Vocaboly.com

[octo]

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Posted on Wed, Jan. 28, 2004

UC applications drop, easing turnaway woes
By Carrie Sturrock
CONTRA COSTA TIMES

For the first time in a decade, applications to the University of
California have dropped, fueling speculation that UC may not have to
turn away as many eligible students to cope with the budget crisis as
it had anticipated.

UC received 4.1 percent fewer applications from prospective freshmen
for fall 2004 than for last fall, the first decrease in applications
since fall 1993.

It's not clear why, although education analysts said fee increases and
a perceived reduction in quality due to budget cuts may have been
factors. UC received 3,137 fewer applications than last year, for a
total of 73,794 systemwide.

The decrease could be good news for UC-eligible students. Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger this month proposed redirecting 3,200 students who
would otherwise attend the university to a community college for two
years to save the state money. Fewer applications could alleviate some
enrollment pressure. UC will still probably have to turn away eligible
students, just not as many, officials said.

"While we never welcome a decrease in applications, because UC is
being asked to reduce enrollment by 3,200, a slight decrease may ease
pressure on some of the campuses," said UC spokeswoman Lavonne Luquis.

International applications fell 18.2 percent, which UC officials
attribute partially to new federal immigration policies that make it
more difficult for international students to travel to the United
States.

Applications from out-of-state students decreased by 9.4 percent,
while 1,918 fewer California residents applied, a drop of 2.9 percent.

[Hank Murphy]

The actual statistics are available at the UCOP.edu web site. The actual
figures for California residents are available here:

http://www.ucop.edu/news/archives/2004/applications2004/app04table5.pdf

To summarize, the largest drop was in applications missing race information.
Among those who did supply it, the number of African-American,
Filipino-American, and white applicants all dropped. There were also some
redistributions of application proportions among campuses: the number of
American Indian applicants to UCSD is up sharply, for example, but that's
only a swing of 36. Santa Cruz received a sharp increase among
Asian-American applicants, 852 if my arithmetic is korreck ) - although
most other race categories were also up there.

The whole statistics page is at:

http://www.ucop.edu/news/factsheets/fall2004app.htm

and one can spend days analyzing it.

I think the wide publicity regarding budget issues may affect the number of
applicants. Of course, Cal is still a selective admit.

Does any other public university provide comparable statistics?

Hank Murphy
speaking only for myself

[Abe Kohen]

Octo must have read only part of the article and perhaps confused UC with
Berkeley.

The part he missed included:

"Seven of UC's eight undergraduate campuses experienced a decrease in
freshman applications. UC Santa Cruz saw a 7.4 percent increase. The
decreases ranged from 0.7 percent at Berkeley to 7.5 percent at Riverside.

UC Berkeley received just 242 fewer applications than last year, which will
have a negligible impact on a campus that can accept only 25 percent of
applicants each year, said Richard Black, assistant vice chancellor for
administration and enrollment. Until now, students turned away from Berkeley
were guaranteed a spot somewhere else in the UC system."



I don't normally read the Contra Costa Times, but I was on a business trip
to the East Bay, and the hotel provided me with a copy, so I happened to
read the whole article.



(Chung, don't get excited about my defending Cal. )



Abe


"octo" <octogenarian@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:a0eff15b.0401301851.61b345bb@posting.google.com...

[octo]

Abe,

Any drop is no good in these times when students go back to school in
record numbers elsewhere. e.g. you don't see a drop at MIT regular
admission pool:

Early applications for the Class of 2008 decreased by 21 percent from
last year, but a surplus of regular applications almost made up the
difference.

MIT accepted 438 students out of a pool of about 2,830 early action
applicants for 2008, and is currently examining the 7,585 regular
applications, according to the admissions office. Last year, 3,579
students applied to MIT early, with 6,980 regular-time applications.


"Abe Kohen" <akohen@xenon.stanford.edu> wrote in message news:<bvhih4$sd7a3$1@ID-102750.news.uni-berlin.de>...

[Raj B. Lotwala]

On Tue, 3 Feb 2004, octo wrote:

[rick++]

Two factors for MIT:
(1) With fewer binding-early decision colleges, less need to hedge-your-bet
by applying to extra schools. Many of the alternatives are now single-college
early-decision, which could lighten the overall pool.
(2) The continuing tech job recession. Even as the market improves, new jobs
are mainly being added abroad. MIT grads are rarely unemployed, but still have
fewer choices in the current market.