UCSB received a record 45,997 undergraduate admission applications for fall 2005. Applications from both prospective freshmen and from those looking to transfer were up over the previous year.

Of the total, 37,460 applications were from prospective first-year students (809 more than last year) and 8,523 were from transfer applicants (217 more than last year). The campus has a target enrollment of 4,025 first-year students for next fall and an estimated 1,555 transfer students.

Freshman applications were up 1.9 percent over the previous year. Four campuses in the UC system experienced decreases in applications from prospective freshmen. Over all, applications to the UC system increased 2.8 percent.

Over the past three years, applications to UC campuses from prospective freshmen have decreased by 1 percent, but at UCSB over the same period they have increased 0.4 percent.

“This year’s applicant pool is the strongest ever, in terms of grade point averages and test scores,” said Christine N. Van Gieson, director of admissions. “Nearly a third report a GPA of 4.0 or higher.”

Applications to UCSB from students in the top 4 percent of their high school class make up 14.5 percent of the applicant pool, or 5,059, an increase of 458 over last year.

The average freshmen applicant’s GPA is 3.71, slightly higher than last year’s record 3.7. Combined average score on the required SAT I exams is 1186, up 10 points over last year.

The applicant pool is also the most racially and ethnically diverse ever: 49.5 percent of all first-year applicants are members of a racial or ethnic minority group.

Statistics on UC undergraduate applications are at <www.ucop.edu/news/studstaff.html>.