Isn’t need-based aid pretty consistent across the UC system?
But yes, as already acknowledged, there are things students don’t find out until they get accepted, that could influence how they would rank the campuses. It would be a massive paradigm shift to move to a ranched-choice application system - one that would make few people happy up-front. It would just cut down on the unhappiness that every applicant hopes won’t happen to them. No perfect solution when demand exceeds supply. Test-blind makes it even more baffling, given the ceiling effect in terms of GPA’s.