UCI gets record number of applications

Applications for admission to UC Irvine rose to a record 88,792 for the 2015 school year, up 7.7% from the previous year, according to figures released Monday.

More in-state Latino students applied for freshman admission to the Irvine campus than any other UC school.

Throughout the UC system, the share of freshman applications from Latinos, who make up the largest group of public school students in the state, rose to 34.1% from 32.7% last year.

Irvine also had 68,740 combined freshman and transfer applications from California residents, the second-largest number of in-state applications in the UC system.

“UCI opened with 1,589 students in October 1965,” Chancellor Howard Gillman said in a statement. “In 50 years, we’ve grown into a preeminent research university with global reach and a place where diverse and high-quality undergraduate students know they can do serious and important work, receive academic and extracurricular experiences worthy of their talent and promise, and achieve at the highest level.

The campus continues to be a draw for first-generation college students, who made up 42% of applicants, and for low-income students, who made up 32% of applicants.