UCSB received a record 85,208 undergraduate applications for next fall, a 5 percent jump from last year. Of the roughly 70,000 freshman applicants, 37 percent have a high school GPA of a 4.0 or higher. About 13,000 of the 15,000 transfer applicants attend a community college in California. As of Tuesday, 808 students listed SBCC as their current school, though UCSB spokesperson George Foulsham said the office is still sorting through the data. Of the transfer applicants, 29 percent were white, 25 were Asian American, 22 percent were Latino/Chicano, and 4 percent were African American.
When asked about the school’s advertising strategy, Foulsham said campus visits (661 last fall) and college fairs (245 last fall) have increased in the past several years. The number of mailers sent out has decreased because research demonstrated many students do not open them because they receive so many, Foulsham said, and the school has ramped up its email campaigns. UCSB also used search tools to identify prospective applicants, enhance its website, and bolster its social media presence.