1406 was the total undergraduate (not frosh) enrollment in EECS in fall 2017.
https://engineering.berkeley.edu/about/facts-and-figures
Higher enrollment in CS 61A comes mostly from prospective L&S CS majors.
@socaldad2002 there were 3 surveyed going to Santa Clara
@menloparkmom obviously we didn’t realize that or else he probably wouldn’t have bothered. The number was 1200 out of close to 30K applicants for the grants. Rightly or wrongly, the reputation that USC has in these parts is that the profile of kid that goes there is old money family type of kids, which more or less doesn’t exist in the area where we live.
My guess is very few got accepted by USC, and likely very few applied to private schools compared to the publics. NM scholarship is auto offered if accepted but they are not auto admit, many NM kids are not accepted. At our local public HS, only one of 8 NM’s was accepted (per a friend whose kid was accepted). The others had the stats, but not the big bang picture. And the profile you suggest from the school is a way over applied applicant pool that isn’t served well by holistic admissions or any private school who look well beyond stats. It definitely fits the UC profile better. And as seen from your data, public school kids tend to apply and go to public colleges. It’s what they know and their comfort zone.
“USC NM scholarships are now competitive”
@ucbalumnus this is Incorrect.
the National Merit scholarship, [which is not to be confused with the Presidential scholarship, although both are for 1/2 tuition] is automatically awarded IF
1-a NMF is accepted at USC AND
2- notifies NMSC that USC is their first choice.
This is from Timothy Brunhold, the Dean of Admissions at USC-
"Thanks for your writing and for your continued presence on College Confidential. The misinformation runs rampant and it is refreshing to see that there are a few folks who are willing to set the record straight.
Nothing has changed in regards to our practice with National Merit Finalists:
NMSC periodically sends us rosters of NMFs who have indicated that USC is their first-choice. We have already received one such roster and expect a couple more before the end of the month
· Once we’ve selected our admitted class (which, as you know, will be done next week), we then formally award Presidential Scholarships to admitted NMFs, and send them an award letter.
· NMSC continues to send rosters throughout April and May, with the last one usually coming in late May. This piecemeal approach causes no real problems for us; we just keep making Presidential awards as student’s names show up.
Students don’t need (and never have had) to tell NMSC before May 1 that we are their first choice and I believe that NMSC allows students to change their designation anytime between now and the end of May. Bottom-line is that as long as we receive a roster from NMSC with an admitted student’s name on it indicating a USC first-choice, he or she will be awarded a Presidential, regardless of when that roster comes to us."
http://www.trojanscholars.com/scholarships/ says
The “students are considered” part implies that it is competitive. If it is automatic for NMF contingent on admission, then the web site is misleading.
yes the website is misleading.
its been a gripe of mine for many years…
It’s ‘near’ automatic for all admits. For whatever reason, USC holds out the right to not offer a half discount to a NMSF. But I have never heard that they did not give it.
Definitely USC’s rep from back when dinosaurs were active in LaBrea, but 'SC has climbed the rankings for a reason, free money for high test scores being one of them. Of course even a $25k discount still makes USC $15k/yr more than Cal or UCLA.
Us old farts may see it like that. Kids in high school don’t. We live on the San Francisco Peninsula, and according to the local weekly, the valedictorian of the distinctly middle-class (or what passes for middle-class in the Bay Area) public high school where our son graduated from 8 years ago is going to USC. I’m guessing she’s getting at least a Presidential Scholarship. The two co-salutatorians are headed to Berkeley.
Several kids from our kid’s HS in Southern CA go to USC every year for their good business school because at Berkeley, there is no guarantee you will get into Haas Business School.
Wow, so my numbers appear to be off, I guess I haven’t caught up to the times…the new standard is 700 for Stanford/Harvard and a whopping 1700 for UCB.
Are these classes or concerts?
USC 2017-2018 Freshman class:
Most Represented Public High Schools
Foshay Learning Center; Los Angeles, CA 21
PV Peninsula HS; Rolling Hills Estates, CA 20
Torrey Pines HS; San Diego, CA 16
Troy HS; Fullerton, CA 16
Arcadia HS; Arcadia, CA 15
Corona Del Mar HS; Newport Beach, CA 15
Most Represented Independent/Parochial Schools
Shanghai Pinghe School; China 14
Hong Kong International School; Hong Kong 13
Punahou School; Honolulu, HI 12
Harvard-Westlake; North Hollywood, CA 11
Loyola HS; Los Angeles, CA 11
St. Ignatius College Prep; San Francisco, CA 11
This is a fun tool…
Admissions by source school
https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/infocenter/admissions-source-school
If I select, for example, Torrey Pines HS, and then Berekley, I see that they had 270 applications, 83 admits and 35 enroll…
The one USC person from my kid’s HS was a NMF and Presidential Scholarship recipient.
This discussion will be a moot point if Californians decide to split CA into 3 states in this coming November election. New Californians will not be able to attend UCB. New Southern Californians will not be able to attend UCLA and UCB.
I doubt that the proposal will win in November but who knows. Crazy things can happen.
Here is the map of the proposal:
https://sf.curbed.com/2018/6/14/17464134/three-californias-tim-draper-ballot-iniative
If that proposition is passed, the following things will happen in the UC:
- UCLA and UCB admission rate will be tripled.
- UC president's salary will be slashed by 67%.
We should do a separate thread on the impact to the UC (and CSU) system if CA breaks up into 3 states. Lots of “fun” things would happen… 
Even if the proposition passes, the State legislature would have to pass it, the Gov sign it, and then the US Congress would have to pass it. The odds are slim and none that the Senate would reduce their own power (going from 1:100 to 1:104.)
Regarding some of the previous postings of USC admittances, I live in the East Bay part of the SF Bay Area and the area high school is one of the top performing high schools in the Bay Area. In some years, 2 or 3 seniors commit to USC while other years, like this year, 8 to 10 seniors commit to USC. It just depends on the year and the feeling of the students. Also, the area is relatively affluent with many professional class of workers (corporate executives, investment bankers, doctors, etc.), but mostly college educated.
It’s like the 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon here.
The conversation, even this thread about feeling bitter about the UC’s, seems to always return to talking about USC. :))