Number of minority freshman applicants up
By Daily Bruin Staff
Jan. 30, 2001 9:00 p.m.
 EDWARD LIN/Daily Bruin The number of underrepresented
applicants to UCLA increased this year.
By Hemesh Patel
Daily Bruin Staff
This past year, UCLA witnessed a record number of
underrepresented minority freshman applicants, which increased from
6,509 last year to 7,402.
The number of American Indians rose by 5, African Americans rose
by 69, Latinos by 809 and Asian Americans by 820.
Compared to 10,090 last fall, UCLA continued to receive the
largest number of transfer applicants at 11,150 in the UC
system.
“We don’t have all of the analysis yet, but this is
quite exciting for the university and is very good news,”
said Dennis Galligani, associate vice president for student
academic services.
Despite a 17.1 percent increase in Chicano/Latino applicants,
some students feel the numbers could be higher.
“The numbers could have been better because the (Latino)
population is so tremendous in the state and in Los Angeles,”
said Elizabeth Serna, a third-year history and Chicano studies
student, and chairperson of MEChA.
Aside from the increase in population, Serna also attributed the
rise in applicants to outreach programs.
“Student initiated outreach and student initiated
community service programs seem to be effective,” she
said.
Last year the number of underrepresented applicants for the
first time surpassed the levels before the end of affirmative
action in California. The percentages, however, are still not up to
the levels before 1997, the last time affirmative action was used
in admissions.
Rae Lee Siporin, director of undergraduate admissions and
relations with schools agreed that a combination of an increase in
population, outreach programs and hard work contributed to the rise
in applicants.
“The significant number of outreach programs available at
the university, we think, are seeming to pay off,” she
said.
Overall, freshmen and transfer applicants increased from 91,904
this year compared to 85,818 last year ““Â which
correlates to a 7.5 percent jump.
Total applicants to UCLA soared from 37,623 to 40,500, setting a
new record.
While other universities in the system, including, UC Riverside
and UC Santa Cruz will enroll more students, UCLA will continue to
admit a steady 11,000 undergraduate students, Siporin said.
“The unfortunate aspect of this is that we will have to
turn down more qualified, well-prepared and outstanding students
than most colleges and universities get as applicants,”
Siporin said in a statement.
Students who apply from a school with a large number of
applicants will have a lower chance of being admitted to UCLA, she
said.
“UCLA is close to being topped out,” Galligani said.
“We are in year three of Tidal Wave II, and high school
graduation classes will continue to grow.”
Tidal Wave II is the projected increase of 60,000 students over
the next 10 years at the university.
Galligani said every campus will enroll more students because
growing numbers of people will apply to more than one campus. With
eight campuses to choose from, students applied to an average of
about 3 different campuses ““ a number that has remained
steady since last year.
Galligani said he was most impressed with the fact that 80
percent of students eligible to apply to the university under the
Eligibility in the Local Context program, did apply.
ELC students are the top 4 percent in their respective schools.
The university would invite these students to apply, guaranteeing
them admission to at least one of the campuses.
Only two-thirds of the total number of ELC students were
expected to apply. From the 852 public high schools in the state,
143 did not participate in the program and approximately 97 private
high schools took part.
“Having 80 percent of that group apply is terrific, its
just stunning,” Galligani said. “This shows we really
touched a chord, we need to find out who these students
are.”
There was also a significant 50 percent increase in the number
of students who applied over the University of California’s
“Pathways” electronic application system.
“This is a pretty good jump, we’ve exceeded our
expectations,” he said.
2001-2002 APPLICANT NUMBERS Applicants for all
ethnicities and races increased as total applications rose to a
record high. SOURCE: UC Office of the President Original graphic by
VICTOR CHEN/Daily Bruin Web adaptation by JUSTIN HONG and TIM
MIU
