<p>The University of Minnesota does not ask for essays although I think there is an optional space to write about hardships encountered.</p>
<p>It doesn’t sound like the UCs are looking at FAFSA to give boosts…it seems like they are looking at high school zip codes. If your high school is in certain low income zip codes, you probably get a boost. </p>
<p>If the UCs had to wait on FAFSA, they would be stymied until late winter to make decisions. </p>
<p>That makes sense since the UCs are very much GPA driven and give boosts to “top 4%” and top 10% to ensure that some kids from the low-income high schools can get in. Otherwise, the UCs would be totally full of Whites and Asians from the suburbs (and heck, they nearly are all constitiuted that way as it is)</p>
<p>^^Yes, it is definitely not a fafsa review.</p>
<p>UC asks for parental information the first page of the app. Parental info includes whether parents attended and/or graduated from college and income, but not assets, as well as family size. (As a result, quite a few kids earn ‘low income’ bonus points even though they are wealthy and living off of family assets, but that is just an unintended consequence.)</p>
<p>In addition, UC also knows with certainty which high schools are low income, based on free lunch/breakfast programs, and thus gives bonus points to students who attend low income schools.</p>
<p>fwiw: the Cal States also request parental income on the app.</p>
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<p>The top 9% eligibility in local context at UC does not guarantee admission to a particular campus (which means that students admitted under that policy likely get an offer from UC Merced if they are not admitted to the UCs that they applied to).</p>
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<p>Most people in California live in suburbs. Suburbs in California include most of the low income areas. Try looking at a street view of 7200 South Normandie Avenue, Los Angeles, CA (or most places in ZIP code 90044) on [Google</a> Maps](<a href=“http://maps.google.com%5DGoogle”>http://maps.google.com) , for example.</p>
<p>Among what USNWR considers the “top 25 national universities”, UCLA and Berkeley have the highest percentage of undergraduates on Pell Grants (37% and 36%).</p>
<p>A lot of schools may be need blind in admissions for the particular student, but know the quality/resources/socioeconomic status of the particular high school and surrounding areas and take that into consideration instead. Thus, if you come from a poor family but go to a very rich high school with tons of opportunities (obviously, this is a very rare circumstance), then they still expect you to take advantage of the opportunities at the school. If you’re rich and go to a poor inner-city school where only 20% of the students go to college (again, not common at all) and have done well, then that shows you’ve achieved despite less than ideal circumstances. There is obviously a heavy correlation between the school wealth and socioeconomic status of the area a student lives in and the individual student’s socioeconomic status. So, even if a school’s admission office has no idea about the family’s income, they can ascertain the type of environment/socioeconomic status they grew up in based on the high school attended and residence location.</p>
<p>UCB…I know that there are low-income areas in suburbs…I’m from Calif. lol </p>
<p>I was using the word “suburbs” in a more lose fashion…as a descriptor for middle/upper middle class. I didn’t mean it literally.</p>
<p>And, yes, I know that Cal and UCLA have a lot of students on Pell grants…that’s because the UCs do use a top percent rule to help with admissions and the UCs weight GPA more than SAT/ACT scores. That’s going to give you more Pell students.</p>
<p>And of course, Calif has been hit hard by this economy. I imagine many students now have unemployed parents.</p>
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<p>Such a description is nowhere near accurate in California. It is more clear to say “upper income area”.</p>
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<p>The top 9% eligibility in local context rule does not affect Berkeley or UCLA admissions – it causes UC Merced to generate offers to some students who did not get accepted to other UC schools that they applied to. Top 9% is also not current class rank; it is a GPA comparison with the top 9% (UC calculated) GPA threshold of the previous classes at the high school.</p>
<p>Use of high school GPA over test scores does make sense, since UC’s own research indicates that high school GPA is a better predictor of college GPA than test scores are.</p>
<p>UC essay readers are widely thought to favor “overcoming adversity” type of stories, which may also help Pell Grant students.</p>
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<p>If 95% of students in the high school are eligible for free/reduced lunches… :rolleyes:</p>
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<p>Nope. See Texas, for example</p>
<p>Cal and UCLA have lotsa Pell Grantees because they are need-aware in admissions. There is no other way the number of Pell students would be that high.</p>
<p>“UC essay readers are widely thought to favor “overcoming adversity” type of stories, which may also help Pell Grant students.”</p>
<p>that makes sense.</p>
<p>Blue…yes, UT would have a lot of Pell students as well, but UT isn’t in that calculation of top 25 universities…which the stat was taken from. UCB was talking about Top 25 univs…not lower ranked schools which would include UT.</p>
<p>And, even though GPA is supposedly a “greater predictor” of success, let’s not kid ourselves. That’s not why the UCs more heavily weight GPA. They do it so that a student with a high UC GPA from a “lesser school” stands a better chance at acceptance.</p>
<p>I’d like to see the stats of how kids with high GPAs/modest test scores actually do at the better UCs. Do they start in remedial English and Math? How is their 4 year grad rate?</p>
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<p>Quote:
Originally Posted by mom2collegekids</p>
<h2>I was using the word “suburbs” in a more lose fashion…as a descriptor for middle/upper middle class. I didn’t mean it literally.</h2>
<p>Such a description is nowhere near accurate in California. It is more clear to say “upper income area”.</p>
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<p>Gag…I misspelled “loose”.</p>
<p>Anyway…“the suburbs” is largely considered to be a descriptor of middle/upper class America. If you want to point out that Calif has low-income pockets in some suburbs, then fine.</p>
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<p>According to [University</a> of California: StatFinder](<a href=“http://statfinder.ucop.edu%5DUniversity”>http://statfinder.ucop.edu) , among students who entered Berkeley as freshmen in 2003 with high school GPA (UC weighted), here are some numbers:</p>
<p>HS GPA<em>, SAT</em>*, 4-year grad rate, 6-year grad rate, GPA at graduation, number of students</p>
<p>4.00-4.19, 200-590, 55.7%, 88.7%, 3.14, 282
4.00-4.19, 600-690, 68.6%, 92.7%, 3.33, 535
4.00-4.19, 700-800, 76.0%, 94.1%, 3.46, 391
4.20-5.00, 200-590, 63.8%, 91.5%, 3.25, 188
4.20-5.00, 600-690, 76.0%, 94.9%, 3.45, 703
4.20-5.00, 700-800, 77.4%, 94.7%, 3.57, 698</p>
<ul>
<li>weighted and capped – presumably as for UC admissions
** “highest of SAT or ACT” – presumably one section</li>
</ul>