UCSB Offers Admission to 17,630 For Fall 2002

The University of California, Santa Barbara has offered admission for its Fall 2002 entering class to a total of 17,630 high school students. The prospective freshmen were selected from a pool of 34,700 applicants. Of those admitted, 16,143, or 92 percent of the total, are enrolled in California high schools.

Statistics on admission to all UC campuses for the Fall are being released today by the University of California Office of the President. Statistical tables for all UC campuses are available on the World-Wide Web at www.ucop.edu/news/studstaff.html

Compared with last year, UCSB has accepted larger numbers of applicants in all racial and ethnic categories. This includes all underrepresented minority groups--African American, American Indian, Chicano, and Latino--as well as Asian American and white. Of all admitted students, 42 percent identified themselves as members of a racial or ethnic minority group, the largest such proportion in UCSB history. The race or ethnicity of applicants is not known to UCSB until after admissions decisions are made.

"We are very impressed by the strong academic quality of the students we have admitted," said UCSB Chancellor Henry T. Yang. "We are also extremely pleased to see how diverse this group is. As always at this point in the process, we now turn our attention to our vigorous efforts to enroll the best and most diverse class that we possibly can."

Of the more than 34,000 students who applied to UCSB, 9,323 had a Grade Point Average of 4.0 or higher. The average GPA of the students who were admitted was 3.94, and the average total combined score on the SAT I exams was 1230.

UCSB acceptance letters were mailed on March 11. Applicants also were able to learn if they were admitted via a protected web site.

Applicants who have been accepted by UCSB or any other UC campus have until May 1 to sign a statement of intent to register. UCSB expects its Fall 2002 entering class to number approximately 3,700. About 93 per cent of all first-year students who enroll at UCSB are from California.

The total number of California applicants from all underrepresented minority groups combined who were accepted by UCSB was 3,036, or 256 more than last year, an increase of 8.5 percent. The 2,482 Chicano and Latino applicants accepted were 213 more than last year; the 441 African-American applicants accepted were 28 more than last year; and the 113 American Indian applicants accepted were 15 more than last year.

The Fall 2002 entering class is the first to be selected via comprehensive review, a new process approved by the UC Board of Regents under which each applicant is evaluated using all the information provided on the application. In previous years, UC campuses used a "two-tier" process under which 50 to 75 percent of the freshman class was admitted exclusively on the basis of certain academic factors, and the balance was selected on the basis of academic and other supplemental factors.

UC officials say that, across the system, comprehensive review seems to have had a modest impact on the admission of underrepresented students.

"At UCSB, we haven't seen a pronounced change in our trends, but that's because we have been steadily moving in this direction in recent years, taking steps toward an approach that very much resembles comprehensive review," said Christine Van Gieson, director of admissions. "We see comprehensive review as the best means available to evaluate applicants because it takes into account the full range of their achievements."

UCSB officials attribute the campus's success in attracting a highly qualified and very diverse applicant pool to the efforts of many people and departments. Faculty and staff members as well as students are involved in a variety of efforts to contact applicants who have been accepted and talk to them about the campus and its programs and answer any questions they might have.

Chancellor Yang serves as host at a series of receptions UCSB sponsors around the state for applicants who have been accepted and family members. At these popular events, volunteers from the campus -- faculty and staff members, students, administrators, and alumni -- speak about the institution, its programs and opportunities. Close to 5,000 guests will have attended such receptions this year by the time the last of the seven events is held on April 6.

In addition, special programs are held on the campus for admitted students to visit and see UCSB for themselves.

Richard J. Watts, a professor of chemistry and chair of the Academic Senate at UCSB, said that faculty participation in an annual faculty phone-a-thon to call Regents Scholars and members of underrepresented minority groups who have been admitted by UCSB to discuss their academic plans has been growing steadily.

This year, the phone-a-thon will be expanded to include an additional 100 admitted students from UCSB's outreach partner schools.

"This is an important faculty outreach activity," Watts said. "We want to demonstrate to prospective students that our faculty has a real interest in having them join the UCSB academic community."

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