosed to the campuses by UC until after admissions decisions are made.)
• 48 percent of all first-year applicants are members of a racial or ethnic minority group, the highest such proportion ever at UCSB.
• UCSB received a total of 7,313 freshman applications from members of underrepresented minority groups. These African American, American Indian, Chicano and Latino applicants numbered 4 fewer than last year, but they represent a slightly larger proportion of the applicant pool than was the case last year (19.9 percent vs. 19.6 percent). The number of American Indian and Chicano and Latino applicants increased slightly, while African-American applicants declined by 22.

Transfer Applicants

• The vast majority of the record 8,256 applicants seeking to transfer to UCSB are enrolled in a California community college.
• The total number of transfer applications was 1,107 more than last year, an increase of 15.5 percent. (The comparable figure for the entire UC system was 5.7 percent.)
• Of the 8,256 total transfer applications, 19.5 percent were from members of underrepresented minority groups, a small increase over last year.
• Over the past five years, transfer applications to UC campuses increased 24.7 percent; at UCSB, the increase over that same period was 40.2 percent.