Background Briefing

The University of California, Santa Barbara has received a record 47,893 applications for undergraduate admission to the campus for fall 2006.

Of this total:

• 39,828 applications were from prospective first-year students–2,368 more than last year.

• 8,065 were from applicants seeking to transfer to UCSB–458 fewer than last year.

The campus has a target enrollment of 3,925 first-year students for next fall and an estimated 1,425 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 at this address:

http://www.ucop.edu/news/factsheets/2006/06app.html

Applicants for the Fall 2006 Freshman Class

• The total number of applications received by UCSB for the freshman class is 2,368 more than last year, an increase of 6.3 percent. All campuses in the UC system experienced increases in undergraduate application numbers. Over all, applications to the UC system increased 8.8 percent. The system saw increases from California residents, out-of-state applicants, and international students.
• Applications to UCSB from students in the top 4 percent of their high school class make up 13 percent of the applicant pool, or 5,158 – 97 more than last year. (The UC system, under its Eligibility in the Local Context program, guarantees that such students will be admitted, although not necessarily to their first-choice campus. However, for the past two years, UC Santa Barbara has guaranteed admission to these applicants provided they satisfactorily complete required senior-year courses and take required entrance exams.)
• Over the past two years, freshman applications to UC campuses have increased by 11.7 percent. At UCSB over the same period, applications have increased 8.3 percent.
• Of the 82,841 prospective freshmen who applied to one or more UC campuses this year, half of them included UCSB among the campuses to which they applied.
• Californians account for 92 percent of UCSB's undergraduate applicant pool.

Academic Quality of Prospective Freshmen

• The academic quality of UCSB's applicant pool, as measured by grades and test scores, remains strong.
• Of the 39,828 applicants for the entering class, 12,033, or 30.2 percent, have a high-school Grade Point Average (GPA) of 4.0 or higher – 499 more than last year
• The average GPA of all freshmen applicants is 3.71, identical to last year's record level.

The SAT exam has been changed substantially for students applying to enroll in fall 2006 or later. Applicants now take the SAT Reasoning Test, which is made up of three sections: Reading, Mathematics, and Writing (as opposed to two sections, Math and Verbal, in the past). The average total score on the required SATR Test was 1750 out of a possible 2400. The averages for the component parts were:

SATR Math: 600

SATR Reading: 571

SATR Writing: 579

Diversity of Applicants for the Freshman Class

• Applications from members of underrepresented minority groups were up significantly. UCSB received a total of 8,392 freshman applications from African-American, American-Indian, and Chicano and Latino applicants, 837 more than last year. This total represents 21.1 percent of the applicant pool (vs. 20.2 percent the previous year). The number of American-Indian, African-American and Chicano and Latino applicants increased by between 5.9 percent (African-American) and 18.6 percent (American-Indian).
• 49.2 percent of all applicants for the UCSB freshman class are members of a racial or ethnic minority group. (Individual applicants to UC are not identified to the campuses by race or ethnicity until after all admissions decisions are made.)

Transfer Applicants

• The vast majority (89.3 percent) of the 8,065 applicants seeking to transfer to UCSB are enrolled in a California community college.
• The total number of transfer applications was 458 fewer than last year, a decrease of 5.4 percent. All UC campuses except Berkeley experienced decreases in transfer applications.
• Of the 7,205 transfer applications from California community college students, 1,479, or 20.5 percent, were from members of underrepresented minority groups, an increase over last year, when such applications accounted for 19.2 percent of the total.
• Over the past two years, transfer applications to UC campuses decreased 2.9 percent; at UCSB, the decrease over that same period was also 2.9 percent.