UC Irvine Opens School Year With Record Freshman Class

It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out UC Irvine was as jammed as a freeway at rush hour for its first day of classes Monday. In fact, all it took was a budding political scientist, 18-year-old freshman Shaun Lower.

“It’s a shock to see so many people,” said Lower, whose entire high school in Chino was just 350 students. “It’s more than I expected.”

Lower is part of the largest freshman class ever to enter the 31-year-old university.

While final numbers will not be available until next month, UCI officials say the freshman class will be between 4,270 and 4,525 students--a considerable jump from the 3,474 admitted in 1993.

UCI’s growth in its freshman class closely mirrors the increase at Cal State Fullerton, where the number of freshmen rose to about 3,600 this year--a thousand more than in 1993. Meanwhile, UCI freshman enrollment numbers easily leapfrogged past virtually all Orange County’s community colleges, which saw class sizes this year gain no more than 3%.

Overall enrollment figures for the eight other University of California campuses were unavailable, according to UC spokesman Terry Lightfoot.

UCI officials attribute part of the increase to the school’s growing academic reputation. Officials point to last year’s two Nobel Prizes claimed by two science professors, and this year’s 37th-place ranking in U.S. News & World Report’s annual national college survey.

“More and more students are making UCI their first choice instead of saying, ‘Well, I’ll go to UCI if I can’t get into Berkeley or UCLA,’ ” said Mary Pickering, a UCI spokeswoman.

UCI is one of the few UC institutions that has the open space around campus to accommodate more students. Meanwhile, other UC schools, such as UC Berkeley and UCLA, are operating at capacity. UCI officials say they have plans to further expand the campus in upcoming years, which is likely to increase enrollment even more.

Students on Monday were quick to take pride in the university’s recent achievements. Few, however, mentioned last year’s fertility scandal in which several of the school’s doctors were accused of stealing eggs and embryos from some patients and implanting them in other women without consent.

“Everyone’s really glad we were ranked 37. That’s really been a bonus for everyone here,” said Chad Liberto, 21, a senior political science major.

But Liberto, like many students Monday, soon realized added prestige and a larger student body don’t come without a price. Longer than usual lines were the order of the day at bookstores, registration offices, parking lots and lunch lines. Even navigating some walkways along the campus proved difficult.

“Some places it was actually gridlock,” Liberto said.

The bigger freshman class has also put the squeeze on college dorm space--causing dozens of students to triple up in rooms built for two.

Still, other students would like to see the school expand even more. While applauding the school’s recent upsurge, some students believe it’s time for the sleepy campus to get a major sports program.