UCI notes record number of applications
Orange County Register 1/25/07
Admissions officers are knee-deep in applications from 37,286 California high school seniors.
That's a record number, the latest in a string that's expected to continue as the campus grows.
"We are reading those applications cover to cover," admissions director Marguerite Bonous-Hammarth said Wednesday. "It's a lot of work, but I love it."
Arriving freshmen will be able to enroll in new majors such as nursing science, which has already begun attracting applicants.
"We've also been approved for a law school, which is very encouraging for new political science majors," Bonous-Hammarth said. "We have seen great growth in business and economics majors also."
Mirroring a trend among the state's graduating seniors, UC Irvine's applicants this year were slightly less likely to be white or Asian-American.
UCI received applications from 1,340 black students, an increase of 4 percent from the previous year, and 7,012 students who identified themselves as Hispanic – up 8 percent from last year.
Those increases are higher than the general increase in applications of about 3.5 percent.
UCI sophomore Jaymee Payne, 19, who is black, said there are pros and cons to being among a small minority on campus.
"I'm glad I came here, even though the black population is kind of low," said Payne, who was attracted by UCI's criminology program. "It makes us a tighter group that can focus more on political issues, but I felt isolated before I found the Afrikan Student Union. I was one of only three African-American students in my entire dorm hall last year."
Not all of the more than 37,000 students who applied really want to go to the university.
Some hope UCI will accept them as their "backup school" in case they don't get into UC Berkeley, UCLA or a private university.
The nine-campus UC system received applications from 73,825 students, who on average applied to more than three campuses each.
Systemwide, 9 percent of freshman applicants this year came from Orange County, though they didn't necessarily all apply to Irvine.
UC's newest school at Merced, in the San Joaquin Valley, received 7,744 requests for admission, 10 fewer than it did last year.
Payne recommended that prospective students attend one of the overnight orientations for students and parents, which provide more in-depth knowledge of the campus, before they decide to attend.
"They show you around everywhere," she said.
UCI officials have until March 31 to notify students if they've been accepted.
"We look forward to welcoming thousands of students to our campus," Bonous-Hammarth said.