University of California makes room for record 60,000 freshmen

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1 University of California makes room for record 60,000 freshmen - San Jose Mercury News Page 1 of 2 University of California makes room for record 60,000 freshmen By LISA LEFF Associated Press Writer Article Launched: 04/14/ :59:41 PM PDT SAN FRANCISCO The University of California has accepted a record 60,008 California residents as freshmen for the coming fall despite worries that cuts in state funding could lead to overcrowded campuses and tuition increases, officials said Monday. With more high school seniors vying and qualifying for spot at a UC school, the university admitted a little more than three-quarters of all in-state students who applied, similar to last year's instate admissions rate of 77 percent, university officials said. The admission offers to in-state freshmen beat last year's total of 57,318, also a record, by about 4.7 percent and represent a 43 percent increase over the fall 2000 term. Officials said upholding UC's long-held tradition of finding a space for all eligible California residents outweighed concern over the uncertain budget situation. "This was a very difficult decision given the fact that there are not sufficient resources to fund large growth and it could have negative impact on our programs down the road," said Susan Wilbur, UC's director of undergraduate admissions. "That said, I think it was the right decision because there are students who have worked hard for years to get to this point and it didn't seem right to penalize them." To close a projected a budget deficit, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed funding the system by $400 million less than its governing board estimates it needs for the academic year to accommodate enrollment growth and improvements in student services. In the past, state budget cuts forced the rejection of some qualified students from the system's nine undergraduate campuses. The number of students admitted was up for instate freshmen of all racial backgrounds except American Indians, although the racial composition of the UC system could shift slightly next year because of bigger gains by some minority groups. Overall, the system admitted 12,432 students of Hispanic descent, 1,717 or 16 percent more than last year. Admission rose by 11 percent, or 234 freshmen, for black students, to 2,305. If the students who enroll at a UC campus in the fall reflect the racial makeup of those offered spots, Hispanics would make up 21 percent and black students 3.8 percent of the freshman class. White and Asian students each would comprise 34 percent of first-year students. Nearly 3,000 students declined to state an ethnicity on their applications, 12.3 percent more than a year earlier. Wilbur said the improved diversity meant that high schools were doing a better job of preparing minority students for college, adding that more work would need to be done before the UC student body would accurately reflect the diversity of California's high school graduates. Systemwide, admitted students had an average GPA of 3.79, about the same as last year, and combined SAT scores of 1777, a very slight decline. Along with the more than 60,000 in-state students who already have been offered admission, UC plans to offer slots to either UC Merced or UC Riverside to

2 University of California makes room for record 60,000 freshmen - San Jose Mercury News Page 2 of 2 another 8,450 students who were not accepted at one of the campuses to which they applied. Another 3,000 were given the option of deferring enrollment at UC Berkeley or UC San Diego until the winter or spring terms. UC typically admits more students than it can accommodate at individual campuses since not all those admitted will choose to attend. Wilbur said the university will have a clearer picture of how budget cutbacks will affect its campuses by summer. "We have a long-standing tradition here of offering a space to every UC-eligible student, and it's something we feel very good about," she said. "The long-term question is, can we continue to sustain that kind of growth if we are not appropriately funded."

3 UC admits record number of freshmen - sacbee.com Page 1 of 1 This story is taken from Sacbee / News. UC admits record number of freshmen By Deb Kollars - dkollars@sacbee.com Published 5:43 pm PDT Monday, April 14, 2008 The University of California announced Monday it has admitted a record number of freshman students for the upcoming fall term. The system also turned away more applicants than in the past. Like top universities and colleges across the country, the UC system saw a dramatic increase in freshman applications this year. The jump has been attributed largely to demographics: Nationally, the number of high school graduates is expected to hit a record 3.3 million this year as children of the baby boom era reach adulthood. California's nine UC campuses saw big increases in freshman applications. UC Davis, for example, had a 15.6 percent increase over last year in overall freshman applications from California and elsewhere for the 2008 fall term. Monday's tally of admissions reflected the bigger pool of applicants. The UC system offered admission to 60,008 California high school seniors, a 4.7 percent increase over the prior year. Overall, the system offered admission to 75.3 percent of California freshman applicants, down from 77.4 percent the prior year. UC Davis received 37,747 California freshman applications and offered admission to 19,762, for a 52.4 percent admission rate. The prior year, 58.5 percent of California freshman applicants were accepted at Davis. Go to: Sacbee / Back to story

