Competition to get into the University of California, Davis, as well as other UC schools, was as tough this year as anyone has ever seen, according to statistics released Monday.
UC Davis saw applications for the upcoming fall term from California high school seniors soar from 32,957 last year to 37,747.
The school has room for about 5,000 new freshmen, and has offered admission to nearly 20,000 California applicants, knowing many have multiple admission offers and will choose another school.
According to Monday's figures, the percentage of overall freshman admissions to UC Davis from California and elsewhere fell from 58.7 percent last year to 52.4 percent this year.
Translation: UC Davis, like other top-tier universities in the nation, became a more selective institution of higher education this year.
At nearly every other UC campus, the story was similar.
"This was a particularly difficult year for freshman admissions," said Susan Wilbur, UC director of undergraduate admissions. "Every campus experienced a decline in its admission rate."
The spike in applications and tighter admission rates have been attributed to demographics: Nationally, the number of high school graduates is expected to hit a record 3.3 million this year as children of the baby boom era reach adulthood.
In addition, the growing ease of online applications has led many students to apply to more schools than they might have in the past.
In a sign of the times, tours of the UC Davis campus have been hot this year, said Julia Ann Easley, a spokeswoman with UC Davis News Service.
This month, more than 12,000 people either have toured the campus or made a reservation to do so, Easley said. That number is expected to rise before the month ends, she said.
On Monday afternoon, various tour groups meandered throughout the campus, learning about everything from the biological sciences programs to life in a small college town where bicycles can be more numerous than cars on some streets.
Charlie Blomquist, a senior from Oak Park High School in Ventura County, flew in Monday to tour UC Davis with his mother, Gail Blomquist.
He applied to three UC campuses that turned him down – Berkeley, Los Angeles and San Diego – and two that said yes – Davis and Santa Barbara. He plans to visit Santa Barbara next week. Decisions are due May 1.
Blomquist was well aware of the admissions crunch this year: "We are the biggest class in my school's history," he said.
He found the tour of the Davis campus informative, and the campus appealing with its green lawns, ponds and plentiful shade trees.
"Davis is looking like a top choice for me," he said.
Emilie Seubert, a senior at Gunn High School in Palo Alto, also joined one of Monday's tours. She applied to the same UC schools as Blomquist and was accepted at three – Davis, San Diego and Santa Barbara.
On Monday, she strolled the campus with her parents, Dan and Michele Seubert, and her brother, Eric, a junior at Davis. She attended an admissions event at UC San Diego last weekend, and said she has narrowed her search to Davis or San Diego.
"I really like both of them. Either one would be a good choice," she said.
Systemwide, UC's nine campuses admitted a record number of freshmen. Slightly more than 60,000 California high school seniors were admitted, creating a 4.7 percent increase over last year. Overall, 75.3 percent of California freshman applicants were offered admission somewhere in the UC system, down from last year's 77.4 percent.
The University of California has a tradition of offering a spot for every eligible California high school senior. As a result, an additional 8,450 students who were UC-eligible, but did not get into the the UC campuses to which they applied, have been offered slots on the less-crowded UC Merced and UC Riverside campuses.
Nearly nine out of 10 of the freshmen admitted to the UC system are from California.
At Davis, the percentage of undergraduate students from outside California is lower – 2.2 percent from other states and 1.5 percent international students, said Pamela Burnett, director of undergraduate admissions at Davis.
UC Davis expects many more prospective students to visit this Friday for an admissions event, "Decision Day," and Saturday for "Picnic Day," a popular community-wide event on campus, Burnett said.
Call The Bee's Deb Kollars, (916) 321-1090.
