The University of California, Davis, has offered freshman and transfer admission to about 10% more applicants and California residents for fall 2023 than last year, according to statistics released today (Aug. 8) by the university system.

The campus also admitted more applicants from historically underrepresented groups.

Offers of admission were made to 39,601 for freshman status (an 11.3% increase) and 9,530 as transfer students (a 4.7% increase) for a total of 49,131, or 10.0% more than last year. Of all those, 32,170 are California residents, an increase of 9.7% over last year.

Putting the numbers in perspective, the campus received 109,350 applications and made offers of admission to approximately 44.9%, and fewer will enroll in the fall. As an example, 9,154 new undergraduates enrolled in fall 2022. 

“UC Davis is known for providing upward social mobility for its graduates,” said Robert Penman, executive director of Undergraduate Admissions. “We are pleased to offer a world-class UC Davis education to more applicants — not only from groups historically underrepresented in higher education, but also from low-income families and from families where they’d be in that first generation to earn a four-year degree.”

California residents

For fall 2023, the campus admitted 23,677 freshman and 8,493 transfer applicants from California. Overall, 9,962 international and 6,999 U.S. out-of-state applicants were admitted with freshman and transfer status.

California residents accept offers of admission and enroll at higher rates than U.S. domestic and international students.

Diversity and other measures

The proportion of those identifying as being from historically underrepresented groups — African American, American Indian, Chicano/Latino and Pacific Islander — increased from 31.2% last year to 34.2% among those admitted as California freshmen. As a percentage of this admitted student pool, African Americans represented 4%; American Indians, 1%; Chicano/Latinos, 29%; and Pacific Islanders, less than 1%.

The proportion from historically underrepresented groups remained steady at about 31% among U.S. domestic students admitted from California community colleges. As a percentage of these admitted students, African Americans represented 5%; American Indians, 1%; Chicano/Latinos, 25%; and Pacific Islanders, less than 1%.

Among admitted California resident freshmen and California community college transfers who reported demographic information, those who would be the first generation of their family to graduate from a four-year university increased from 38% last year to 41%. Those from low-income families increased from 42% to 43%.

Total enrollment

Total fall enrollment — including undergraduate, graduate, professional students, and interns and residents — at all locations is expected to be approximately 40,775. UC Davis also tracks student population averaged over the three quarters of an academic year for implementing the 2018 Long Range Development Plan, or LRDP, capacity of 39,000 students at the Davis campus. In keeping with the last few years, the LRDP three-quarter average is estimated to be just under 37,000 for 2023-24.