University of California, Berkeley officials have offered freshman admission to more than 15,500 high school students for the 2017-18 school year. And more offers were made to first-generation college students and underrepresented minority students than in 2016-17.

The admissions data was released today in coordination with the UC Office of the President, which released its data, including for freshmen and transfer students, for all nine undergraduate campuses in the UC system.

In total, 15,528 UC Berkeley students received freshman admissions offers, a 7.6 percent increase compared to the previous academic year. They were selected from the more than 85,000 who applied.

The data show an increase, compared to last year, in the number of admitted students whose parents did not attend college. That figure increased to 1,939 for 2017-18, compared to 1,638 for 2016-17. Further, the number of underrepresented minority students (American Indian, African American and Chicano-Latino) increased in all categories for a combined 2,881 offers in 2017-18, compared to 2,538 in 2016-17.

“UC Berkeley continues to attract an outstanding pool of applicants,” said Amy Jarich, associate vice chancellor and director of undergraduate admissions, “and while we can still only offer admission to a fraction of those students, it’s a sign of strong institutional commitment when we can offer seats to more of these academically talented and driven students.”

Freshman admission

The freshman admit class ranges in age from 14 to 23 and includes 110 sets of twins and two sets of triplets. These students come from 49 of California’s 58 counties, 50 U.S. states and territories and 74 countries.

Nearly the same number of California students were offered admission as last year — 9,705 for 2017-18 and 9,747 for 2016-17. Admissions officials anticipate that California residents will continue to make up more than 70 percent of the freshman enrolled class.

More than 400 students admitted for 2017-18 have been awarded a prestigious Regents’ and Chancellor’s Scholarship, and more than 90 percent of these scholarships are going to California residents. The scholarship is awarded to top entering applicants who have been admitted to Berkeley and selected by the faculty.

Scholars with financial need are awarded a scholarship up to their full financial need as assessed by the Financial Aid and Scholarships Office. Those students without financial need receive a $2,500 honorary award per year. Other benefits for Regents’ and Chancellor’s Scholarship recipients include guaranteed housing for four years, priority registration, a research fellowship, a faculty mentor and a staff adviser.

In addition, 70 newly admitted students were offered a Fiat Lux Scholarship, which provides financial assistance based on need and offers faculty guidance to high-achieving students who come from select California high schools in low-income or underrepresented communities. Other benefits to each scholarship recipient include a research fellowship, a faculty mentor and a staff adviser. The program promotes “giving back” by encouraging scholars to do outreach to local high schools. The scholars serve as inspirational role models for the high school students.

New degree program for select freshmen

For the first time, Berkeley is offering select undergraduate students the opportunity to simultaneously earn a bachelor’s degree from the College of Engineering and another from the Haas School of Business. The new Berkeley Management, Entrepreneurship and Technology, or M.E.T., program is open only to students through the freshman admission process, not to continuing students. Students in this program will graduate with a comprehensive understanding of technology innovation and will have the education and skills to start their own companies, lead innovation inside an established firm or contribute to a social-impact venture.

Transfer admits

Among Berkeley transfer students, 4,617 were offered admission for 2017-18, compared to 4,632 in 2016-17. The youngest transfer student offered admission is 14 and the oldest is 62. A Regents’ and Chancellor’s Scholarship was offered to 60 new transfer students.

The California community colleges that have the most Berkeley admissions offers are Diablo Valley College, Santa Monica College, De Anza College, Pasadena City College and Berkeley City College.

As has been the case for the past several years, UC Berkeley is committed to meeting its goal of admitting one California transfer student for every two California freshmen. For 2017-18, more than 90 percent of the transfer admission offers were to students from California community colleges.

Additional data

A more detailed review of Berkeley freshman admissions data is available online. Also available are UC system admissions data, which include freshman and transfer figures for all UC campuses and tend to focus on California-resident data.

Berkeley’s data includes students admitted from the waitlist. All admissions decisions for freshmen were initially posted on March 30, 2017, and transfer students were notified of their decisions on April 28, 2017. Waitlist decisions were delivered throughout the month of May for freshmen and June for transfers.