By Victoria Irwin

For the first time in its history, UC will implement a wait-list process for fall freshman admissions.

"The university currently enrolls more than 15,000 students for whom it receives no state funding. New enrollment must be carefully managed to enable campuses to reach their enrollment targets with greater precision while still offering a space to as many deserving students as possible," UC Director of Admissions Susan Wilbur said.

Most campuses will participate, although UCLA has determined that the use of a waiting list, as an enrollment management tool, is not necessary at this time. Berkeley is currently evaluating its position on waitling lists and expects to announce its decision soon. Merced will continue to offer admission to all of its UC-eligible applicants and therefore will not participate in the wait-list process.

Each campus will manage its own waiting list, but certain principles will guide the process at all:

• At the same time campuses send admission and deny letters, participating campuses will invite a subset of their denied freshman applicants — those who came closest to being admitted in the campus's comprehensive review process but didn't quite make it — to indicate their interest in being on a waiting list. Applicants may receive wait-list offers from multiple campuses and can accept as many as they wish.
• After processing Statements of Intent to Register (SIR) in early May, campuses will analyze likely enrollment and accept students off their waiting lists if they anticipate not reaching their targets. Acceptance offers will be sent by June 1 so that students and families can plan appropriately.
• Students who are offered admission off the waiting list will receive a preliminary financial aid award letter shortly after if they filed a FAFSA by the March 2 deadline. Additionally, they will be eligible for housing and sports at orientation, just like students admitted earlier.

"Because it is impossible to know how many applicants ultimately will be admitted off the waitlist, students should submit by the stated deadlines an SIR and the requisite deposit to an institution to which they have been admitted," Wilbur said.

Eligible applicants who don't receive an admission offer from any campus to which they applied will be offered admission at a campus that has room, even if they are on the waiting list at another campus.

Victoria Irwin is the student affairs communications coordinator with the UC Office of the President Integrated Communications. For more news, visit UC Newsroom or follow us on Twitter.