BERKELEY - Campus officials expect about 23,500 new and continuing undergraduate students to register this fall, and just under 9,000 new and continuing graduate students.

Freshmen
An estimated 3,652 freshmen are expected to register this fall, 190 fewer than last year. This drop reflects the campus's initiative to keep enrollment within limits established under a memorandum of understanding with the City of Berkeley.

The ethnic breakdown for fall freshmen is projected to be 45.7 percent Asian American; 30.1 percent white; 11.1 percent Chicano/Latino; 4.0 percent African American; 0.4 percent American Indian; and 8.7 percent listed as "other" or who declined to state an ethnicity.

Estimates show that women will continue to represent the majority of the freshman class, though their numbers are expected to slip slightly this fall, to 53.4 percent, from 55 percent last year.

New transfer students
The number of transfer students is expected to increase from 1,671 enrolled last year to 1,702 for fall 2002. This is consistent with an agreement between the UC system and Gov. Gray Davis to increase the number of community college transfers to UC campuses.

Of the transfer students who said they intend to register, 35.8 percent are white; 33.4 percent Asian American; 12.2 percent Chicano/Latino; 4.1 percent African American; 0.9 percent American Indian; and 13.6 percent listed themselves as "other" or declined to state an ethnicity.

Women are expected to comprise 55 percent of the class, up slightly from 54.6 percent last year.

New graduate students
The approximately 2,800 new graduate students expected to enroll at UC Berkeley this fall will comprise the largest graduate student class since 1986. According to the Graduate Division, the students were accepted to UC Berkeley during the most competitive year ever for graduate student applications.

UC Berkeley saw a 23 percent increase from last year in the number of graduate school applications — from 27,338 to 33,569. This number includes applicants to the campus’s business and law schools. Of the 33,569 applicants, 5,700 were admitted, and about 2,800 have indicated plans to register. Last fall, 2,615 graduate students registered.

Women are expected to comprise 47.6 percent of the new group, up slightly from 47.1 percent last fall.

More applications poured into the Haas School of Business’ full-time MBA program than at any other time in its 104-year history. Of the record 4,473 applicants, the Haas School had enrolled 241 as of Tuesday (Aug. 20).

This 37 percent increase from last year is "huge, huge, huge," said Jett Pihakis, director of domestic admissions for the Haas School’s full-time MBA program. Pihakis said the poor economy may best explain the surge.

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