The University of California, Davis, has attracted a record 110,189 applicants seeking to enter as freshman and transfer students in fall 2022. This represents a 4.1% increase over last year’s 105,850 applicants.

The UC Office of the President released systemwide and campus statistics today (Feb. 24).

Among the Davis applicants, 94,725 applied for freshman status, an increase of 8.7% from last fall. A total of 15,464 applied for transfer status, a decrease of 17.4% — in keeping with declines both in enrollment at community colleges nationally for fall 2021 and in UC transfer applications for fall 2022.

Robert Penman, executive director of Undergraduate Admissions, said this year’s applicant pool is further proof that UC Davis is a campus in demand. “UC Davis is an exceptional place to live, learn and grow,” he added. “This is an incredible group of applicants, and we’re very excited to welcome our next class in the coming weeks.”

Residency and ethnicity

California residents applying to be UC Davis freshmen numbered 65,367, an increase of 4,426 or 7.3%, over last year, and account for 69% of all freshman applicants. Among transfer applicants, they number 13,400, a decrease of 2,481, or 15.6% percent, and represent 86.6% of all transfer applicants.

Among California freshman applicants, 36.3% are from historically underrepresented groups (African American, American Indian, Chicano/Latino and Pacific Islander). The data show increases of 7.1% among African American applicants, 5.4% among Chicano/Latino applicants and 55.4% among American Indians. The number of Pacific Islanders decreased by 6.5%.

Among U.S. domestic students coming from California community colleges, 34.1% are from historically underrepresented groups. Applicants increased by 17.7% among American Indians and 5.3% among Pacific Islanders. There were losses of 17.9% among African American applicants and 18.8% among Chicano/Latino applicants.

Among California freshman and California Community College transfer applicants, 44% percent are from low-income families, and 40% would be in the first generation of their family to graduate from a four-year college.

A total of 20,366 international applications for freshman and transfer status represented a 6.2% increase over last year, and applications from U.S. states other than California grew 12.2% to 11,056.

More about the numbers

Undergraduate Admissions is now evaluating applications and plans to notify applicants of admissions decisions in mid-March for freshman status and in April for transfer status.

The university will offer admission to fewer students than those who applied, and a smaller number of students will accept those offers and become a part of the fall 2022 entering class. For fall 2021, the campus received 87,118 freshman applications and 18,732 transfer applications for a total of 105,850. UC Davis offered admission to 42,796 freshman and 9,528 transfer applicants. The entering class that enrolled numbered 10,479, including 7,585 new freshmen and 2,894 transfer students.

While most students are associated with the campus in Davis, about 2,000 of its total fall 2021 enrollment of 41,158 students — including undergraduate, graduate and professional students — were enrolled in programs at locations outside of Davis, such as the Sacramento campus.

UC Davis also tracks student population as a three-quarter average for implementing the 2018 Long Range Development Plan, or LRDP, forecast of 39,000 students at the Davis campus. Estimates indicate the LRDP three-quarter average will be approximately 37,000 students for the 2021-22 academic year.