Growing Demand

UCSB sets record for applications; undergrad hopefuls for fall top 80,000

Setting a new record and marking a milestone for the campus, a total of 80,893 prospective undergraduates — a combination of freshman and transfer students — have applied to UC Santa Barbara for fall 2014.

The figure signals growth of more than 6 percent over last year, continuing a longtime trend of growing competition for admission to UCSB. The campus saw increases across the board:

     • The overall number of freshman applicants — 66,756 — is up 7 percent over fall 2013, while the total number of transfer students who have applied — 14,137 — rose 3.7 percent.

     • The number of California freshman applicants grew by 571 students — an increase of 1.1 percent over 2013, for a total of 50,986 — despite a projected drop in the number of California high school graduates. There were 1,170 more out-of-state freshman applicants than in the previous year, a jump of 22.2 percent, and 2,613 more international students, an increase of 38.9 percent.

     • One third of freshman applicants have grade-point averages of 4.0 or higher.

“The caliber of students applying to UCSB continues to rise,” said Director of Admissions Lisa Przekop. “In addition to measures such as GPA and test scores, the applicants are heavily involved in community service and civic engagement. These experiences will add to the academic vitality of our campus community.”

UCSB received a total of 20,167 freshman applications from African-American, Native American and Chicano and Latino students combined, representing a 70 percent increase over five years. In addition, 65.5 percent of all domestic applicants for the 2014 freshman class are members of a racial or ethnic minority group.

The 3,853 transfer applications to UCSB from members of underrepresented minority groups marks a 0.7 percent increase over last year. In total, members of underrepresented minority groups account for 27.2 percent of all transfer applicants for fall 2014.

Systemwide, 183,272 students applied to at least one UC campus for fall 2014, an increase of 4.9 percent over the previous year; 148,450 of the applications were for freshman. The UC Office of the President today posted statistics on undergraduate applications to all campuses.

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