SUBJECT:

1998 Freshman Class Admissions

Today UCSD issued the accompanying news release on freshmen
acceptances in coordination with the Office of the President and
other UC campuses. Final freshmen enrollment numbers will not
be known until the third week of the Fall Quarter.

Joseph W. Watson Vice Chancellor

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ATTACHMENT

May 20, 1998

Media Contact: Winifred Cox (619) 534-0363 wcox@ucsd.edu

UCSD ANNOUNCES COMPOSITION OF 1998 FRESHMEN CLASS
UCSD received an historic high of 28,002 freshmen applications this year,
and received commitments to enroll from 3,600 applicants. The academic
quality of the entering freshmen class remains characteristically strong,
with an average high school grade point average of 3.87, and average
combined Scholastic Aptitude Test scores of 1,240.

This fall freshmen class -- the first to be selected without affirmative
action considerations -- will have 307 underrepresented students, 27% less
than last year. Underrepresented students comprise 9.5% of the freshmen
accepts. (Students comprising the underrepresented group include
Native-American, African-American, and Mexican-American.) Compared
to last year, this class has increases in the numbers of Latino and Filipino
freshmen.

Because having a diversified student body is a UCSD priority, an aggressive
outreach effort was undertaken to persuade underrepresented students to
accept UCSD's offer of admission. The composition of the entering freshmen
class is .6% Native-American; 1.7% African-American; 2.1% Latino; 5.3%
Filipino; 6.2% Mexican-American; 28.9% Asian; and 36.9% Caucasian. (Some
ethnic categories are underreported because 18.3% of the students did not
identify their ethnicity.)

* * * For those interested the data can be found at the following web site:

HTTP://UGR8.UCSD.EDU/SR1WEB/19971998.HTM