I will list some statistical UC admission data for 2020 since most of the data is not yet available for 2021 admits. CS/CSE admission rates will be lower than listed since these are usually impacted and selective majors.
2020 Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 3.80-4.19 capped weighted and not major specific:
UCB: 14%
UCLA: 8%
UCSD: 39%
UCSB: 40%
UCD: 55%
UCI: 38%
UCSC: 82%
UCR: 90%
UCM: 97%
2020 UC capped weighted GPA averages along with 25th-75th percentile range:
UCB: 4.22 (4.13-4.30)
UCLA: 4.25 (4.18-4.31)
UCSD: 4.16 (4.04-4.28)
UCSB: 4.15 (4.03-4.27)
UCI: 4.11 (3.96-4.26)
UCD: 4.10 (3.95-4.25) Updated for 2021
UCSC: 3.94 (3.71-4.16)
UCR: 3.88 (3.65-4.11)
UCM: 3.68 (3.40-3.96)
Admission Rates for California Applicants:
UCLA: 10.1%
UC Berkeley: 16.8%
UC Irvine: 20.1%
UC Santa Barbara: 28.0%
UC San Diego: 28.5%
UC Davis: 39.0%
UC Santa Cruz: 54.5%
UC Riverside: 64.0%
UC Merced: 99.7%
Recommendations:
What is your local Cal State since this school will be a good safety school unless CS/CSE is an impacted major which may not be a guaranteed admission.
Schools to consider:
Cal States: Cal Poly SLO- Reach, San Jose State- Reach for CS/CSE- Target. San Diego State-Target, CSU East Bay-Safety, Cal Poly Pomona-Target, CSULB- Low Target
UC’s: UC Merced- Safety, UC Riverside and Santa Cruz- Target, UC Davis and Santa Barbara- Target/High Target, UC San Diego- Low Reach and UCLA/UCB- Reach
OOS: Arizona State- Low Target and consider Barrett’s Honor College. University of Utah- Safety, Oregon State- Target
No reason to go out of state unless the Cost of attendance comes under the UC’s and CSU’s.
Although some employers have school preferences, for CS especially, school name matters less than experience for post graduation jobs. A student will have a good outcome as long as they make use of the resources/opportunities available at any of the schools.
My younger son graduated from SDSU 3 years ago and doing very well as a CS major in Cybersecurity.
If she has a specific interest such as Cybersecurity, AI etc… then checking the school catalogs and curriculum might help her better define her list.