San Diego State University received a record-breaking number of undergraduate applications for the fall semester. However officials say a vast majority of those applicants will be turned away.
SDSU received more than 61,000 undergraduate applications for the fall 2010 semester. That's a 10 percent increase compared to last year.
More than 44,000 first-time freshman submitted their paperwork. About 6,000 of the first-time freshman come from the San Diego area.
SDSU's Ethan Singer says the sad reality is only a small fraction of all the applicants will be accepted. That's because the university is reducing its enrollment by about 4,500 students over the next few years to cope with state budget cuts.
Singer says it’s too early to say how many local students will be denied.
“We know the number of applications based on self-reporting data. But we have to verify which ones are CSU eligible and that takes some processing to do that,” Singer said.
San Diego State came under attack a couple of months ago for ending its policy that favored local applicants. Local students now have to compete equally with out-of-area students.
In addition, SDSU applicants now need to apply to a specific major. That means their chances of getting in also depends on how many other applicants apply to the same major, how qualified those applicants are, and how many slots are available.
A breakdown of how many students have been accepted for the 2010 fall semester is expected by mid-January.
