UC admits record number of freshmen

UC offered admission to 60,008 California high school seniors, a record number despite looming state budget cuts.

Fulfilling a commitment to offer a place to every eligible California applicant, the university increased the number of admissions offers by 4.7 percent over fall 2007. A record number of applications, however, resulted in a slightly lower admission rate: 75.8 percent of the fall 2008 applicants were admitted compared to 77.4 percent in fall 2007. Universities across the country have seen a dramatic increase in applications due to the large number of high school seniors graduating this year.

"We were very impressed with the academic qualifications of all the applicants, and we look forward to an outstanding group of freshmen this fall," said UCLA Chancellor Gene Block.

UC saw an increase in applications and admissions among African American (13.3 percent) and Latino/Chicano (16 percent) students while American Indian admissions dropped 2.6 percent. Those three underrepresented groups make up 25.1 percent of total fall admissions.

In addition to the students who have already been offered admissions, another 8,450 who were not accepted at the campus they originally applied to will be offered admission at UC Merced or UC Riverside. At UC Berkeley and UC San Diego, another 3,000 students have been offered admission for winter or spring quarters. UC Merced will offer admission through the Shared Experience program, now in its second year, to 820 California residents who had applied to the Berkeley, Irvine, San Diego and UCLA campuses. Those students can spend their freshmen and sophomore years at Merced with the option of transferring to another campus in their junior year.

Nine out of 10 admitted UC students are California residents. International and out-of-state admissions numbered 7,545, an increase of 1,262 over last year. Information about transfer student admissions will be released later in May.