UC Admissions Trends

At Top Tier Admissions our goal is to help make the college admissions process more transparent and in this case, as we dive into acceptance rates data and admissions statistics from this most recent application cycle, we noticed a few UC admissions trends that we felt compelled to share with you. After all, knowledge is power.

UC ADMISSIONS TRENDS

The nine University of California campuses received the largest and most diverse pool of applications in their history this year, with UCLA maintaining its perch at the top of the national chart for most first-year applications received—146,250. UC San Diego, UC Berkeley, and UC Irvine follow as three of the most in-demand universities in the country.

Applications to the UCs were up by 1.4% this year, led by gains in California applications, which compensated for a decline in out-of-state applications. This trend reflects one of the system’s stated goals: to increase the enrollment of California students by 23,000 by 2030. Due to major state funding cuts, a number of UC campuses began enrolling more nonresident students after the 2008 recession, but a public backlash from tax-paying Californians who support the system has led to a course correction and rededication to providing greater access to California students. As an example, at UCLA, the percentage of out-of-state freshman student enrollments have averaged 16.78% over the past ten years and 9.7% for international students, but the lowest enrollment rates for both were in 2023.

THE IMPACT OF THE AFFIRMATIVE ACTION BAN

Race-based affirmative action in admissions was banned in California in 1996 by Proposition 209, which resulted in a systemwide decline of 12% in enrollment of students from under-represented groups. Since then, the UCs have implemented policies like Eligibility in the Local Context (ELC)—which guarantees admission to most UC campuses for California applicants with grades in the top 9% of their high school class—and a holistic review to boost enrollment of students traditionally under-represented in higher education. As a result, the 2023 Supreme Court ruling that affirmative action violated the 14^th Amendment was less consequential for UC admissions, and, in fact, many groups made gains this year. The number of Black applicants increased by 7%, Latinos by 2.5%, and American Indians by 1.9%. The largest group of applicants were Latinos (39%), which mirrors the fact that California’s overall population is 40% Latino.

BIG DECLINE IN COMPUTER SCIENCE

A surprising trend this year was a 17.5% drop in applications to the UCs from students intending to major in computer science. Against the backdrop of increasing demand and a huge uptick in CS majors nationwide (65% over the past decade), this drop begs explanation. In a Los Angeles Times article dated March 6, 2024, UC Santa Barbara Associate Director of Admissions Lisa Przekop attributed this counter-trend to getting the message out to school counselors at a national conference last year “that the highly competitive and rigorous field is best suited for those with a passion for it, rather than a casual interest. At UC Santa Barbara, for instance, the admission rate is only 10% for computer science majors compared with about 30% overall, she said.”

TRANSFER APPLICATIONS REBOUND

The most gratifying trend for UC administrators this year was the growth in transfer applications after a significant drop over the past two years due to sinking California community college enrollments during and post-pandemic. This year’s crop of transfer applications increased by more than 10% over last year, to 43,543, of which nearly 80% came from California Community College students. The UCs widely publicize that California Community College applicants are prioritized in the transfer admissions process and make up over 90% of admitted transfer students.

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LOOKING AHEAD TO 2025 UC ADMISSIONS TRENDS

The UCs remain committed to increasing access to California students from under-represented groups and/or with low-income backgrounds. Whether that is accomplished through partnerships with community groups, targeted outreach to potential transfer applicants, or financial aid policies, the system measures success not by the sheer number of applications but in the makeup of their classes. Still, campuses outside the “Big 3” (UCLA, UC San Diego, and UC Berkeley) will still seek to raise their profiles more broadly and attract more applications both within and outside of California. UC Irvine, for example, increased recruitment in the Pacific Northwest and the Northeast this year, and UC Davis spread the word that they were in a more affordable location than UCs in the Bay Area or along the coast. The result? First-year applications to UC Davis increased by over 4%, and transfer applications grew by 12%.

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Dr. Tina Brooks

Senior Private Counselor at Top Tier Admissions

Tina joins Top Tier Admissions after five years serving as Associate Dean of Admissions at Pomona College. Her career in higher education has included extensive experience as both a faculty member and admissions professional. Tina worked as Assistant Director of Admission and Transfer Coordinator at Scripps College before joining Pomona College, where she oversaw all communications and directed transfer admissions, in addition to her role evaluating first-year applicants in the admissions office. As a professional writer and editor, she has published in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Fodor’s guide to Los Angeles, and many college alumni magazines. Having served as a mentor for Scholar Match, a scholarship evaluator for the Davidson Institute for Talent Development, and an interviewer for the Gates Scholarship and the Posse Foundation, Tina loves working directly with students on their writing, academic and outcomes goals. She holds a B.A. in English with Honors from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Ph.D. in English from the University of California, Berkeley.

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