According to a press release issued by UCSD spokesperson Christine Clark, the average high school GPA of freshmen applicants is 3.76. Transfer applicants, largely from community colleges, average a 3.3 GPA. UCSD is the third most applied-to UC campus for the 2012-13 year, trailing UCLA and UC Berkeley.

Applications increased at each of the nine UC undergraduate campuses. Overall, the UC system saw over 160,000 individual students apply for admission — an all-time high. 

UCSD Assistant Vice Chancellor and Director of Admissions Mae Brown said that, despite the surge in applications, enrollment numbers will not be dramatically different in the fall.

“We don’t expect to see a significant change in the enrollment target for 2012,” Brown said.  “More students may be admitted compared to Fall 2011 but that will not be determined until our enrollment target is set for Fall 2012.”

The campus press release reported a total increase of 2000 applications from African Americans, Latinos and Native Americans. This year, for the first time, Latino applicants to UC campuses outnumbered whites. UCOP Interim Director of Admissions Kate Jeffery said the UC system’s new admissions policy was a factor in the rising number of minority applicants. This new admissions policy — approved by the Board of Regents in 2009 — no longer requires students to take the SAT Subject tests, although SAT I or ACT scores are still required. According to the UC website, the change was made to increase the pool of high-achieving applicants and the tests were deemed to “add little to the prediction of how well a student will do at UC.”

Previously, UC was the only system nationwide to require the tests.

According to the UCOP release, SAT I and ACT scores remained similar to those of last year.

“It is good news for the university to have such significant demand from high-achieving California students,” Jeffery said. “We’re doing something right in providing an education that California students want and their families value.”