Record Number of Applicants to UCSB for Fall 1999

UC Santa Barbara has received an all-time record high of 26,763 freshman applications for fall admission to the campus, an increase of more than 3,000 over last year.

The applicant pool is also the most academically gifted in the university's history.

Over 20 percent (5,000) of the applicants have GPAs of 4.00 or higher.

Minority student representation in the freshman application pool is 38 percent, with 10,150 potential students declaring themselves to be members of racial and ethnic minority groups.

The campus also received the highest percentage increase in transfer applications in the University of California system, with 5,951 students applying for enrollment in fall.

UCSB admissions officials attribute the record application pool to many factors:

The increase in the number of outreach visits to high schools and community colleges, including the highly successful "road-trip" receptions Chancellor Henry T. Yang hosts for top high school students around the state; the growing recognition amongprospective students, their parents, and school counselors of UCSB's national status as a top research and teaching institution; and the largest high school graduating class in California history.

The bad news for applicants is that, with a target enrollment of just 3,600 new freshmen and 1,200 transfer students, UCSB will have to turn away thousands of qualified students.

To achieve that goal makes it "a challenging year for admissions," according to William J. Villa, director of admissions. As prospective UC students may apply simultaneously to more than one UC campus, UCSB admissions officials must try and determine just how many students to invite to enroll to achieve their target enrollment goals.

Prospective students will be notified of their admission beginning March 1, and have until May 1 to accept the invitation.