Students who have sent in their Statements of Intent to Register (SIRs) for UC Santa Barbara’s fall 2005 entering class have the highest average SAT scores in UCSB history. In addition to its academic quality, the entering class will be distinguished by its diversity.

The campus has received deposits and SIRs from 4,037 of the 19,811 applicants who were admitted. Of all domestic respondents expected to register who indicated their racial or ethnic backgrounds, 43 percent, or 1,636, are members of minority groups. The 958 members of underrepresented minority groups—African Americans, American Indians, and Chicanos and Latinos—account for 25 percent of the entering class.

The combined average score on the mandatory SAT examinations of students planning to register was 1200, up from 1182 last year and the highest ever at UCSB. The average high school grade point average was 3.76, the same as last year’s record high.

Chancellor Henry T. Yang attributed the campus’s success in attracting a highly qualified and very diverse entering class to the “determined efforts of many people and every department” on the campus.

Said Christine Van Gieson, director of admissions: “We were extremely pleased with the group of students we admitted back in March, and we are delighted that so many of these highly talented students accepted our invitation to attend UCSB.”

Although deposits have been received from 4,037 students, UCSB expects to enroll about 3,800 when classes begin, or about 100 fewer than last year. At this time last year, the campus had deposits from 4,046 students.

Statistics on incoming transfer students are not yet available, but Van Gieson said that UCSB expects to enroll about 1,400, or about 150 fewer than last year. Final enrollment statistics will not be available until several weeks after the start of classes in the fall.