UCSB Receives Record 85,208 Student Applications

UC Santa Barbara received a record 85,208 applications from first-year and transfer students hoping to attend school at the beautiful seaside campus.

The undergraduate applications are for the fall of 2015.

The 5% increase over last year continues a decades-long trend. 70,532 of the applications are from prospective first-year students and 14,676 are from transfers.

The number of applications isn’t the only thing going up. The GPA or grade point average of the students trying to get into UCSB are going up too. 37% of those applying have a high-school GPA of 4.0 or higher.

The academic profile of the students measured by their GPA and SAT makes this applicant pool the most competitive in UCSB history.

“We are particularly pleased to see applications increase among California students, as we dramatically increased our outreach services throughout the state,” said Lisa Przekop, Director of Admissions. “This fall, staff members visited approximately 800 schools and made contact with more than 60,000 California students.”

Here’s a breakdown of the numbers: 19,980 applications are from African-American, Native American, and Chicano and Latino applicants combined. 14,676 applicants are enrolled in California community colleges.

“We strive to recruit and admit students who reflect California’s rich diversity,” said Przekop.

UCSB offers a world-class faculty which includes six Nobel Laureates, two Academy and Emmy Award winners and a Millennium Technology Prize recipient.