University of California Breaks Records for Freshman Applicants

The University of California released application data for fall 2017 earlier this week, and the UC system continues to break records. More than 111,600 California high school seniors applied for admission to the University of California’s fall 2017 freshman class. This represents a 6% increase over last year.

In total, a record-setting 171,449 prospective freshmen applied for admission to at least one of UC’s nine undergraduate campuses (a 3% increase from last year).  That means that 59,849 out of state high school seniors want to come to sunny California for their college experience.

And great news for UC San Diego alumni and fans, UCSD edged out Irvine and Berkeley and is now second to the UCLA campus in terms of the most applications filed. UC Los Angeles received the most freshman applications (102,177) followed by San Diego (88,451) and Irvine (85,053).

“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 1.5% 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. 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. Similarly, the proportion of applicants who would be the first in their families to graduate from a four-year college went up nearly 1%.

Applications from out-of-state and international students fell this year, reporting a dip of 2.8% for U.S. applicants and nearly 1% for international students.

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.

While applications increased, admissions data is yet to be released. And, if we continue to see increases in admissions, who’s to say how each campus will accommodate students. With already over-capacity housing and crowded classrooms, increasing student fees and astronomical parking expenses, campuses will have to continue to make strides forward in campus improvements in order to better accommodate the influx in students they are likely to receive.