Nearly 35,000 prospective undergraduates have applied for admission to the University of California, Santa Cruz for the upcoming fall quarter. Numbers released today by UC's Office of the President showed that UC Santa Cruz attracted 34,630 applications - the most ever for the campus - from high school seniors and transfer students during the university's November "priority" filing period.
| Prospective freshmen and transfer students apply for an estimated 4,150 spaces |
Last year, UCSC received 32,847 applications from prospective undergraduates: 27,231 from prospective freshmen and 5,616 from prospective transfer students. This year's undergraduate total of 34,630 - 5.4 percent more than applied a year earlier - includes applications from 27,623 prospective freshmen and 7,007 prospective transfer students.
The fall 2010 applications to UCSC reflected especially strong interest from transfer students. The 7,007 transfer students who applied were 24.8 percent more than applied a year earlier. The one-year gain at UCSC outpaced a UC systemwide increase that averaged 17.5 percent.
Whittingham said UCSC officials are particularly pleased that applications from prospective transfer students soared this year. "Given the financial challenges faced by applicants and their families, our Admissions Office and others on the UCSC campus made an extra effort to increase our outreach to prospective transfer students," she said. "We're very pleased that these students are interested in completing their undergraduate education at UCSC."
Because of uncertain state support, UCSC's fall 2010 enrollment targets have not yet been finalized. But campus officials have set a preliminary goal of enrolling 4,150 new undergraduates: 3,200 freshmen and 950 transfer students. This past fall, UCSC enrolled 4,086 new undergraduates: 3,214 freshmen and 872 transfer students.
Approximately one-third of the prospective freshmen applied to UCSC with an undeclared major. Applications from prospective freshmen who did declare were similar to last year's numbers in Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, but increased in the two other academic divisions: Engineering and Physical & Biological Sciences. (Applications from prospective transfer students were up in all five academic divisions.)
"Since our preliminary frosh enrollment target is essentially the same as it was for this past fall, the fact that we received more applications from that group will make freshman admission for fall 2010 more competitive," Whittingham said.
Among California freshman applications to UCSC, increases were realized in all of the underrepresented ethnic groups: African American, from 986 last year to 1,105 this year, a 12.1 percent increase; American Indian, from 207 last year to 267 this year, a 29 percent increase; and Chicano/Latino, from 5,366 last year to 5,843 this year, an 8.9 percent increase.
In transfer-student applications from California's Community Colleges, the increases from underrepresented groups were even larger: African American, from 166 last year to 243 this year, a 46 percent increase; American Indian, from 59 last year to 76 this year, a 29 percent increase; and Chicano/Latino, from 851 last year to 1,173 this year, a 38 percent increase.
"We are very excited about these increases, especially among transfer students coming from the state's community colleges," Whittingham said. "It's important that the ethnic diversity of UCSC's students more closely mirror the state we serve."
Undergraduate applicants to UCSC will be notified of admission decisions beginning on March 15. Admitted freshmen will have until May 1 to file a "statement of intent to register," indicating their intention to enroll at UC Santa Cruz. The deadline for transfer students is June 1.
Michelle Whittingham is available to discuss undergraduate applications to the campus for fall 2010. To arrange an interview, please call (831) 459-2495.
