<p>tokenadult, This is one of the few instances on CC where I would take issue with your knowledge. You should go directly to the source, or sources plural, for a definitive explanation of weighting factors in the UC process, which is a public institution with a different mission than the many Privates with enrollment management priorities often overshadowing other elements of the application & attributes of the person.</p>
<p>The UC process in general recognizes the affect of wealth as an advantage (as well as the opposite dynamic), and overtly attempts to correct for that by balancing the various application elements. Specific campuses calculate discrete hardship points, some refining this even more to account for several categories of challenge, non-concurrently. There’s an actual formula at some campuses, making it fairly predictable, if you are such a student, to determine where your strongest chances of admission are – assuming that your application is otherwise competitive on academic & e.c. measures.</p>
<p>In fact, with the broadening of the applicant base in CA to include larger segments of previously non-college-bound students – such as poorer classes, recently assimilated immigrants from many lands, etc. – being upper middle class as a UC applicant is no advantage. It is just that it is less of a disadvantage for certain campuses than for others.</p>
<p>The anecdotal reporting of the last 2 years appears to further confirm this trend – both on CC and in all the personal & professional circles in which I travel. For the <em>reach</em> U.C.'s especially, your application, if you are upper middle class, has to look compelling to be noticed, and your essay must be on the same par. There are far too many from that group applying to those reach UC’s. Think of them as parallel with the Elites on the East Coast, which get a ton of relatively privileged applications which look extremely similar in background & accomplishment: many of those will be accepted, but a similar application from a poorer student will get special notice. The difference is that UC, including the reach campuses, get far more “special notice” applications than do the Ivies, MIT, etc. Percentage-wise, fewer low-income students <em>apply</em> to HYPSMC.</p>