The popularity of computer science in general, and in the Computer Science and Engineering department at UC San Diego as a hot destination for graduating high school seniors, resulted in a record number of applications from students eager to become part of CSE’s freshman class in September. As reported in January, more than 5,200 students took the time and trouble to apply for Fall 2014 – up 38% from a year earlier – even though it was already clear that it would be a tight race to get in this year.  Now, according to UC San Diego admissions figures released on April 18, CSE has offered freshman admission this fall to more than 1,200 applicants, up 44% from last year’s ‘admits’. Yet far fewer will show up in September.

The department is not expecting the cohort of incoming students to be very different from the 200 first-year undergraduates who made up the freshman class for the 2013-14 academic year. (Shown above, UC San Diego Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla at right, with some of the incoming freshmen who showed up in August 2013 to get an early taste of CSE and campus life in the department's residential Summer Program for Incoming Students, or SPIS.). Many applicants to CSE are among the highest-ranking applicants to UC San Diego, so a large number will end up selecting a different top school on their wish list. Furthermore, there is a limit on the number of students that CSE can let in. “Two-hundred students is the upper limit set by impaction,” says CSE Chair Rajesh Gupta (pictured below), referring to the current cap on the number of students allowed to major in computer science or computer engineering, to prevent overcrowding. “As a result, even with nearly 400 more admits than last year, the department is expecting to welcome roughly the same actual number of freshmen [this September] as last year.”

Assuming that the freshman class is limited to 200 students, they would represent only 4% of the applicant pool this year. Students who were admitted to UCSD but not allowed to major in computer science or computer engineering could still come – they would just have to switch to a non-impacted major.

Although admission statistics are not an accurate reflection of the number of freshmen arriving on campus, they can be illustrative in relative terms. For example, this year at least one out of four students offered admission to the Jacobs School of Engineering was offered admission to CSE, which accounts for 5% of total campus-wide admits.  Comparing departments based on the largest number of admission offers, the top three for Fall 2014 were, in order, Economics, CSE, and Mathematics. (The comparison excludes the Division of Biological Sciences, whose admission figures were published at the divisional rather than departmental level.)

With the jump in applications this year, the CSE department is preparing for a rising tide of freshmen over the next few years. "The department has planned to offer nearly 190 courses throughout the year, compared to a rated capacity of 142,” says the CSE chair. “We have hired lecturers and professors to meet the demand, but we’re also gated by the availability of class-room space." As Gupta recalls, last fall CSE classes occupied every single lecture hall on the campus with 200-or-more capacity for two days of the week.

Meanwhile, campus officials are tabulating admission figures for transfer students. What we know so far is that, like with incoming freshmen, applications were through the roof: up nearly 50% to 1,110 for this fall, with one in every three applicants to the Jacobs School applying to CSE. Admission figures for transfer students are due soon.

Looking to the campus overall, the university anticipates enrolling a diverse freshman class of 4,900 students with an average 4.13 GPA (up fractionally from a year ago).

“We are proud to welcome this bright and dynamic group of students to UC San Diego,” says Khosla. “As a student-centered public university, it is our goal to provide opportunities and a world-class education to these amazingly accomplished and talented students from diverse backgrounds.”

UC San Diego has offered admission to 9% more students who are the first in their family to attend college, and to 4% more students from historically underrepresented backgrounds. Compared to a year ago, admission letters went out to approximately 8% more Chicano/Latino students – the fastest-growing ethnic group among California high school graduates – offsetting a drop in the number of African-American applicants offered admission compared to Fall 2013.

Graduating high school students now have until May 1 to indicate whether they will attend UC San Diego this fall, but it’s not until the freshmen arrive that the department will get a precise fix on the size of CSE’s Class of ’18.