UC Riverside has admitted a record number of freshmen for fall 2020, with a total of 32,708 admitted – an increase of almost 5,000 students and 17% from the year before, according to data released by the University of California on July 16. Transfer admissions increased 8%, from 8,552 to 9,236.
Undergraduate Admissions director Emily Engelschall said admissions numbers are up at UCR because the gap between admitted students vs. those who ultimately enroll is expected to be greater due to the uncertainty created by COVID-19. To maximize the chance of meeting campus enrollment targets, Engelschall said UCR admitted “significantly more” students.
“This provided the opportunity for even greater access to UCR for California students,” Engelschall said.
The true tally of UCR’s fall 2020 new student numbers won’t come for another few months, after students have finalized their decisions and enrolled in classes. In addition to the normal “melt” from accepted students who don’t ultimately attend the university, officials are waiting to see whether enrollment is impacted by a fall instructional format that favors remote learning due to the ongoing pandemic.
“All traditional indicators that we monitor to help us predict expected enrollment, such as final transcripts sent and orientation registrations, are signaling that UCR will come very close to hitting our fall enrollment targets. With that said, this is a very untraditional admissions cycle, so predicting final outcomes with any certainty is very difficult,” said Engelschall, who is also UCR’s interim associate vice chancellor for Enrollment Services.
Systemwide, overall freshmen admissions in the University of California system increased from 108,178 to 119,054. Admissions offers to California freshmen increased by 8,288, up 12%, with the system’s overall admission rate increasing to 70%, up 9 percentage points from fall 2019.
At UCR, the number of freshmen underrepresented students admitted increased by two percentage points, to 42% of total admits. The percentage of low-income freshmen admitted increased by four percentages points, to 47% of admits, and first-generation admissions increased by a percentage point, to 49%. Among UCR transfer admits, underrepresented, low-income, and first-generation student numbers held steady with 2019 numbers, with some small percentage increases.
UCR has the second-highest percentage of low-income and first-generation students admitted in the UC system, behind only UC Merced.
Systemwide, offers to California freshmen from underrepresented groups increased by 16%. The percentage of low-income students grew by 4%, and first-generation students admitted increased by one percentage point, to 45%.
Follow this link for the related UC Office of the President’s press release and data tables.
