The University of California (UC) system has received a record number of applicants for undergraduate admission for the 2013-2014 academic year. One hundred forty thousand freshman applicants and 35,000 transfer students applied to the nine UC campuses this past fall, a 9 percent increase from last year’s total.
“The good news is that the University of California is recognized widely by students and their families as the place for an excellent education that’s financially affordable,” Dianne Klein from the UC system told NBC News. “That, of course, attracts a lot of applicants, so the competition for these spots increases.”
The University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) received the most applications out of all nine campuses for the upcoming school year. With 100,000 applications, the university achieved an 8.8 percent increase from last year, according to NBC News. Despite the spike, admissions rates to UCLA will remain similar to last year’s level, according to Ricardo Vazquez, a spokesman for the university.
UC Berkeley received the second-highest number of applications at 84,000, followed by UC San Diego at 82,000 and UC Santa Barbara at 76,000.
According to Naviance data, applications for the UC system from Beverly Hills High School also surged this year:
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UCLA: 174 applied in 2013 and 144 applied in 2012
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UC Santa Barbara: 158 applied in 2013 and 134 applied in 2012
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UC San Diego: 148 applied in 2013 and 115 applied in 2012
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UC Berkeley: 123 applied in 2013 and 109 applied in 2012
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UC Irvine: 103 applied in 2013 and 87 applied in 2012
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UC Davis: 102 applied in 2013 and 62 applied in 2012
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UC Santa Cruz: 76 applied in 2013 and 55 applied in 2012
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UC Riverside: 59 applied in 2013 and 50 applied in 2012
- UC Merced: 23 applied in 2013 and 10 applied in 2012
“Primarily, students want to stay in California and attend a public university because of the cost to attend a private university,” Head Counselor Diane Hale said.
In addition to an increase in the number of applicants from Beverly, university data shows an increase in applications from Californians, out-of-state residents and international students:
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California residents (freshman and transfer) = 5 percent increase to 129,000
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Out-of-state applicants = 14 percent increase to 23,000
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International applicants = 31 percent increase to 23,000
“I think that the UC system, which has great schools, has gained a greater reputation,” senior Alison Isaacman, who plans on attending UCLA, said. “Since more people from out of state are going, that gives the schools a better name.”
In addition to receiving applications from more out-of-state and international students, a majority of the UCs have accepted more non-Californian students in recent years. In 2011 and 2012, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UCLA, UC Riverside, UC San Diego and UC Santa Barbara accepted more out-of-state and international students, separately, than students from California. Data from 2013 is not available.
In addition, among California students who applied for freshman admission, applications from ethnic groups grew in “absolute numbers,” according to a press release from the UC system. The following statistics are the percentages of the total applicants by demographic:
For the 2012-2013 academic year, the UC system received a 13 percent increase in undergraduate applications, in addition to a 56 percent increase in out-of-state applications.