The number of freshman admitted to UCLA for fall 2005 rebounded
this year after state budget restrictions forced the university to
initially cut the number of admissions for fall 2004.
The University of California, which released its admissions data
for next year’s freshman class on Tuesday, experienced an 11
percent increase in its university-wide admissions compared to last
year. With more than 50,000 applicants, the UC had a record number
of total applicants and a record number of California resident
applicants.
UCLA admitted 11,338 prospective freshmen of 42,207 total
applicants, and more than 10,000 of the admitted students are from
California. With a 27.7 percent admission rate within California,
UCLA and UC Berkeley tied as the most selective UC campuses.
Lauren Bartlett, a spokeswoman for UCLA, said UCLA had the
highest number of applicants of any university in the country.
In January 2004, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s initial
state budget proposal called for a 10 percent reduction in
undergraduate enrollment to the UC, which forced the university to
deny access to some eligible applicants.
Though the governor’s final budget allowed the UC to
accept all eligible students, the overall admissions numbers were
down for 2004.
“We were able to admit more students this year because we
were fully funded to do so,” said Susan Wilbur, director of
undergraduate admissions for the UC, in a conference call with
reporters.
“We were pleased that we were able to offer a place at the
UC for every eligible student. Last year that was not the
case,” she said.
Vu Tran, director of UCLA admissions, said the admissions data
contained no surprises, but he expressed pleasure with the increase
in underrepresented student admissions.
Underrepresented students ““ which include American Indian,
Chicano/Latino and black students ““ make up 15.7 percent of
the newly admitted freshmen class at UCLA, up from 14.9 percent
last year, and an increase of nearly 300 students.
Asian American students constitute 42.7 percent of the admitted
class and white students make up 33.5 percent.
UCLA was among the leaders in the UC in terms of academic
performance of its admitted class. The average high school GPA of
students admitted to UCLA was 4.25 and the average SAT I score was
1347, according to a UCLA press release.
“We are delighted to have admitted this remarkable group
of students with such outstanding academic qualifications,”
Chancellor Albert Carnesale said in a press release. “We will
now work very hard to encourage these young scholars to enroll at
UCLA.”
Though the university admitted over 11,000 students, UCLA
officials expect to enroll only about 4,300 of those students.
Wilbur said admitted students have until May 1 to decide whether
to enroll.
With reports from Sara Taylor, Bruin reporter.