Crazy year for UC admissions/rejections

[elizabethh]

My D was accepted at Irvine in January, and last week at UCSC and Davis, but rejected today at UCSB. Students she knows with higher GPA and test scores were rejected at Davis. There must be some rhyme or reason to all of the UC selections. And hardly anyone seems to be getting into SDSU! D got in there in December. The problem for us (and I'm sure many others), is that though she's a match at many schools, she wasn't sure of those - and in fact has been rejected by 2 (including UCSB). It's overwhelming to try and figure out the best way to approach applying to schools without going overboard!

[calmom]

Keep in mind that the student's choice of major could be a factor in admissions, as well as other factors about the students background and interests. To the admissions committee, "match" is about more than GPA and tests scores.

Congratulations on your daughter's admission to Irvine, UCSC & Davis! Sounds like she has at least 3 great schools to choose from.

[Columbia_Student]

I've heard some students got into UCSD and got rejected from UCSB. So my theory is that people who got in the UCs that use point system like UCSD and UCD might not get into UCs that use a little less rigid than the point system.

[Columbia_Student]

And there is a new twist. Somebody got into UCSD and not accepted to UCD, both use point system. At this point I'm start to scratch my head and I have to admit I'm running out of theory to postulate.

[ucsd_ucla_dad]

Keep in mind that the admissions aren't strictly based on GPA/SAT scores. Various points are awarded for other sometimes more subjective reasons. They also have a number of different people reading the apps and I imagine the decisions could vary a bit depending on who reads the the apps even if it's a consensus of two readers.

[noinspiration]

Columbia_Student-

My friend got into UCSD but not UCD and UCSB. Kinda kills all theories doesn't it?

Odd.

[DunninLA]

I dunno... UCSD, UCD and UCSB are not that far apart in test scoring or selectivity, but clearly UCSD is a *little* harder to get into.

I haven't seen anyone post acceptances to UCB or UCLA with rejections to any of those three. The order seems to be School/Midpoint SAT/% accepted:

UCB 1325/24%
UCLA 1295/26%
----- minor separation -----
UCSD 1250/49%
UCI 1210/60%
UCSB 1190/53%+ Cal Poly SLO (I just had to throw that in there )
UCD 1155/ 68%
UCSC 1145/80%
----- big separation ----
UCR 1040/83%
UCM: unpublished

It would be very intesting to see acceptances from the top 2 with rejections from the middle tier, or acceptance to middle tier and rejections from the bottom tier.

[cfsaetern]

I was rejected from SDSU, but accepted to UCI, UCSB, UCSD, and UCD.

[Columbia_Student]

UCD and UCSD use the point system. SAT scores and GPA only count a fraction of what you can score. For example, UCSD gives 300 for houshold income less than $60K, 300 points for first generation, 300 for going to schools that are in the 4th and 5th quintile district. 250 points for coming from a single household. 300 points attending AVID program. That is a lot of 1550 points off from the total of 3200 of SAT. UCD follows the same pattern.

UCSD Freshman Comprehensive Review Process (Dec 2004)

Freshmen: Application Criteria for Selection Process

[avoidingwork]

I agree with ucsd_ucla_dad. This same comment could be said in just about any year. S1 is a 4th year at CAL and S2 is a 1st year at UCD. The year that S1 applied to colleges was the only year the UCs could not accept everyone who qualified (UC forced to reject qualified freshmen / Budget woes mean community colleges for some applicants)

In that year, my S1 and two friends who had a very similar profile to him, all applied to CAL, UCLA, and UCSD. Each of the boys was accepted to only one of the 3 schools and each one was accepted to a different one. Go figure.

[momof2inca]

My friend's D was rejected by Davis. She has a 4.2 gpa and a 30 ACT!

She was accepted by UCSB and is waiting on Cal, which now seems like an impossible reach, but sheesh, I thought she was a shoe-in for Davis with those scores.

[ellemenope]

I would have thought that Davis was a shoe-in also! Maybe things have changed at Davis...did a piece of the application not make it to Davis?

[momof2inca]

I'm not sure but it's all electronic, so I doubt there was a problem with missing pieces. (no teacher recs needed for UCs, transcripts only sent when accepting an admission offer.)

[bluebayou]

momof2inca: a 4.2/30 would have been practically automatic in prior years. Davis appears to be the real outlier here. Perhaps they are expecting a higher yield, and thus reduced acceptances so they wouldn't end up with a huge class like they had two years ago.

cfs: SDSU admissions is not comparable to the UCs since SDSU must accept nearly every eligible kid from its local catchment area. Thus, everyone from out of its catchment area is competing against each other; SD is popular!. Plus, I rememer reading somewhere that SDSU was going to limit acceptances pending state budget resolution.

[calmom]

Warning: I hear from my son, who is actively involved in this, that the proposed state budget cuts are going to be absolutely devastating for at least some CSU's. He says there is no way that his current CSU will be able to function effectively. (He is graduating this spring, but has been involved very closely working with students & faculties on budget issues for the past 2 years, as the campus was already in crisis mode financially when he got there). For students who have a choice, I would encourage asking some very hard questions about budget cuts & finances before enrolling in a CSU. (I don't know if the UC's will be equally hard hit - but I do know that the CSU's seem to suffer from "middle child syndrome" in terms of the attention paid to their needs statewide)