Business & Finance

Applications to University of California system are up for the 12th straight year

More than 206,000 prospective students have applied to attend at least one of the system's 9 undergraduate campuses in fall 2016
Jan. 12, 2016
2 min read

For the 12th consecutive year, a record number of students has applied to attend schools in the University of California system.

The university system reports that more than 206,000 students applied to attend as undergraduates in fall 2016, a jump of 6.4 percent compared with fall 2015.

Of the 206,339 students who applied for admission to at least one University of California campus, 166,380 are prospective freshmen and 39,959 are seeking to transfer. The University of California Los Angeles received the most applications—119,326.

All nine of the system's undergraduate campuses saw gains in total applications for fall 2016, ranging from 5.8 percent at Berkeley to 13.5 percent at Merced

The university received 2,183 transfer applications from California residents after it announced a one-time extension of the application deadline for transfer students. The extension came as the university announced a major effort to boost enrollment of in-state students at all nine of its undergraduate campuses.

“The increase in applications from Californians will help us reach our goal of adding 5,000 more undergraduate residents this year and 10,000 over three years,” says UC President Janet Napolitano. “In particular, our efforts to boost the number of applicants transferring from California’s community colleges are paying off.”

Latinos, the largest racial/ethnic group among California high school students, made up 35.8 percent of California freshman applicants for fall 2016, compared with from 34.1 percent last year.

About the Author

Mike Kennedy

Senior Editor

Mike Kennedy, senior editor, has written for AS&U on a wide range of educational issues since 1999.

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