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By Neal Narahara

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

After much deliberation, admissions officers sent out 10,703 open-ended letters of invitation to high school seniors saying that they were UCLA’s first choices. In late June, the university got its answers, with 40 percent of those students declaring that the feeling was mutual.

The number of statements of intent to register, which should almost exactly match the enrollment for the fall, shows a 10 percent increase in the number of underrepresented students over the number enrolled last year.

In addition, underrepresented students – which includes Latina/os, African Americans and American Indians – will make up 17.2 percent of the incoming class, up from 16 percent.

“The UCLA community has worked extremely hard to recruit admitted students to UCLA, and we are delighted to see that a record proportion of (underrepresented) students has decided to enroll at the university,” said Chancellor Albert Carnesale in a statement. “Our continued goal, however, is to intensify our outreach efforts so that more underrepresented students are prepared for and admitted to the university.”

Recent outreach efforts have included partnerships with schools and districts in Los Angeles as well as tutoring and simply informing students about eligibility requirements to improve their chances of getting into UCLA.

Of the 1,544 students admitted as freshmen from underrepresented minority groups, 723 have declared their intention to attend UCLA in the fall.

According to figures from the university, statements of intent to register from Latina/o students increased by 13 percent respectively this year, while those for Native American students increased by more than half. Statements of intent by African American students were the only ones to fall from last year – down 5 percent with a six student decrease.

Representing more than 40 percent of the incoming freshman class, Asian Americans will be the largest minority group, followed by white students at almost 33 percent.

Despite the increases over the previous two years, the numbers of underrepresented students who intend to register still remain below those of 1997, the last year race could be used as a factor in admissions.

“That’s really sad and it’s proof that institutional inequality exists,” said Elias Enciso, the internal vice president of the Undergraduate Students Association Council and a member of Praxis, a political slate which supports the use of affirmative action.

“It sends out the message that UCLA doesn’t want people of color,” he added.

In 1995, the UC Board of Regents passed SP-1, a proposal to eliminate race and gender in admissions – the move was later reinforced by California voters with the passage of Proposition 209, which ended the use of affirmative action throughout public institutions in the state.

When the restrictions went into effect with the freshman class of 1998, the number of admitted underrepresented minority students dropped off by nearly 30 percent at UCLA.

Since the passage of SP-1, maintaining diversity has become an increasingly important issue. The university has placed increased funding into outreach programs in an attempt to improve the quality of California’s K-12 education and in turn, attract underrepresented minority students to the university by improving their eligibility.

The average SAT score for students planning to enroll is 1277, up two points over last year, and the average GPA is 4.05, down from 4.13 last fall.

Incoming freshmen have taken an average of 14.7 honors and advanced placement courses, down from 15.9.

System-wide, 29,000 students including 4,730 from underrepresented groups have chosen to attend a UC school out of over 50,000 applicants.

While the number of underrepresented minority students is greater than in 1997, they still represent a smaller percentage of incoming freshmen due to higher enrollment numbers.

“There were slight increases across the board, but nothing glaring,” said Terry Lightfoot, a spokesman for the UC.

According to Lightfoot, there are no predetermined goals for the percentage of admitted students the UC hopes will register in the fall, but he said he is positive about the increase in diversity over last year.

“We hope it will continue in the future,” Lightfoot said. “We think it does represent an improvement and hope to see the trend continue over the years.”

With reports from Melody Wang, Daily Bruin Contributor.

MORE UNDERREPRESENTED STUDENTS CHOOSE TO ATTEND UCLA

SOURCE: UCLA

The number of underrepresented students rose again since their initial drop in 1997, the last year the university used affirmative action. Note: Figures before the year 2000 are for actual enrollment rather than Statements of intent to register. Original Graphic by JACOB LIAO/Daily Bruin Web Adaptation by ROBERT LIU/Daily Bruin Senior Staff