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  EDWARD LIN/Daily Bruin The number of underrepresented applicants to UCLA increased this year.

By Hemesh Patel

Daily Bruin Staff

This past year, UCLA witnessed a record number of underrepresented minority freshman applicants, which increased from 6,509 last year to 7,402.

The number of American Indians rose by 5, African Americans rose by 69, Latinos by 809 and Asian Americans by 820.

Compared to 10,090 last fall, UCLA continued to receive the largest number of transfer applicants at 11,150 in the UC system.

“We don’t have all of the analysis yet, but this is quite exciting for the university and is very good news,” said Dennis Galligani, associate vice president for student academic services.

Despite a 17.1 percent increase in Chicano/Latino applicants, some students feel the numbers could be higher.

“The numbers could have been better because the (Latino) population is so tremendous in the state and in Los Angeles,” said Elizabeth Serna, a third-year history and Chicano studies student, and chairperson of MEChA.

Aside from the increase in population, Serna also attributed the rise in applicants to outreach programs.

“Student initiated outreach and student initiated community service programs seem to be effective,” she said.

Last year the number of underrepresented applicants for the first time surpassed the levels before the end of affirmative action in California. The percentages, however, are still not up to the levels before 1997, the last time affirmative action was used in admissions.

Rae Lee Siporin, director of undergraduate admissions and relations with schools agreed that a combination of an increase in population, outreach programs and hard work contributed to the rise in applicants.

“The significant number of outreach programs available at the university, we think, are seeming to pay off,” she said.

Overall, freshmen and transfer applicants increased from 91,904 this year compared to 85,818 last year – which correlates to a 7.5 percent jump.

Total applicants to UCLA soared from 37,623 to 40,500, setting a new record.

While other universities in the system, including, UC Riverside and UC Santa Cruz will enroll more students, UCLA will continue to admit a steady 11,000 undergraduate students, Siporin said.

“The unfortunate aspect of this is that we will have to turn down more qualified, well-prepared and outstanding students than most colleges and universities get as applicants,” Siporin said in a statement.

Students who apply from a school with a large number of applicants will have a lower chance of being admitted to UCLA, she said.

“UCLA is close to being topped out,” Galligani said. “We are in year three of Tidal Wave II, and high school graduation classes will continue to grow.”

Tidal Wave II is the projected increase of 60,000 students over the next 10 years at the university.

Galligani said every campus will enroll more students because growing numbers of people will apply to more than one campus. With eight campuses to choose from, students applied to an average of about 3 different campuses – a number that has remained steady since last year.

Galligani said he was most impressed with the fact that 80 percent of students eligible to apply to the university under the Eligibility in the Local Context program, did apply.

ELC students are the top 4 percent in their respective schools. The university would invite these students to apply, guaranteeing them admission to at least one of the campuses.

Only two-thirds of the total number of ELC students were expected to apply. From the 852 public high schools in the state, 143 did not participate in the program and approximately 97 private high schools took part.

“Having 80 percent of that group apply is terrific, its just stunning,” Galligani said. “This shows we really touched a chord, we need to find out who these students are.”

There was also a significant 50 percent increase in the number of students who applied over the University of California’s “Pathways” electronic application system.

“This is a pretty good jump, we’ve exceeded our expectations,” he said.

2001-2002 APPLICANT NUMBERS Applicants for all ethnicities and races increased as total applications rose to a record high. SOURCE: UC Office of the President Original graphic by VICTOR CHEN/Daily Bruin Web adaptation by JUSTIN HONG and TIM MIU