Crazy year for UC admissions/rejections

[bluebayou]

great point calmom. We have a friend who is deciding between Cal Poly and Arizona (with its higher OOS costs). Of course, a possible 5th year at Cal Poly (as a result of less class sections) reduces that OOS differential pretty quickly.

[momof2inca]

Calmom, very good point. I think the UC's will be equally affected by the current budget crisis. Look for higher "fees" (i.e. tuition), fewer services, bigger classes possibly. At some point though the UCs will price themselves out of the market. For example, we pay about $24,000 a year for our S at Berkeley (for all costs..., granted life in the Bay Area is very expensive, other UC living costs are lower). But our D will be going to a private school that is 90% smaller with much more personal attention for $29,000 (thanks to a $6,000 merit award). A couple of years of tuition increases by the UCs will bring them in line with the privates. The CSUs are still a relative bargain because the tuition is a lot cheaper and many more of the kids live at home.

[Columbia_Student]

At one UC scholar's day, this question was asked and I believe I heard the 5-7% cut for this UC.

[calmom]

Of course, a possible 5th year at Cal Poly (as a result of less class sections) reduces that OOS differential pretty quickly

The problem isn't one of fewer class sections - it is massive layoffs and entire departments being shut down. So it won't be that the kid can't get the classes they need; it will be that the college will no longer even offer the classes they want.

I don't know about Cal Poly -- the situation is going to be different at each campus and Cal Poly probably has somewhat favored status among the CSU's, so it may be better off than many others.

[orangepurple]

Several years ago, when I first lived in the Berkeley area, I remember that there were major budget woes and the local papers were full of stories about students not getting into required classes, etc. at UC Berkeley. It seems as if recent years have been better, but I still worry about it. My own son is leaning towards UC Santa Cruz, (and he was admitted) and I worry that budget cuts will be a problem.

[ucsd_ucla_dad]

OTOH,

UCSD received $1 Billion in donations from fundraising in the last 7 years.
Give to UCSD - Home

I hope that the UCs raise the tuition rather than resort to drastically cutting necessary programs. I'm not eager to pay more but I think it's worth it versus the kid having to stay additional quarters to get classes which effectively results in lost income to them due to delayed entry into the workforce not to mention the hassle and frustration. A little belt tightening every now and then isn't always a bad thing.

[bluebayou]

it will be that the college will no longer even offer the classes they want.

Sorry, but as a taxpayer, I think this is a GOOD thing. At the most basic level, the goal of State Unis is to educate kids, in their major -- NOT to necesarily offer classes that they "want". There a lot of kids who do NOT "want' to take classes at Friday morning, 8:00, but that is their choice....

Yes, Chico and Humboldt are special campuses, but LA and Fullerton and San Diego are packed to the gills. From a public policy perspective, it's important to realize that educating the masses (at the big schools) is probably more important than....

[calmom]

bluebayou, by classes they want I mean that the universities are laying off teachers and shutting down whole departments -- we're not talking about time of day, we are talking about not even having the major available because the department no longer exists.

[any1can]

As far as SDSU goes, D is a freshman this year and her class had the largest amount of applicants (58,055, 50,000 Fr/8,000 Tnfr for 2007) until this year. I believe there were approx. 10,000 seats, 8000 for Freshman last year. I have the school newspaper in front of me now and there were 61,500 Fresh and Transfer apps, they cut 1000 Freshman seats this year. Last year's applications were the 3rd highest in the nation according to the article with the average GPA at 3.44 for 2008, the highest in school history. I still think the accpetance rate is around 42-47%, haven't seen it published yet. But 61,000 is an unbelievable number! My D loves SDSU by the way.

[epiphany]

Regarding the general message of the first page of responses (the first several), remember a couple of things:

(1) The UC's are comprehensive review. There is a general philosophy (& "eligibility index") which they all follow, but each campus does have its own particulars and is also to some degree looking for an overall-well-rounded student body (by whole group, not by individual). Less so in that last factor than the more refined process of some privates, but they do weigh one person's assets to that campus versus another persons's.

(2) One of the key (subjective) measurements of those assets is in the UC essay. Since recommendations are not used in admissions, the significance & message of the essay is elevated. That doesn't necessarily mean "polished," but they do look somewhat deeply to get a flavor of the candidate's 'passion' (overused word), purpose, focus, & self-awareness. The essay that would impress a top private would not necessarily be as appropriate for U.C., although it certainly could be. And very important is the statement of purpose for attending U.C.

(3) Even many privates figure into their decisions the ratio of accomplishment to opportunity, but it is actually part of the point system for UC. Plenty of privileged students still get into UC, but since there are also a very large number of students with impressive achievements relative to enormous challenge, it is also a factor.

Doesn't mean any particular student, or S or D, was lacking in any of the above 3 areas this year, but it's just to emphasize that public or no, even UC is not merely stat-driven but "holistic" as well.

[rider730]

The essay is ignored for UCSC, UCD and UCSD at least, as they scan it only to look for categories for which they will assign points in their admissions formula. It can be virtually illiterate; all that matters is the material facts such as leadership positions or special challenges, if those facts are part of the points system for the campus.

As far as I know, only UCLA and Cal read the essay in the traditional way you describe.

[elizabethh]

I was told by a friend who is a private College Admissions Counselor that UCI is looking to expand it's appeal to more "collegiate" (social) kids who can bring something more than good scores/gpas to the campus, and that Davis is also trying to up it's desirability as a "rahrah" campus, including getting a D1 football team and admitting more well-rounded kids. Plus, Davis' applications were up 15% this year, quite a jump. This may explain at Davis why some of the higher stats applicants were denied. Hopefully they will get into one of the top two, UCLA or Berkeley!

[ucsd_ucla_dad]

^^ I heard Davis had a big increase in applicants last year as well.

[kluge]

Even among the schools which use a formula, and with the formulas having the same factors, they weight the factors differently. Example: Davis and SD are the only schools whose formulas have been disclosed - Davis officially, SD privately. Both school's formulas start out with UCGPA X 1000. But SD only adds 80% of the combined SAT + SATII scores, while Davis adds 100% of those scores. SD caps points for taking lots of college prep classes at 500, Davis at 1000. Davis also allots more weight to leadership and similar accomplishments than SD does. Result? Two students with identical scores under one formula might have very different scores under the other. If similar disparities in formula details exists in the undisclosed processes used by Santa Barbara, Irvine and Santa Cruz it makes perfect sense that similar seeming students will get different results at different UCs. And with an increasing number of increasingly competitive applicants to all UCs, students who would have seemed to have been shoo-ins in the past will require a boost from some of those extra point categories or may face rejection.

[bluebayou]

calmom:

yes, I get the point. If Cal State xx only has say, 5 kids in the Kurdu major (used for extreme example), perhaps it should be closed. Not every UC nor every Cal State can offer a full range of all majors, nor should they. But, then they should not be closed overnight either -- phasing out over a couple of years is the proper way to do it.

btw: I also think opening UC Merced was a total waste of $$, which could have been better used by the Cal States and Community Colleges.