The University of California is accepting more students than ever, with the newest admissions figures showing that 5,225 more students were accepted to UC campuses than last year.
For fall 2006, freshman admissions inflated by 10.4 percent, overshadowing the state Department of Education’s projections of 3.4 percent.
The influx of accepted students is merely a sign of a growing education system, according to UCSD Vice Chancellor of Admissions and Registration Mae W. Brown.
“It will all come down to May 1, when the students accept or reject our offers,” she said. “We do not project a large increase in enrollment, so a large increase in offers is not worrisome.”
What is worrisome, however, is the stagnant numbers of blacks at UCSD.
“Diversity has become a real problem at this school,” Brown said.
Numbers-wise, diversity should be rising at UC schools. UCSD offered admissions to 335 blacks, up by 42 from last year. In contrast, Asians saw a larger increase in admissions offers, with almost 2,000 more offers since last year.
Systemwide, all racial and ethnic groups saw jumps in the number of admitted students.
Blacks saw the smallest increase, however, with only a 0.2 percent jump in the system. Offers to Asians increased at the fastest rate, up 1.4 percent. Meanwhile, the number of whites offered admission dropped 2.1 percent throughout all the UC schools.
Overall, underrepresented students, which the system labels as black, Latino or American Indian, has largely increased, according to the university data.
Currently, 21.7 percent of university admits are from underrepresented groups, a 20.6 percent jump from last year.
However, UCSD, UCLA and UC Merced registered small declines in the number of underrepresented admits.
UCSD administratiors remain worried about the presence of such groups, Brown said.
While the school does continue to accept more blacks, the enrollment figures have remained flat, she said.
“It’s a different story once we pass the date that students accept our offers,” she said. “The numbers of blacks, Latinos and other underrepresented groups have been a puzzle that we have been trying to figure out for a very long time.”
