UCLA has offered admission to nearly 16,500 outstanding high school seniors and more than 5,500 transfer students for the 2017–2018 academic year. UCLA’s record-breaking number of freshman applications — 102,000 — coupled with applications from more than 22,000 transfer students, has resulted in the most academically gifted and talented class in school history.

Of those admitted students, 13,700 hail from California.

“The quality of our admitted students is continuously among the best in the nation, and this year is no exception,” said Youlonda Copeland-Morgan, UCLA’s vice provost of enrollment management. “The unmatched diversity of our admitted students paired with the extraordinary talent and accomplishments of our students when it comes to academics, leadership and life experience makes UCLA a place unlike any other.”

Of the students who have been accepted for admission, UCLA hopes to enroll just fewer than 6,000 freshmen — 4,350 of whom must be California residents — and nearly 3,200 transfer students for Fall 2017.

Of the California freshmen, 31 percent are from families where neither parent earned a four-year college degree. Nearly 32 percent are from low-income families, defined as those earning less than $50,000 annually. When all admitted freshmen from the United States are considered, 21 percent are first-generation college students and 23 percent are from low-income families.

In addition, 84 percent of admitted California high school seniors will graduate in the top 9 percent of their class.

Among our admitted California freshmen, just under 40 percent are Asian-American; 25 percent are white; 24 percent are Chicano/Latino; more than 6 percent are African-American, the largest percentage of any UC campus for fall 2017; and approximately 1 percent are Native American.

UCLA, which enrolls more transfer students than any other University of California campus, has also offered admission to more than 5,500 transfer students, 93 percent of whom attended a California community college. Of those admitted students, 34 percent are white, 29 are Asian-American, 27 percent are Chicano/Latino, which marks a 10.1 percent increase over two years; 6 percent are African American, marking a 13.5 percent increase over two years.

Overall, the number of underrepresented students admitted is historically high, said Gary Clark, director of undergraduate admission at UCLA, noting that last year’s slightly higher figures were an exception in light of a boost in the number of admitted students spurred by the University of California’s goal to enroll 10,000 more in-state students by 2018.

In total, more than 1,000 African-American, nearly 3,800 Chicano/Latino and 120 American Indian students have been offered admission to UCLA. In addition, UCLA has admitted 135 veterans and 170 foster youth.

“As an anchor institution in Los Angeles and in California, as well as a land-grant institution and a public university, we have a unique responsibility to ensure that our campus represents the great diversity of the state of California,” said Copeland-Morgan, whose work related to student outreach was highlighted in the Los Angeles Times.

“Identifying the most talented students in California — and preparing them to apply to and succeed at top tier schools like UCLA,” she continued, “will help us achieve the kind of innovations and ingenuity needed to address the demands of our growing diverse population.

“We’ve been very intentional about recruiting academically talented students — both inside and outside of California — in diverse ways,” she said, adding that social media is playing an increasing role in campus efforts to attract the best and brightest students.

“We use diverse mediums, including social media, to reach students in untraditional ways,” she said. “We have to be intentional in reaching out to admitted students to encourage them to choose UCLA.”

Undergraduate admissions, along with numerous campus partners within the faculty, staff and student communities help to make the collective case for encouraging admitted students to become Bruins, Clark said. Interactions with current UCLA students and faculty play a particularly important role in that selection process.

UCLA students mentor and tutor K-12 students in a variety of ways, and visit their high schools and community colleges to share their stories, Clark said. “Their words and enthusiasm for UCLA often carries more credence and weight than anything we as staff might say. Our current students are the best ambassadors for the experience admitted students can expect as Bruins.”

The University of California announced admission data for each of its nine undergraduate campuses today. The total number of freshman admissions for fall 2017, including nonresident students, was 106,011, and for transfer students, the number was 24,685.