Latinos Make the Strongest Gains in Applications to UC for Fall 2017

26Dec
by La Comadre

A couple of weeks ago, it was reported that the University of California, the flagship institution in the Golden State, received over 171,000 freshman applications for the upcoming fall term. Six percent more high school seniors applied to the University of California this year compared to last according to the preliminary data.

The top choice for applicants is UCLA, followed by UC San Diego, UC Irvine, UC Berkeley, and UC Santa Barbara.

Notably, Latino applicants made the most profound gains with 41,575 applications to the university’s nine undergraduate campuses. According to the Los Angeles Times, “They made up 37.2% of total applicants, followed by Asian Americans at 29.1%, whites at 23.7% and African Americans at 6.2%.”

The University also reported that applications for African American, Native American and Pacific Islander students remained about the same as the previous year, while white and Asian students made up a slightly smaller proportion of the applicant pool for the upcoming year.

If the saying about demographics being destiny is true, Latino students are going to continue to make up a significant share of the UC applicant pool. For the 2015-2016 academic year, Latino students constituted nearly 54% of the student body.

The increase in the number of Latino applicants to the UC also points to efforts to increase the number of Latinos who pursue a four year degree straight from high school. For decades, advocates have been pushing to increase the Latino presence at the state’s premiere public institution of higher education, and it seems that the effort is paying off.

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