<p>I don't really see how higher numbers of applicants unquestionably translates to higher selectivity. If University A receives 2000 aplicants with an average of 3.8 GPA and 1400 SAT and University B recieves 4000 applicants with an average of 3.2 GPA and 1100 SAT and both are allocated 500 spaces to fill, I would not necessarily consider University B to be more selective. I usually define selectivity as how difficult it is to be selected for admission by a university, not how many rejection letters a university sends out. The quality of the students should be taken into account.</p>
<p>I think that UCSB's party school reputation indiscriminately attracts students spanning all levels of quality(including many who are underqualified), which, in turn, deceptively inflates UCSB's statistics making it look more selective than it really is. I could be wrong, though.</p>