About 37,650 high school seniors, prospective transfer students and others applied to study at the University of California, Davis, for fall 2005 -- a 4 percent decline attributed, in part, to the opening of UC Merced and state budget cuts to academic preparation programs.

Pamela Burnett, director of Undergraduate Admissions at UC Davis, says the opening of the new UC campus this coming fall and a cut in state funds available for K-12 academic preparation, also known as "outreach," had their impact on applications.

"The state budget reduced the money we had available to reach out to high school students with school visits, academic preparation programs and campus tours," she said. "Also, we weren't able to provide admissions advising to as many community college students interested in transferring to UC Davis."

During the previous budget year, Undergraduate Admissions lost $1.4 million, or 50 percent, of its state funds for these functions. Burnett notes that a position for a campus representative in Southern California was vacated and could not be immediately replaced due to budget constraints.

Systemwide, UC applications are up 0.9 percent overall, from 99,243 for fall 2004 to 100,138 for fall 2005. Among the campuses, UC Davis has the highest percentage decreases overall and among freshmen applicants.

A total of 37,656 students applied to study at UC Davis for fall 2005, compared with 39,237 applicants for fall 2004. There are 30,016 applicants for freshman status this fall, for a four percent decline from last year's 31,273. A total of 7,602 applicants are seeking to transfer from another college or university, for a 1.6 percent decrease over last fall's 7,724.

Totals include freshmen and transfer students as well as a small number of students seeking a second bachelor's degree or special program status. Data is not presented for this third grouping.

The number of students from traditionally underrepresented groups -- African American, American Indian and Chicano/Latino -- declined by less than 1 percent among California high school applicants and by 1.7 percent among domestic transfer applicants from California community colleges.

Freshman applicants by ethnicity

A total of 28,346 California high school students applied for freshman status at UC Davis in 2005, compared with 29,276 for fall 2004. Those from traditionally underrepresented groups decreased 0.9 percent. For fall 2005, they account for 17.1 percent, or 4,859, of all California high school applicants, compared with 16.7 percent for students who applied to study at UC Davis for fall 2004.

Those ethnic groups with increases this year are: Asian American, from 9,373 to 9,484, or 1.2 percent; and Chicano/Latino, from 3,661 to 3,682, or 0.6 percent.

Those groups with declines are: African American, from 1,041 last year to 1,025 this year, or 1.5 percent; American Indian, from 200 last year to 152 this year, or 24 percent; Filipino American, from 1,312 to 1,255, or 4.3 percent; and White/other, from 11,633 to 11,223, or 3.5 percent. Students for whom an ethnicity is missing decreased from 2,056 to 1,525, or 25.8 percent.

Transfer applicants

A total of 6,187 domestic applicants are seeking to transfer from a California community college this year, compared with 6,089 last year. Those from traditionally underrepresented groups account for 16.4 percent, compared with 17 percent last year.

International applicants

The number of international applicants for freshman status declined by 12.7 percent, from 797 in 2004 to 696 for the current admissions cycle. There was a 27.4 percent decline for international students seeking to transfer to UC Davis, from 1,020 last year to 741 this year.

Offers of admission

For fall 2005, UC Davis is aiming to enroll about 4,600 new freshmen directly from high school and about 1,900 new transfer students.

Applicants will be notified of admission decisions beginning in mid-March. They can review the status of their application online at http://myadmissions.ucdavis.edu.

Statistics for the UC system are available at http://www.ucop.edu/news/factsheets/2005/05app.html.