4 U. of California Reports Big Increases in Black and Hispanic Admissions of 4 4/15/2008 9:39 AM Manage your account Advertise with us Rights & permissions Employment opportunities April 14, 2008 U. of California Reports Big Increases in Black and Hispanic Admissions The University of California system announced today that it had admitted substantially more black and Hispanic freshmen for the coming fall than it had going into the current academic year, with much of the increase being driven by a surge in the number of applicants from those minority groups. The preliminary admissions numbers that the university system released show that about 16 percent more black Californians applied to one of the system s campuses and just over 13 percent more were admitted. The number of Hispanic Californians admitted increased by nearly 18 percent; the number applying, by 16 percent. The university provided a racial and ethnic breakdown of such numbers only for in-state applicants. But because California residents account for nearly nine out of 10 of the system s students, its figures suggest that the system s efforts to reach out to minority communities, in the wake of a decade-old ban on affirmative-action preferences, appear to be having some effect. The picture varied substantially by campus, however, with much of the systemwide growth in the number of black and Hispanic Californians admitted being driven by sharp increases at the less-competitive campuses at Merced, Riverside, and Santa Barbara. The University of California at Los Angeles also posted significant increases in its black and Hispanic admittees, a pattern that officials there credited partly to the campus s adoption last year of a holistic admission system that considers what opportunities applicants have had in life. But on the Berkeley and Irvine campuses, the share of admissions offers going to black and Hispanic students rose only slightly, and the actual numbers admitted declined, as the campuses scaled back the number of acceptance letters mailed out to state residents. Over all, the number of California high-school seniors offered admission to one of the system s campuses rose by 4.7 percent, to just over 60,000. With applications up by 7.7 percent, however, the acceptance rate among Californians declined from 77.4 percent to 75.3 percent. In announcing the new admissions numbers, Susan Wilbur, the university system s director of undergraduate admissions, warned that the system cannot continue to take in growing numbers of students without substantial increases in its state appropriations. Peter Schmidt In the Comments "I freely admit that I m among those using drugs to help performance. I m on my third cup (and final) of coffee this AM. I learned long ago that caffeine is my friend." -- Al Many Academics Use Drugs to Enhance Their Brain Power, Survey Suggests Recent Posts advertisement New Mexico State U. Professors Receive Racist Letters Pornographic , tenure denials, and bigoted messages have contributed to a campus climate in which critics say the administration is corrupt. Comment [1] Federal Appeals Court Upholds Accreditor's Action Against Hiwassee College The college had contended that the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools violated its rights of due process in a 2004 decision to withdraw its accreditation. Comment [8] 4 Universities in Gaza Shut Down Amid Fuel Shortages With transportation at a standstill, students cannot get to classes. Comment [4] U. of Southern California to Negotiate With Company It Sued in Dispute Over Hospitals The institution and the Tenet Healthcare Corporation will attempt to resolve a lawsuit by working out a sale price for the university s purchase of the two hospitals. Comment U. of California Reports Big Increases in Black and Hispanic Admissions The growth in minority applicant pools suggests that outreach efforts are bearing fruit. Comment [6] Most Commented This Month Report Shows Stunning Failures in High-School Graduation Rates 60 New Exam Will Test Nurses Trained to Perform More of Doctors' Duties 47 Posted on Monday April 14, 2008 Permalink Comments 1. Now let s fast forward to 2012 and see how many of these holistic admits have graduated. Show me THOSE numbers before I get up to applaud the UC-System s social justice largesse. For a state that is already MAJORITY minority, Student Claims to Have Found a Textbook Case of Conservative Bias 44 Florida Medical Dean Overrules Committee, Admitting Son of Politically Connected Family 39 Official at New Mexico State U. Apologizes for Sending Pornographic 36 By Category Athletics Community Colleges

