There are so many ways to breakdown university admission numbers. The UC system unveiled its data today, and it has chosen to highlight the record number of students being admitted for fall 2014: 86,865. This may be true, but it doesn’t mean the UC system has become any less selective—the admission rate dropped to 58.4 percent from 59.2 percent last year and 63.5 percent in 2012.
In fact, the acceptance rates at UC Berkeley and UCLA fell below 20 percent, likely for the first time. (UC online records only date back to 2005, but they show a gradual decline.) UC Davis ticked up to 40.6 percent from 39.4 percent in 2013, but it’s still a ways from the 45.6 percent acceptance rate in 2012.
And while the UC holds an increasingly selective admission rate, it’s also worth noting the increasingly high numbers of out-of-state and international students gaining acceptance. Systemwide, 12,905 international students were accepted this year, up from 8,537 in 2012. Out-of-state student acceptance jumped from 10,309 students in 2012 to 12,840 this year. Meanwhile, the numbers for California residents stayed roughly the same: 61,120 students were admitted this year, 61,443 were admitted in 2012.
The numbers are especially striking at UC Davis, where Chancellor Linda Katehi is leading the push to add 5,000 more students to the campus by 2020. The goal is not just more students, but more international and out-of-state students, who pay $36,780 in tuition and fees instead of $13,902. It’s known as the 2020 Initiative, and it’s expected to net $38 to $50 million a year.
That rise is already evident: 4,284 international students were admitted this year, compared to 2,137 in 2012, and 2,454 out-of-state students were admitted this year, compared to 1,479 in 2012. Meanwhile, the number of California admits has fallen, from 18,922 in 2012 to 17,813 this year. Over the past three years, out-of-state student admission rates have risen from 53.1 to 56.6 percent, while the California resident admission rates have fallen from 44.5 to 38.1 percent.
If you’re not sick of numbers yet, find more data here.
