UC Davis has enrolled a record high 26,094 students this fall–1,002 more than last fall. The record number includes a 32.9 percent increase in all transfer students and a 22.8 percent increase in California residents transferring from California community colleges. This fall’s class of new freshmen had a higher average score than the 1999 entering class on the Scholastic Aptitude Test-I/American College Test, often considered a measure of academic preparation.
The new freshman enrollment of 4,339 was 39 more than expected; new transfer students, 74 more than anticipated. All transfer students numbered 1,391 last year, compared to this fall’s 1,849 final tally; California residents transferring from California community colleges numbered 1,248 last year, compared to 1,533 this fall.
Carol Wall, vice chancellor for student affairs at UC Davis, said all campuses in the UC system are working with the community colleges, particularly in their geographical regions, to increase the number of students who first attend community colleges before transferring to the university.
"This work by university and community college advisers has been successful and has resulted in increasing numbers of transfer students," Wall said.
This fall’s student body slipped slightly in diversity, with non-white students making up 50.97 percent of all domestic undergraduates, compared to 51.52 percent last fall. Numbers declined among most historically underrepresented groups, with only modest increases in Chicano/Mexicans, Pacific Islanders, East Indians/Pakistani and other ethnicities.
"As a land-grant institution with a commitment to educate the best of the state’s young people, we continue to be concerned that the population of students at the university does not yet mirror the population of the state," Wall said.
"Our expanding work with communities, the K-12 system and the community colleges emphasizes the preparation that students must have to come to the university."
The vice chancellor said the university has revised some of its admissions criteria to assure access to the state’s brightest students.
"For example, in 2001 we will institute a new route to admission for students in the top 4 percent of their high-school class, so that students who have excelled in their local contexts can look to the university for their college education," she said.
Wall said the university is considering expanding this access to students in the top 4 percent to 12.5 percent of their high-school class by including an assured route through the community colleges.
A student body profile
Men account for 45.2 percent of the student population and women, 54.8 percent. About 94 percent are California residents, while 2.32 percent are from other parts of the United States. The remaining 3.52 percent are international students.
The average Scholastic Aptitude TestI/American College Test score for this fall’s freshmen totals 1170, continuing an increase in this measure of academic quality from last fall’s 1165 and 1998’s 1149. Although SAT/ACT scores are up, the high-school grade point average is slightly lower at 3.71, compared to 3.73 last fall and 3.74 in 1998.
"When selecting among the very best of the state’s high school graduates, yearly differences are slight," Wall said. "Because external rankings of campuses rely heavily upon average SAT scores, we are delighted to see an increasing trajectory of our students’ SAT scores."
On the general campus, 6,025 students are classified as freshmen, 3,531 as sophomores, 5,286 as juniors, 5,431 as seniors, 56 as teaching credential students, 1,448 as master’s or professional degree candidates, and 2,064 as doctoral degree candidates.
In the health sciences, 115 are designated as students in the Family Nurse Practitioner/Physician Assistant Program, 32 as master’s degree candidates, 222 as doctoral degree candidates, 856 as professional degree candidates, and 782 as interns and residents. In addition, 246 students are enrolled in the Graduate School of Management’s MBA program for working professionals.
Non-white ethnic groups comprise 50.97 percent of all domestic undergraduates, down from last fall’s 51.52 percent. Of the 20,273 general campus undergraduates, 20,022 are U.S. citizens or permanent residents.