New York University — the private school that admits the most undergraduate students — has two early decision periods plus a regular admission period. According to Kiplinger’s best values in public colleges, UC Berkeley ranks eighth in terms of both in-state and out-of-state tuition (UCLA’s ranks are one-and-a-half higher); UCSD ranks 10th for in-state students, while UC Santa Barbara, at 16th, ranks one place higher than UCSD for out-of-state students.
University of Michigan at Ann Arbor ranks in the same range for value as both UCSD and UCSB. However, University of Virginia ranks 2–4; and the College of William and Mary ranks 4–6.
The University of North Carolina remains at 1–2 for enduring value, according to Kiplinger.
A record-high 174,767 students applied for admission to the University of California for fall 2013. All nine undergraduate UC campuses saw gains, ranging from an 8.1-percent overall increase from last year at UC Berkeley to 14.8 percent at UC Santa Cruz. The number of transfer applications is essentially flat — at UCSD alone — down 1.2 percent from last year.
Among California students who applied for admission as freshmen, UC campuses experienced an increase of 6.2 percent over last year, with the total number of applicants growing to 99,129. All campuses saw gains, ranging from 4.8 percent to 16.5 percent. There were also increases in the numbers of domestic non-resident (from 19,128 to 21,970) and international (from 13,873 to 18,659) applicants for freshman admission.
About one-half of the freshman class this year was filled through early admissions at Harvard, Princeton, Yale and Stanford. Plus, their freshman classes are much smaller than flagship state universities such as UCLA.
Still, the number of freshman applications at UCSD did increase to 67,403 from 60,819 last year. While bested by UC Berkeley’s total of 67,658 — the rate of increase from 61,661 was somewhat less at Cal — (UCSD’s increase of 10.83 percent exceeds UC Berkeley’s 9.73-percentage increase by a flat 1.1).
The previous surge in freshman applications at colleges and universities across the United States has gone missing. Here are the most impressive gains this season: Lehigh University (Pa.) to 12,548 from 11,543, Tufts University (Mass.) to 18,120 from 16,378, University of Chicago (Ill.) to 30,369 from 25,307, University of Rochester (N.Y.) to 17,146 from 15,847 and Vanderbilt University (Tenn.) to 30,870 from 28,348. And now for The Yield… drum roll …Go Tritons! Go Bears!
— Richard Thompson
Alumnus ’83
