In UC System, Irvine Top Choice for First-Gen Students

Updated on March 24, 2023

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Enrollment data from the University of California system shows UCI is also the top choice for in-state Asian American first-year and transfer students.

A picture of UCI students walking along a grassy path with a big tree that has pink budding leaves.

Credit: Image Credit: Steve Zylius / UCI

The University of California system released data about fall 2023 applications.
That data showed the Irvine campus had the most applications from the state’s first-generation college students.
The school also had the highest number of applications from Asian American first-year and transfer students.

For the fifth year in a row, the University of California, Irvine (UCI) was the first choice for the state’s first-generation college students, according to enrollment data from the University of California (UC) system.

Applications from in-state students who would be the first in their families to attend college comprised 45% of applicants to the university. Additionally, UCI was one of the top choices for in-state students from underrepresented minority groups and low-income families, according to the university.

“We are extremely gratified that students across the state value the quality of education we provide at UC Irvine and the efforts we have made to ensure academic excellence,” Chancellor Howard Gillman said in a statement. “We take great pride in the programs we offer our students.”

UCI was also the No.1 choice in the UC system for Asian American, in-state students, with 33,164 applications from prospective first-year students and 6,497 transfer applications. The school was also second in the system behind the University of California, Los Angeles for in-state Chicano/a and Latino/a, first-year students (31,842 applications) and transfers (4,957 applications).

According to UCI, the school “aspires to be a national leader and global model of inclusive excellence” and has been federally designated as both a Hispanic-serving institution and an Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-serving institution.

Additionally, in an admission cycle where total UC system applications decreased, UCI was one of three schools — including the University of California, Riverside and the University of California, Santa Cruz — to see an increase in applications for prospective first-year students.

Over 121,000 prospective first-year students applied to UCI for the fall 2023 semester, an increase of almost 2,000 from fall 2022. While transfer applications declined, UCI boasts the second-highest number of transfer student applications among the nine UC undergraduate campuses, with 22,087 this admissions cycle.