UC Berkeley drew more than 96,000 applicants last fall in the 11th consecutive year that saw a rise in applications for undergraduate admission to UC campuses.

The campus received applications from 78,863 prospective freshmen and 17,219 transfers, according to preliminary data released Monday. Overall, applications to UC Berkeley jumped by a little more than 6 percent.

This compares with a rise of just under 6 percent in applications to the nine undergraduate UC campuses — 193,873 compared with 183,272 last year.

“Students and their families recognize the value of a UC education, and we are honored by their vote of confidence,” said UC President Janet Napolitano in a statement.

At UC Berkeley, applications from California residents increased by about 2 percent, despite state projections of a decreasing number of California high school graduates. Last fall also saw an increase of about 18 percent and 9 percent in the number of out-of-state and international applicants, respectively.

Anne De Luca, campus associate vice chancellor of admissions and enrollment, attributed the growth of in-state applications to various recruitment efforts in California as well as work done by the campus Center for Educational Partnerships, which works with local schools.

“We’re very pleased with the results that our outreach has had on the number of undergraduate applications received, particularly from students in California,” De Luca said in an email.

This year was the first that Latinos — one of the largest ethnic groups among California high school students — made up more than a third of freshman applicants from California to UC campuses. Among California residents who applied to UC Berkeley as freshmen, Latinos constituted about 27 percent of applicants, and Asian Americans continued to make up the largest portion at about 38 percent.

Among this population, the portion of African American applicants to UC Berkeley went up from 5.7 to 5.8 percent, while the number of applicants who identified as American Indian, Pacific Islander or white dropped from last year.

About 37 percent of California residents who applied to UC Berkeley as freshmen identified themselves as first-generation college students, a slight drop from last year. The percentage of applicants from low-income families and academically low-performing schools also dropped slightly, now at about 35 and 17 percent, respectively.

Among all nine campuses, UC Merced drew the biggest percent increase in applicants from California, receiving an increase of about 15 percent for freshmen. UCLA, with more than 112,000 applicants, remained the most sought-out UC campus.

Melissa Wen is the executive news editor. Contact her at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter @melissalwen.