First-year student Sariel Sandoval is a recipient of a very rare Generation Change Scholarship from UC Berkeley. The award is given to domestic non-resident students who are “game changers, trailblazers, solution seekers and revolutionaries...students with the potential to leverage a UC Berkeley education to change their world for the better.”
“It’s admirable that this 18-year-old from a very rural town in Montana that’s very isolated and not as connected to the world decided to take a challenge into her own hands,” said Whitney Williams, who ran for governor of Montana in 2020 and today is CEO of williamsworks, a social impact consultancy. “Her hustle is really remarkable,” continued Williams, People who have been through so much in their lives, particularly women and people of color, have a relentlessness that makes them successful.
Sandoval felt led to speak out in state speech and debate championships about issues affecting her community, including cultural appropriation, the disappearance and murder of Indigenous women, public commitment to high-quality Native American educational content in all K-12 classrooms, and the dismantling of privilege. Along her educational journey, Sandoval also found a passion and high aptitude for math.
Sandoval’s plan? “… I am a dedicated worker who intends to come back after college to help my people, tribe and community,”
Goals
One of the University of California’s highest priorities is to ensure that a UC education remains accessible to all Californians who meet its admissions standards. This goal is articulated in California’s Master Plan for Higher Education, which calls for UC to admit all eligible freshmen and transfers, with freshman eligibility designed to capture the top 12.5 percent of California public high school graduates.
Of the over 250,000 applications for admission in fall 2021, about 204,000 students applied as freshmen and 46,000 as transfers. Campus admission decisions are based on a comprehensive review of qualifications and establish the incoming California resident class size based on State funding. UC’s total undergraduate enrollment of California residents increased by more than 1,500 in fall 2021 compared to the prior year, with a total increase of almost 21,000 since fall 2015.
For 2021–22, UC is expected to achieve its goal to enroll two new freshman to one new transfer California resident undergraduates, excluding Merced, for the fifth year in a row. The UC Transfer Pathways support this goal by helping community college students prepare for transfer admission to the most popular majors at UC campuses. Expanding on its campus-based Transfer Admission Guarantees (TAGs), UC developed the Pathways+ option for community college students who want to both secure guaranteed admission to a TAG campus in a particular major while also preparing for admission to all campuses that offer the major. The first cohort for the Pathways+ program enrolled in fall 2021.
Admissions — freshmen
UC utilizes a comprehensive review process to make admission decisions, considering not only completion of rigorous college preparatory courses and high school GPA, but also talents, special projects, accomplishments in light of life experiences and circumstances, extracurricular activities, and community service. UC eliminated the standardized testing requirement for freshman applicants starting with the fall 2021 incoming class. The University also made temporary adjustments to its admission requirements, including suspending the grade requirement for A–G courses taken between the spring 2020 and summer 2021 terms.
The rapid growth in freshman applications to UC over the past two decades demonstrates the increased demand for a college education, the growth of California’s population, and UC’s continued popularity. UC continues to meet its Master Plan goals of guaranteeing admission to California resident applicants who are either in the top nine percent of high school graduates statewide or the top nine percent of graduates from their own high schools. Qualified freshman applicants are offered an opportunity to be admitted to another UC campus if they do not receive an offer of admission from the UC campuses where they applied.
Admissions — transfers
Almost all transfer students enter UC as upper-division juniors. Campus enrollment targets are based on State funding as well as capacity in major programs at the upper-division level.
UC’s Transfer Pathways identify a common set of lower-division courses for each of 20 of the most popular majors among transfer applicants. The Transfer Pathways present a clear roadmap for prospective transfers to prepare for their majors and be well positioned to graduate in a timely fashion from any UC campus. In fall 2021, the fourth year of the Transfer Pathways, those indicating Pathway-based preparation represented 49 percent of all CCC admits and 50 percent of all California Community College (CCC) enrollees. Many of these students also participated in other preparatory programs such as TAG and Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum (IGETC).
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| Transfer Pathways Majors |
| Anthropology |
Computer Science |
Molecular Biology |
| Biochemistry |
Economics |
Philosophy |
| Biology |
Electrical Engineering |
Physics |
| Business Administration |
English |
Political Science |
| Cell Biology |
History |
Psychology |
| Chemistry |
Mathematics |
Sociology |
| Communication |
Mechanical Engineering |
|
In April 2018, UC signed an agreement with the CCCs to guarantee a place within the UC system to students who complete one of the Transfer Pathways and achieve the requisite grade point average (GPA). The new Pathways+ program launched in August 2019.
Enrollments
The University enrolled over 230,000 undergraduates in fall 2021. The University enrolls freshman and transfer students from almost every county of California.
Undergraduate Enrollment, Fall 2021
|
| New Freshmen |
51,728 |
| New Transfers/Other[1] |
21,837 |
| Continuing Students |
156,964 |
| TOTAL |
230,529 |
Source: UC Data Warehouse
As academic qualifications have improved over the last decade, UC has maintained access for populations historically underserved by higher education. In fall 2021, 33 percent of new undergraduates received Pell Grants, a marker for low-income status. About 38 percent of UC’s entering students are first-generation, meaning neither parent graduated from a four-year college — 47 percent of transfer students and 35 percent of freshman students. The first-generation share of transfer students has been fairly steady for the past decade, but the freshman share has declined in recent years (1.2.1). First-generation students are more likely to be from an underrepresented group (URG: African American, Hispanic/Latino(a) and Native American/Alaska Native students), to have a first language other than English, to enter as a transfer student, to be female, and/or to have a lower income than students with at least one parent who graduated from a four-year college (1.2.2).
