More than 111,600 California high school seniors applied for admission to the University of California’s fall 2017 freshman class, a 6 percent increase over last year, according to preliminary data released today (Dec. 19).
In total, a record-setting 171,449 prospective freshmen applied for admission to at least one of UC’s nine undergraduate campuses.
“This year’s applications affirm, once again, that Californians’ demand for a UC education keeps getting stronger,” said UC President Janet Napolitano. “This is a testament to the excellence of California’s public research university, and reinforces the imperative to continue working with our state government to preserve UC’s quality and affordability, and to ensure there is a place at the university for every deserving California student.”
Applications from Latinos, the largest racial/ethnic group among state high school students, grew from 35.8 percent of California applicants last year to 37.2 percent for fall 2017. Asian Americans and whites remained the second- and third-largest ethnic/racial groups of in-state applicants, although their percentages decreased slightly to 29.1 and 23.7 percent of the total, respectively. Applications from African Americans, American Indians and Pacific Islanders remained at approximately the same proportion as last year.
The university also saw increases in the proportion of applicants from low-income families, which edged up to 42.4 percent this year from 39.7 percent last year. Similarly, the proportion of applicants who would be the first in their families to graduate from a four-year college went up to 46.7 percent this year from 45.9 percent last year.
Applications from out-of-state and international students fell this year to 32,695 and 27,143 respectively, a dip of 2.8 percent for U.S. applicants and nearly 1 percent for international students.
Details about the outcome of the 2017 freshman applications cycle are posted here.
The jump in applications from prospective California freshmen will help UC reach its goal of enrolling an additional 2,500 California residents in 2017 — part of UC’s commitment to enroll an additional 10,000 California undergraduates over three years.
Enrollment figures for fall 2016, which have just been compiled, show that UC added more than 7,500 additional California resident undergraduates this year. Increases were seen on all campuses, particularly at UC Berkeley, UC Irvine, UCLA and UC Riverside. More information about UC’s fall 2016 enrollments is posted here.
Data on transfer applicants is not yet available because the deadline for these applications was extended this year until Jan. 3.