5 UC admissions tighter in ContraCostaTimes.com Page 1 of 1 UC admissions tighter in 2008 By Matt Krupnick Contra Costa Times " she said, "but we did our very best to ensure the access to high-quality education that our students have come to expect." Matt Krupnick covers higher education. Reach him at or mkrupnick@bayareanewsgroup.com. Article Launched: 04/14/ :42:54 PM PDT Despite a record number of admissions, University of California applicants had a tougher time getting into their campuses of choice this year, according to UC numbers released Monday. The number of applications is growing faster than the number of openings at UC's most soughtafter schools. Acceptance rates declined at nearly every campus. Slightly more than 22 percent of applicants were admitted to UC Berkeley and UCLA this year, down from 24.7 percent at UC Berkeley and 23.6 percent at UCLA last year. About 60,000 California residents were admitted as freshmen, 10,000 more than were admitted three years ago. A little more than three-quarters of the 80,000 or so applicants were granted a spot at one of the nine undergraduate campuses. The university managed to accept all qualified applicants despite proposed budget cuts, said Susan Wilbur, UC's undergraduate-admissions director. But that guarantee may not be sustainable unless the university receives more state money, she said. "We're in a very challenging environment,

6 Los Angeles Times: Bigger pool leads to lower UC admission rate 1 of 2 4/15/ :24 AM From the Los Angeles Times Bigger pool leads to lower UC admission rate Officials Monday reported 75.3% of in-state applicants were admitted to at least one campus -- down from 77.4% last year. By Larry Gordon Los Angeles Times Staff Writer 8:30 PM PDT, April 14, 2008 Because of a demographic bulge, applicants to all the University of California's nine undergraduate campuses faced somewhat worse odds of getting admitted as freshmen this fall, officials reported Monday. Still, 60,008 California students, a record high, were offered coveted freshman spots by at least one UC school. The UC system accepted 75.3% of its California applicants, down from 77.4% last year. That change was attributed mainly to the rise in the number of high school seniors, a trend that is expected to peak next year and then decline. "This was a particularly difficult year for freshman admissions," said Susan Wilbur, the UC system's director of undergraduate admissions, citing both the increase in applicants and the threat of reduced state funding to provide for them. Overall, the number of in-state applications rose from 74,056 last year to 79,661. "We are in a very challenging environment but we did everything we could to provide access to the high-quality education that our students in California have come to expect," Wilbur said. It was somewhat harder this year to get into UC campuses, but administrators say no students who met the academic entrance requirements were fully turned away. But they might not have gotten into their top choices, and 8,400 of them were offered enrollment at two campuses to which they didn't even apply, Riverside and Merced. UCLA again had the most applicants and was the least likely to open its gate, with only 22.1% accepted there. That was followed very closely by UC Berkeley's 22.2%. The highest rate of acceptance was at UC Riverside, with 76.9%. Last year, about half of all admitted applicants actually showed up at a UC campus in the fall, and administrators are hoping that rate does not increase much this year. Admitted students generally have until May 1 to notify schools whether they will enroll. If the deficit-driven budget cuts proposed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger are upheld by the Legislature, the UC system may have to freeze or cut enrollment for the school year. Statewide, UC admission offers to Latinos and African Americans increased somewhat. Latinos constituted about 21% of admitted students and blacks about 4%. Asian Americans made up 34% of the accepted pool and whites 34.4%, both slightly down from last year. UCLA two years ago faced criticism for its very low African American student population. In the fall of 2006, it had dropped to 103 freshmen, or 2.2% of the class. However, that situation improved last year as, among other

7 Los Angeles Times: Bigger pool leads to lower UC admission rate efforts, alumni raised private scholarship money that helped to nearly double the number of black freshmen, to 203. In addition, the application process was changed to allow more review of students' personal achievements. On Monday, UCLA announced that more African Americans and Latinos had been offered freshman entrance for this fall. For blacks, that rose from 407 last year to 440 (3.7% of the admit pool) and for Latinos from 1,474 to 1,682 (14.1% of those accepted). State universities are banned from using race as a criterion in admissions or financial aid. Janina Montero, UCLA's vice chancellor for student affairs, thanked alumni and others for providing private financial aid for black students for a second year. "While there is still work to be done in terms of encouraging these students to decide to come to UCLA next fall, we are extremely grateful for the interest and dedication of the broader UCLA family," she said in a prepared statement. The UC system also offered admission to more than 7,500 out-of-state and international students, keeping its traditional 10% of undergraduates from outside California. Non-Californians pay much higher fees at UC than in-state students and generally must present higher grades and test scores for admission. "These are exceptionally well qualified students who we feel will make an addition to our campuses," Wilbur said. larry.gordon@latimes.com