The share of freshman applicants, admits, and enrollees from underrepresented groups (URGs) has not kept pace with the share of California public high school graduates from URGs, leading to increasing equity gaps over the last two decades. In 2021, 58 percent of California public high school graduates were from underrepresented groups while 38 percent of new freshman enrollees at UC were from these groups, for a 20-percentage point gap (down from 23 percentage points in 2020) (1.2.3). Similarly, the share of transfer applicants, admits, and enrollees from URGs does not reflect the share of transfer-ready CCC students who are from URGs. In 2020, 50 percent of CCC transfer-ready students were from URGs while 35 percent of UC transfer students from UC were from URGs, for a 15-percentage point gap (up from 12 percentage points in 2019) (1.2.4).
The share of all undergraduates who are nonresident domestic and international students has increased in recent years, though their proportion is still much lower than at comparable public research universities. In 2020–21, the share of all undergraduates paying nonresident tuition went down slightly (1.4.4). In May 2017, UC adopted a policy[1] affirming that nonresident undergraduates “will continue to be enrolled in addition to, rather than in place of, funded California undergraduates at each campus.” The policy also capped nonresident enrollment at 18 percent for five UC campuses (Davis, Merced, Riverside, Santa Barbara, and Santa Cruz) and, for the remaining four campuses (Berkeley, Irvine, Los Angeles, and San Diego), at the proportion each campus enrolled in 2017–18. The policy went into effect for the 2018–19 academic year.
Having California students learn and live alongside students from backgrounds and cultures different from their own is part of a world-class educational experience. California students also benefit from the extra tuition paid by nonresident undergraduates, which is about $31,000 more per year than the amount paid by residents. That tuition helps to fund faculty hires, instructional technology, student advising, and other services that directly benefit California students.
[1] Regents Policy 2109: Policy on Nonresident Student Enrollment: regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/governance/policies/2109.html.
Admissions and enrollment trends
Freshman applicants have gone up from 73,000 to 204,000 over the past two decades, averaging five percent growth per year. In fall 2021, the number of applicants increased 18 percent compared to the previous year, while the number of students admitted went up 11 percent and the number of enrollees went up 11 percent (1.1.1). The fall 2021 incoming cohort applied to UC and made choices about whether and where to attend college during the COVID-19 pandemic. Application, admit, and enrollment numbers are all up from the year before but admitted students were still deciding to come to UC at a lower rate than in recent pre-pandemic years, leading campuses to admit a higher proportion of applicants in order to meet enrollment goals. The elimination of the standardized testing requirement may have encouraged more freshman applicants in fall 2021 compared to previous years. A more comprehensive analysis will be conducted to examine the influence of this admissions policy change on student application behavior and learning outcomes.
Fall transfer applicants more than doubled over the last 20 years, with average annual growth of four percent. In fall 2021, transfer applicants increased by seven percent, and admits increased by two percent compared to the previous year, while enrollees went down one percent (1.1.2).
The Master Plan specifies that the University maintain a 60:40 ratio of upper- to lower-division students, which corresponds to a 2:1 ratio of new California resident freshmen to new California resident transfers. UC has moved from 2.3:1 in 2016–17 to an estimated 2.1:1 in 2021–22 (Universitywide). Excluding Merced, the ratio for 2021–22 is estimated to be 2.0:1, meeting the systemwide goal five years in a row. The University continues to work toward achieving this ratio for each campus each year (except Merced) (1.1.3). Overall undergraduate enrollment (new and continuing students) continued to grow in fall 2021. Total enrollment was almost 231,000 in fall 2021, up two percent from the year before. This includes an increase in California residents of over 1,500 from the year before with a total increase of almost 21,000 since fall 2015 (1.1.4).
Academic preparation
Freshmen entering UC are increasingly well prepared, as shown by changes in the number of college preparatory courses and high school GPA over time (1.3.1). Transfer students are also increasingly well prepared, as measured by college GPA over time (1.3.2).
Geographic origins and nonresidents
UC has a lower proportion of out-of-state undergraduates than other public AAU universities. In fall 2021, only 17.9 percent of UC’s enrollees were out-of-state or international, compared with 30.1 percent for other AAU public institutions (1.4.1).
About 36 percent of freshmen and 48 percent of transfer students entering UC campuses come from within 50 miles of their campus. These numbers are relatively stable and have changed only slightly over the past few years (1.4.2, 1.4.3).
The percentage of all undergraduates paying nonresident tuition went down slightly in 2020–21 (1.4.4).
Looking ahead
Enrollment of new freshman increased in fall 2021 after being fairly steady for the last few years. Enrollment of transfer students has been fairly steady for the last few years, including fall 2021. Overall enrollment will need to grow for UC to meet its goal of awarding an additional 200,000 degrees (for a total of 1.2 million) by 2030. State funding is crucial for reaching this goal. UC also continues to work to close equity gaps.
For more information
Information on admissions (website)
Data on UC admissions:
Data on UC fall enrollment (dashboard)
