Applications for undergraduate admission to the University of Washington were up significantly this year, while it held steady and declined slightly at other state universities.

According to news reports, while the number of in-state high school graduates fell this year, an increase of out of state applications drove the increase at the UW.

UW admissions director Philip Ballinger told the Seattle Times that he can’t explain why the university saw a nearly 16 percent increase in freshmen applications, with more than 30,000 applications for fall 2013 admission.

However, he believed that the increase might be due to a decision by the University of California system to tighten admissions criteria.

While the biggest increase in UW applications came from out-of-state students, the number of in-state and international applications also grew.

Overall, Washington State University saw applications increase slightly from 13,700 for 2012 to 13,779 for fall 2013. Western Washington University reported a slight drop from 9,791 to 9,500. Applications also dropped at Central, Eastern and Evergreen.

About 61 percent of all students state-wide who applied to UW were offered admission. Last year, about 65 percent were admitted.

Last year, just over half or about 158 students from the MIHS class of 2012 planned to attend college in state, 30 more than in 2011. Of those, 60 were to attend UW. Next, 29 were to become Cougars at Washington State University and 15 planned to attend Western Washington University.

Twenty-six students MIHS graduates were to attend Bellevue College in the fall of 2012, up from just 10 in 2009.

The average GPA for an admitted UW freshman remained 3.77, the same as last year, but the average SAT combined score for critical reading and math rose by about 10 points, to 1238.