Some 70,000 incoming California freshmen and more than 21,000 in-state community college transfer students were offered a spot at the one of the University of California’s (UC) nine undergraduate campuses for this fall.
Preliminary admissions numbers also show increases in the proportion of Californians from historically underrepresented groups, as well as those from low-income families.
The total number of freshman admissions for fall 2017, including nonresident students, was 106,011, and for community college transfer students, the number was 24,685.
The number of state resident freshmen admitted to UC for fall 2017 reflected a 1.7 percent drop from fall 2016, when a historically large class was admitted in keeping with the three-year goal of enrolling 10,000 additional California undergraduates by fall 2018, according to the university. Still, the university says it’s on track to enroll an additional 2,500 California residents this fall. Last year’s enrollment target of 5,000 additional Californians was exceeded.
During the two-year period since fall 2015, UC admissions offers to California resident freshmen have increased by 13.2 percent.
Admission of community college transfer students grew by 3.4 percent, or 806 students, in fall 2017. This year’s increase — which comes after the university’s largest transfer class in fall 2016 — is in keeping with UC’s goal of enrolling two new California resident freshmen for every new California resident transfer student for the 2017-18 academic year, according to the university.
Over a two-year period since fall 2015, UC admissions offers to in-state community college transfer students increased by 18.6 percent.
Breaking down the numbers
UC’s continued efforts to broaden the racial, ethnic and socioeconomic diversity of its undergraduate student body is also reflected in the makeup of the admitted class.
The share of state resident freshmen from historically underrepresented groups grew to 38.7 percent of the total, compared with 37.8 percent a year ago. Admitted Chicano/Latino students increased to 33.2 percent from 32.3 percent of all admitted California freshmen last year. The proportion of African-American admitted freshmen rose from 4.9 percent to 5 percent in fall 2017.
The proportion of African-American, Chicano/Latino and American Indian students transferring from community colleges also grew — from 34.7 percent in fall 2016 to 35.8 percent for this coming fall. The number of Chicano/Latino students increased to 29.7 percent from 28.3 percent last year, while the proportion of African-American transfer students remained flat at 5.4 percent of the total.
The number of Asian-American transfers also continued to increase at a significant pace. Some 6,214 Asian-American transfer students were admitted for this fall, comprising nearly 29 percent of all transfer. The ratio is similar to the previous two years.
White students continue to comprise the largest portion of community college transfer students admitted to UC at nearly 32 percent (6,994 students), though that number has dropped over the past two years from 33.5 percent last fall and about 35 percent in fall 2015, according to the data.
The data also show gains in the number of California freshmen from low-income families, jumping by 2.5 percentage points to 39.8 percent of all newly admitted California freshmen. Similarly, the share of California freshmen who would be the first in their family to graduate from a four-year college rose to 43 percent in fall 2017 from 42.7 percent last fall.
