The University of California, Santa Barbara has offered a place in its fall 2010 entering class to a total of 19,721 high school seniors. The prospective UCSB freshmen were selected from a total of 46,700 applicants –– the second-largest applicant pool in UCSB history. The campus expects its fall 2010 entering class to number about 3,900.
Both the academic qualifications and the diversity of the applicant class accepted by UCSB continue to be at very high levels:
·The average high school grade point average of applicants admitted is above 4.10, up from 4.01 last year.
·The average total score achieved by applicants admitted by UCSB on the required SATR Test was 1909 out of a possible 2400, up from 1877 last year.
·Of all applicants admitted, 52.6 percent identified themselves as members of a racial or ethnic minority group –– up from 51.8 percent last year. (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 is becoming increasingly competitive. While in recent years around 50 percent of all freshman applicants were accepted, this year just 42 percent were offered a place in next fall's entering class.
All nine of the UC undergraduate campuses are releasing admissions statistics today. The UC Office of the President is posting systemwide statistics on its Web site here.
Applications from 12,320 students seeking to transfer to UC Santa Barbara are still under review, with decisions to be announced by the end of April. Transfer applications this year were up 2,235 over last year, an increase of 22 percent.
UCSB acceptance letters were sent in mid-March, and applicants could check their admission status via a protected Web site. Freshman applicants who have been accepted by any UC campus have until May 1 to submit a Statement of Intent to Register.
A total of 2,428 freshman applicants to UCSB are now on the waitlist. Decisions on their applications will be made by mid-May.
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, Chancellor Yang served as the host of a well-attended reception in Los Angeles for high-achieving applicants. At this event, 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.
Despite California Department of Finance projections that high school graduation rates in 2010 would remain the same as in 2009, the UC system received a record 134,029 applications –– 100,320 from freshman applicants and 33,709 from transfer applicants. All UC undergraduate campuses experienced increases in both categories.
At UC Santa Barbara, campus leaders acknowledge the challenges posed by such a large applicant pool, especially after having absorbed far more freshmen and transfer students –– about 1,500 total –– in the 2009-10 academic year than had been projected. Nonetheless, they say that UCSB is working diligently to ensure that the size of next fall's entering class does not adversely affect the quality of the educational experience offered to students, or prevent students from enrolling in the classes they want and need.
Reflecting those considerations, the target number of 3,900 freshmen that UCSB expects to enroll in the fall will be 700 fewer than actually enrolled last year, while the 1,500 new transfer students it enrolls will be 350 fewer than enrolled last year.
Of all applicants admitted, 90 percent, or 17,744, are enrolled in California high schools. Among those California students, members of underrepresented minority groups (African-American, American Indian, and Chicano and Latino students) totaled 4,614, or 26.0 percent, down slightly from 26.1 percent last year.
Christine Van Gieson, UCSB's admissions director, urged admitted students to plan a campus visit and experience all that UC Santa Barbara has to offer. During April, campus tours and informational sessions for admitted students are offered Monday through Saturday. An estimated 10,000 visited the UCSB campus last Saturday, April 10, during the annual Spring Insight Open House. Activities included presentations by each of the three UC Santa Barbara undergraduate colleges, as well as faculty lectures, student panels, and information sessions on financial aid, summer orientation, student activities and organizations, and other topics.
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