UC Admission Rate Drops For California Students

LOS ANGELES, CA — In-state student admissions to the University of California dropped this year, despite a push by the university system to admit more Californians following public outrage over the number of high-paying out-of-state students granted admission.

In-state UC admissions dropped 1.7 percent from last year, the University of California announced Thursday. But even with the decline of in-state freshman admissions, UC officials expect to meet the three-year goal of enrolling 10,000 additional California students by the next academic year. The state’s nine UC campuses accepted about 70,000 incoming California freshmen and more than 21,000 in-state transfer students. The incoming class for the fall is expected to boost the number by another 2,500 in-state students to reach the target. According to the University of California more California students are currently enrolled than at any point in UC history.

Still, for the most sought-after UC schools, in-state students are admitted at a lower rate than out-of-state applicants.

At Berkeley, for example, California applicants are admitted at a rate of 19.7 percent compared to the out-of-state rate of 22.1 percent. The rate is even lower at UCLA where 14.6 percent of the California students who apply are admitted compared to 23.3 percent of out-of-state students. At UC San Diego, 31.3 percent of the in-state applicants were admitted compared to 51.1 percent of the out-of-state students. The highest in-state admission rate is at Merced, where 74.3 percent of the California applicants were granted admission in 2017.
Overall, admission was offered to 106,011 students across the UC system. The share of California resident freshmen from historically underrepresented groups such as African American and Latino students grew to 38.7 percent.

“We welcome this accomplished, talented group of applicants to the university,” UC President Janet Napolitano said in a written statement. “All of us — in California, and throughout the nation and world — will be enriched by their talent, curiosity and drive to learn and succeed. The University of California educates the best and the brightest true to our mission of education, research and public service.”

More students applied to UCLA than any other UC school. UCLA received 102,181 freshman applications, along with 21,811 transfer applications. UCLA offered freshman admission to 16,494 high school seniors for the fall, a roughly 6 percent drop from last year. The university offered admission to about 5,500 transfer students.

"The quality of our admitted students is continuously among the best in the nation, and this year is no exception," said Youlonda Copeland-Morgan, UCLA's vice provost of enrollment management. "The unmatched diversity of our admitted students paired with the extraordinary talent and accomplishments of our students when it comes to academics, leadership and life experience makes UCLA a place unlike any other."

UC San Diego received the second most freshman applications, accepting 30,204 students of the 88,463 who applied. At UC Irvine, freshman admission was offered to 31,103 students of the 85,097 who applied. UCI’s admissions are down 1.7 percent from last year. The vast majority of the them -- 21,056 -- are in- state students, with 2,849 out-of-state and 7,198 international.

Berkeley received 85,054 freshman applications and offered admission to 15,567 students.

City News Service contributed to this report. Photo by Kevin Tong courtesy of UC Davis College of Engineering via flickr.com