The University of California will enroll its largest and most diverse undergraduate class in fall 2024, opening the acclaimed institution to more of California’s low-income, first-generation and underrepresented students of color, according to preliminary data released Wednesday. of public research institutions.
In a startling statistic, the University of California is sharing the gender identity of admitted students for the first time in its annual data release. Across the system, women dominate first-year students, at 55%. At the six campuses of Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, UCLA, San Diego and Santa Barbara, the gender gap is even wider, with approximately 37% of students being male. The University of California, Merced, has the most balanced ratio, with 49% women and 46% men. Gender equality in transfer admissions is even greater.
About 5% of admitted students identify differently—such as nonbinary or transgender—or do not disclose their gender identity.
Overall, UC enrolled 93,920 first-year California students, a 4.3% increase from last year and a record high, amid widespread public demand for more seats for California students after campuses began admitting more international and out-of-state applicants. several years ago in an effort to increase revenue amid deep state funding cuts.
California’s systemwide acceptance rate for first-year students climbed to 70% from 68% last year. But at UCLA, the university with the most applicants in the United States, the acceptance rate remains in single digits, or 9.5%. The University of California enrolls a total of 166,706 first-year and transfer students from California and other states and countries.
For the fifth consecutive year, Latinos are the largest group of admitted first-year students in California, largely because they dominate the number admitted to UC Merced. At all eight other undergraduate campuses, Asian Americans are the dominant group for admissions. Overall, Latino students make up 39% of California’s first-year students, followed by Asian Americans at 33%, whites at 18%, black students at 6%, American Indians at 1%, and Pacific Islanders at 1%. Accounts for less than 1%.
The University of California has also increased its opportunities to recruit low-income students, who account for nearly 41% of first-year admitted students at the University of California; the proportion of top-ranked students increased to 43%.
The university system has also made significant progress in expanding access to California Community College transfer applicants – enrolling 26,430 students, a 7.8% increase from last year. The increase in admissions reflects a rebound in transfer applicants after a pandemic-induced plunge. The University of California received 34,668 transfer applications for fall 2024, up from 31,646 last year. About three-quarters of applicants are admitted.
“These admissions numbers demonstrate the University of California’s commitment to expanding opportunity and access, particularly to historically underrepresented groups who enroll in first-year students,” said UC President Michael V. Drake. of students is the highest ever. “We are helping more California students get on the path to a college degree and future success, which will have a positive impact on communities across the state. “
FAFSA fiasco
This year’s admissions cycle was complicated by a major fiasco: A flaw in the rollout of a new federal financial aid form caused significant delays in the process of applying, receiving and processing student information to assess eligibility for financial aid. Campuses are still unsure about the final number of students admitted because hundreds of students have yet to submit their Free Application for Student Financial Aid (FAFSA).
“The FAFSA crisis dwarfs and eclipses everything else,” said Jim Rawlins, vice chancellor for enrollment management at the University of California, San Diego. “That’s what keeps me up at night.”
Rollins said that as many as 400 students who accepted offers from San Diego have not yet submitted their FAFSA — a 60% increase from last year — which could cause many to abandon their plans to enroll because they failed to submit the form and did not Receive financial aid assistance. He said his staff is working to reach out to those students to help them, but the federal Department of Education has not yet fully resolved all the issues — with notice issued Tuesday that schools will not be able to submit bulk application corrections this cycle.
Rollins said that uncertainty is one reason San Diego is increasing admissions this year — accepting 22,979 California first-year applicants, compared with about 20,800 last year. But the campus is also expected to add hundreds of seats as part of a systemwide commitment to add 2,927 Cal students in 2024-25. The expansion plan comes despite UC receiving $124 million less than expected under a five-year agreement with Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Legislature due to a state budget deficit.
UCLA Admissions Stand Out
UCLA admitted 8,795 California first-year applicants for fall 2024, an increase of about 200 students from last year. This is the lowest number of admissions among UC campuses. But Gary Clark, UCLA’s vice chancellor for enrollment management, said UCLA doesn’t need to admit as many students as other campuses to meet enrollment goals because its acceptance rate is so high, about 60 %. UCLA also admitted 5,518 transfer applicants for fall 2024.
It is nearly impossible for applicants with an average weighted GPA of 4.58 to get admitted to UCLA, and the transfer path is generally easier, with an overall acceptance rate of 26%. But Clark said students should be aware of the huge differences between majors — computer science, for example, has a transfer acceptance rate of 5 percent, while history, linguistics and philosophy have transfer acceptance rates of more than 60 percent.
Clark also reiterated that UCLA will consider grades and transcripts based on the opportunities available to applicants. Students who attend high schools without a full complement of advanced placement courses will not be compared to students from better-resourced schools.
The Westwood campus leads the way in recruiting black students, who make up 8% of all admitted first-year applicants to California. The University of California, Merced, admits the highest percentage of Latinos at 45%, while Irvine, Berkeley, Davis and Riverside admit at least 40% Asian Americans.
Overall, UC Riverside enrolls the largest number of California first-year and transfer students — 43,016 students, up from 39,139 last year — and is one of the UC campuses with significant room for growth. Riverside also hosts the largest number of low-income students and students who are the first in their families to attend college.
“We really want to make sure that UC Riverside is accessible to our California residents,” said Veronica Zendejas, dean of undergraduate admissions.
UC Santa Cruz admits most non-binary students
At UC Santa Cruz, the biggest news is the strong growth in the number of transfer students enrolled in campus programs. Santa Cruz increased first-year enrollment across the board, including 35,008 California residents and 11,574 nonresidents. But Michelle Whittingham, vice chancellor for enrollment management, said the city of Santa Cruz plans to use most of the state funding to increase transfer enrollment by 19 percent.
Whittingham also said transfer students who meet the credit hours, grade point average and major preparation requirements are more likely to be admitted. “There’s a lot of talk about how hard it is to get into UC, but if you follow the standards we publish, you can get in” to most majors, she said.
UC Santa Cruz is also the campus of choice for non-female and male students.
Across UC’s nine undergraduate campuses, 1,453 first-year UC applicants identified as non-binary; 683 of them were admitted to UC Santa Cruz. Whittingham said a transgender applicant drove three hours from Washington state to Oregon for a recruiting event at UC Santa Cruz because the campus is known for being inclusive and supportive of the LGBTQ+ community and is their first choice. One choice.
More benefits for California applicants
UC Davis has also stepped up its outreach to transfer applicants and expanded its partnerships with community colleges, said Malisa Lee, vice provost for enrollment management. Overall, the school district increased admission opportunities by 4.2 percent for Californians from 57 of the state’s 58 counties.
The University of California, Berkeley, has reduced its admissions offers to first-year applicants in all categories, especially international students, with the number of international students in fall 2024 falling to 751 from 1,129 last year. Acceptance letters to California transfer applicants increased by approximately 140.
In comparison, the number of first-year international applicants admitted to the University of California, Irvine, for fall 2024 increased significantly by 33%, from 6,260 last year to 8,360, with California students seeing a smaller increase of 8.4%. Irvine has the highest proportion of international students in its entering class (24%), while California students have the smallest proportion (54%).
UC Santa Barbara’s admissions to California students increased by 15.7%, admissions to out-of-state students increased 11.5%, and admissions to international students increased 36%.
UC Merced also enrolls more first-year students across the board and leads all campuses in California in the underrepresentation of students of color, with 53% of students from Latino, Black, American Indian and Pacific Islander backgrounds .
