So if you go to the chronicles page on UC admits and look at UCSD, their graph looks very different from every other UC. Just glancing at the graph you see 30-50% acceptance rates for a lot of high schools near SD meanwhile our school has a 12% UCSD acceptance rate.
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More than that, the UCSD report also said that many of the students placed in remedial math have even completed AP Calc. (And presumably had good grades, because UCSD is selective and most accepted students have high GPA.)
Somehow, students are moving through the math curriculum while still having big gaps in knowledge. I expect this may have to do with both grade inflation and outright cheating. My D attends a large public HS and gets infuriated by seeing other students cheat and use AI. In addition to cheating on homework (which can be widespread), D says that sheâs taken tests at her school where an inexperienced teacher wasnât paying attention, and many students were using AI tools to get answers to questions.
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I assume these kids arent taking AP tests because they would be exposed pretty quickly.
This gets at part of the story that I wasnât as focused on when I commented on that thread before. There is something (or some things) going on at UCSD that does not seem to be, at least nowhere near to the same extent, at the other UCs or other test-free schools. None of the others seem to be reporting such massive increases in students who did well in high school math that is expected for selective schools, but are incapable of doing basic math.
Most students do not take an AP test in math until Calc (I donât think a lot of students are taking the AP precalc exam). If they are taking Calc in 12th grade, the result would not be available in time for college admissions.
I actually suggested to my D last year to take the precalc exam so that she would have an AP score for UC admissions (since they do not see SAT), but she was unable to find a HS in our area offering it.
Yes, my guess was they have made a choice to change admit rates by geography, so the closer you are to the school the higher chance of acceptance you have.
I donât think remedial math is a strange thing to have, all colleges have remedial math/English. Itâs the increase at UCSD thatâs the issue.
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Honestly, I feel like the ânew mathâ or âcommon coreâ math teaches kids to be more adept with understanding how numbers relate to each other. At least that is what Iâve observed.
I wonder if some of whatâs happening relates to a dip in skill acquisition related to CovidâŠ.
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How has your sonâs experience been at Connecticut College? My daughter just applied thereâŠ
That 12% sounds about right (my D26 attends a north county San Diego HS), and I will be surprised if sheâs acceptedâ despite the fact that she took AP Physics 1 and Calculus BC as a junior (albeit with Bâs). And even though it wonât matter for the UCs, a 720 math SAT, so itâs not like she was just skating through math without learning anything.
So itâs pretty tough to realize that with these courses more or less successfully completed, sheâs got a 12% shot against people who struggle with middle school math.
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Argues for standardized tests at least as a reality check, even if not directly used for admission.
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Institutional priorities. Unfortunate.
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Yay, the UC application is done and submitted.
I think we are done with apps! 
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Same in our house, didnât realize each school application had its own fee. Weâll be spending about 1k in total on application fees with 560 going to the UCs.
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Yeah, that $560⊠yowza. We paid that too (applied to all but UC riverside and Merced) I mean, itâs nothing compared to the tuition savings if S26 actually goes to one. But ouch! D22 only applied to 3 UCs so it was not that much. But she is currently at one so it was, in hindsight, money well spent.
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My S26 took the AP Pre Calculus exam at his school last year, though his school doesnât offer the AP pre-calculus class. He took honors pre-calculus which must have been pretty close. He did well on the exam. Maybe the UCs will see that and find it appealing? I donât know. As much as I want as many kids as possible to have access to our UC system, it is shocking to me that thereâs such a wide range of preparedness being accepted into a top-ranked UC like UCSD. (Not to mention the fact that UCSD is pretty heavily skewed toward the STEM topics.)
I really think the UCs need to reverse course on being test blind. There have to be more checks and balances to address wildly different curriculums and grade inflation/deflation.
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He really likes it. Happy to answer any questions.
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Good grief. We cheaped out and timed the UConn application when it was free. And Northeastern gave us a free app too.
The marketing folks at Northeastern just makes it too easy. Free app? No essay? Sure, why not.
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Well last year was the big year, according to one counselor I talked to from now on there will fewer and fewer students applying. At our local elementary school one of the teachers is worried about her jobs because there are so many fewer kindergarten kids enrolled they might go from 3 strands to 2.
Part of CA housing being so expensive younger people have been moving out as they canât afford to buy anything here so fewer kids. More elementary schools will be closing or merging in the next few years. All these acceptance rates will go up as the years go by.
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I saw one âexpertâ claim thatâs exagerrated for â26 because the numbers arenât that much less than a couple of years ago and itâs still near record highs.
The real app decline seems to be at the elite schools that have gone from test optional to test required.
Yes, they are masters of driving their acceptance rates down. They make sure everyone and their brother applies. I still canât get over how Northeastern has transformed themselves. When I was younger it was a commuter school and anyone could just sign up to take classes there. Itâs wild.
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