UC Admissions: 7 Facts You Need to Know

The University of California’s admission practices generated a lot of angst and speculation in recent months, which led to a lot of curiosity about how the UC schools would handle the the latest crush of college applications with money tighter than ever.

Now that the most recent UC admission season is history, here are 7 facts about who got in and who didn’t at the UC campuses.

UC Admissions Fact No. 1: About 100,000 students applied to UC campuses for the 2010-2011 school year. It represent the highest number of applicants in history and the fewest number of applicants offered admission.   All the UC campuses, except for UC Riverside and UC Merced, recorded their lowest admission rates ever.

UC Admissions Fact No. 2: Systemwide, the number of out-of-state and foreign students accepted at UC campuses for the fall increased 25% from 7,634 to  9,552. Why are the UCs embracing so many nonresidents? It’s simple. Nonresidents pay three times as much in tuition as Californians and the UCs are desperate for money.

UC Admissions Fact No. 3: UC Berkeley offered admission to 12,915, which is only 50 less than last year. However, only 9,420 of this year’s successful UC applicants were Californians. The rest were those  outsiders with deep pockets.

UC Admissions Fact No. 4: The UC schools used waiting lists for the first time, but only a fraction of the 10,700 on UC waiting lists got offered an admission spot.  Only 1,866 students received late acceptances and they came from only two schools — UC Davis and UC Santa Barbara.

UC Admissions Fact No. 5: Total costs for current students at UC campuses is estimated at $26,985 for one year. This includes UC fees ($9,285), room and board ($12,600), books/supplies, health insurance, and transportation. Cost will rise even more for the 2010-2011 year.

UC Admissions Fact No. 6: Starting in 2012, only the top 9% of graduating high school seniors in California will be guaranteed a spot at a UC. Since 1960, the guaranteed admission was extended to the top 12.5%.

UC Admissions Fact No. 7: There was a nearly 21% increase in applicants from transfer students from the state’s community colleges during the most recent admission season. Final admission figures aren’t in yet, but the UC system expects that it will have accepted at least 500 more transfer students than last year.

Read More About UC schools:

The Shrinking Odds of Getting Into UC Berekely

How I Graduated From Berkeley in Two Years

6 Questions to Ask a State University

Lynn O’Shaughnessy also write a college blog for CBSMoneyWatch and she has just released her new eBook, Shrinking the Cost of College: 152 Ways to Shrink the Cost of a Bachelor’s Degree. This week it’s on sale for as low as $14.95.


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