Record number of transfers
The 8,164 transfer students who applied are 16.5 percent more than applied a year earlier and 45.4 percent more than two years ago.
More than 36,000 prospective undergraduates – the most ever – have applied for admission to the University of California, Santa Cruz for the upcoming fall quarter.
Data released today by UC's Office of the President show that UC Santa Cruz attracted 36,262 applications from high school seniors and transfer students during the university's November "priority" filing period.
"The interest we have received from prospective undergraduates for next fall is very gratifying and speaks to the fact that students and their families recognize the distinctive educational experience at UC Santa Cruz – our unique college system, high research impact, and the natural beauty of our campus overlooking the Monterey Bay and close to the Silicon Valley," said Michelle Whittingham, UCSC's associate vice chancellor of enrollment management and director of admissions.
This year's undergraduate total of 36,262 -- 4.7 percent more than applied a year earlier -- includes applications from 28,098 prospective freshmen and 8,164 prospective transfer students, the majority of whom are transferring from a California community college.
Whittingham said UCSC officials are particularly pleased that applications from prospective transfer students soared again this year. "Given the financial challenges our applicants and their families face, we've increased our outreach efforts to prospective transfer students," she said. "We're very pleased that these students are interested in completing their undergraduate education at UCSC."
The 8,164 transfer students who applied are 16.5 percent more than applied a year earlier and 45.4 percent more than two years ago. The gains at UCSC outpaced the UC systemwide increase that averaged 7.3 percent above fall 2010 and 26 percent over 2009.
UCSC's fall 2011 enrollment targets have not yet been finalized because of uncertain state funding. Gov. Jerry Brown's preliminary budget calls for a $500 million cut in state support for the University of California. "Since our frosh enrollment target will likely be the same as this past fall, the fact that we received more applications will make freshman admission for fall 2011 more competitive," Whittingham said.
California residents amounted to 92.9 percent of UCSC's freshman applications for fall 2011.
Admissions officials noted that more prospective students chose to declare their ethnicity than in previous years. Increases in the number of applications were seen in the following underrepresented ethnic groups: African American, from 1,105 last year to 1,237 this year, an 11.9 percent increase, and Chicano/Latino, from 5,843 last year to 7,174 this year, a 22.8 percent increase.
The increases from underrepresented groups were even larger in transfer-student applications from California's community colleges: African American, from 243 last year to 292 this year, a 20.2 percent increase and Chicano/Latino, from 1,173 last year to 1,722 this year, a 46.8 percent increase.
"It's important that the ethnic diversity of UCSC's students more closely mirror California," Whittingham said.
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.
