A record high of more than 51,000 high school seniors, prospective transfer students and others have applied to study at UC Davis for fall 2009—a 5.4 percent increase over fall 2008.

A total of 51,298 individuals applied to UC Davis, compared with 48,653 applicants for fall 2008. There are 42,344 applicants for freshman status this fall, an increase of about 4.4 percent from last year’s 40,568.

UC Davis is second only to UC Riverside for the largest percentage gains in freshman and overall applications among UC’s nine undergraduate campuses.
A total of 8,954 applicants are seeking to transfer to UC Davis from another college or university, a 10.7 percent increase from last fall’s 8,085.

Enrollment reductions

Details about the record number of applications for UC Davis and the UC system as a whole come a week after the UC Board of Regents voted to curtail enrollment for the 2009 freshman class to cope with insufficient state funding for enrollment growth and continuing budget cuts.

At UC Davis, the plan calls for an enrollment reduction of 385, or 8 percent, among new freshmen coming from California high schools. Last fall, UC Davis enrolled about 4,800 new freshmen from California.

However, enrollment of California residents transferring to a UC campus from a California community college will be allowed to increase by 500 students systemwide. At UC Davis, that translates to an increase of 50 students, or 2.8 percent, from this year’s 1,770.

Among California residents who have applied to UC Davis for freshman status, the mean grade point average has increased from 3.69 last year to 3.72 this year; also, the percentage of UC Davis applicants from the top 4 percent of their high school class is up from 17.2 percent last year to 19.6 percent this year.

“We are especially pleased with the gains in academic indicators and diversity in this year’s applicant pool,” said Pamela Burnett, director of undergraduate admissions at UC Davis. “Also, our application increases reflect more widespread public awareness of the value of a UC Davis education.”

Systemwide, UC unduplicated applications are up 4.7 percent overall, from 121,005 for fall 2008 to 126,701 for fall 2009. A total of 98,002 students applied for freshman status, for a 2.9 percent increase over last year’s 95,201. Among transfer applicants, there was an 11.2 percent increase, from 25,804 last year to 28,699.

For 2009, freshman applications from California public high school students increased by 3.2 percent, while the California Department of Finance projected a 1 percent decline in the number of California public high school graduates. The overall rate of public high school graduates applying to the university is 18.4 percent, up from 17.7 percent last year.

Freshman applicants by ethnicity

A total of 39,238 California high school students applied for freshman status at UC Davis in 2009, compared with 37,705 for fall 2008. This represents an increase of almost 4.1 percent.

Those from traditionally underrepresented groups—African American, American Indian and Chicano/Latino —increased 12.4 percent; they account for 22.9 percent, or 9,005, of all California high school applicants. Last year, they accounted for 21.2 percent.

In keeping with systemwide trends, American Indian applicants to UC Davis led the gains among ethnic groups. Almost doubling the percentage gain for the UC system, this group had an increase of almost 34 percent, from 209 last year to 280 this year.

Other groups with increases this year: African American, from 1,541 last year to 1,626 this year, or 5.5 percent; Asian American, from 12,077 to 12,819, or 6.1 percent; Chicano/Latino, from 6,260 to 7,099, or 13.4 percent; Filipino American, from 1,634 to 1,645, or almost 0.7 percent; and White/other, from 13,894 to 14,245, or 2.5 percent.

The number of Pacific Islanders decreased from 156 last year to 121, or 21.9 percent. This was a less dramatic decrease than almost 30 percent systemwide.
Students for whom an ethnicity is missing decreased from 1,935 to 1,403, or 27.5 percent.

Transfer applicants

A total of 6,914 domestic applicants are seeking to transfer from a California community college this year, compared with 6,234 last year. Those from traditionally underrepresented groups increased 16.6 percent; they account for 19.7 percent of the domestic applicants, compared with 18.8 percent last year.
African American applicants had the greatest percentage gain with a 19.6 percent increase, from 224 last year to 268 this year. This only slightly outpaced a gain of 18.9 percent for the system.

Among other UC Davis gains were: American Indian from 53 to 63, or 18.9 percent; Asian American, from 2,086 to 2,236, or 7.2 percent; Chicano/Latino, from 893 to 1,033, or 15.7 percent; Filipino American, from 197 to 232, or 17.8 percent; Pacific Islanders, from 23 to 28, or 21.7 percent; and White/other, from 2,367 to 2,694, or 13.8 percent.

Students for whom an ethnicity is missing decreased from 391 to 360, or 7.9 percent.

The number of international transfer applicants increased from 815 last year to 994 this year, or 22 percent. This is in line with a systemwide trend.

Offers of admission

Applicants will be notified of admission decisions beginning in mid-March.
Burnett encourages applicants to beat the rush by creating their MyAdmissions account now so they can easily check the status of their application online at http://myadmissions.ucdavis.edu.

On the Net
Statistics for the UC system are available at http://www.ucop.edu/news/studstaff.html.