Thank you for sharing. This sounds like my son! I appreciate your perspective. I hope my son has a good idea after Cal Day. What was his living situation freshman year? Did he live in a fraternity house? If yes, how was that? Thanks so much!
3 posts were split to a new thread: UCSD CS vs UCB DS vs Cal Poly SLO CS
Major: CS/DS
Unweighted GPA 4.0
Capped UC GPA 4.46
12 APs (4s and 5s on AP tests)
President of SWE, Girls who code,Physics Club, Research , Varisty Debate and Speech. Piano 9 years, Clarinet - 4 years
Paid working job. Art portfolio.Lot of Volunteering hours
Accepted: UCSC,SJSU,SLO,UMD College park,University of Wisconsin,UCR,UCM,ASU
Rejected: UCLA,Cornell, UC Davis
Waitlisted: CMU, UCI,UCSB
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Could I please ask if you or any other informed person have any knowledge that how many were accepted into Spieker program ?
Also I believe, unlike college of L & S, for Haas it would be directly admitted only into Spieker and not just Haas College , am I correct? So in this case Spieker program becomes even harder to get into?
I believe that Spieker (Haas undergraduate 4-year program) is new for Fall 2024, and therefore does not have any historical data.
Data for this current admissions cycle (Fall 2024) is not available yet.
This is from 2023, therefore it is obsolete, but might give some perspective as to the general size of the applicant pool and acceptance rates.
It also appears to me that the Spieker program is simply the incoming freshman direct admits into the Haas School of Business. It’s their new four year program. Rather than having to enter essentially as pre-business, the freshman are accepted into the business school directly. On the other hand, Haas is still admitting income juniors internally as well as transfer students. They indicated a lower acceptance rate for transfers and internal applicants because of Spieker.
Historical data for L&S Pre-Business Freshman put the admit rate around 9% however as stated, since the Spieker program is new, there is no data as of yet to confirm a specific acceptance rate.
The page you linked shows data from the old two-year Haas undergraduate program, where UCB students and transfers would apply for the major part way through their degrees. It’s basically transfer data, not freshman admit data.
On the UCB side of the page, the applicant pool is limited to students who were admitted and enrolled at UCB. It’s quite likely that lots of other students who applied to UCB as freshmen originally wanted to go to Haas, but didn’t get in to UCB in the first place… they are no longer in the pool shown. While on the other hand, UCB would have been able to expect a high yield (perhaps near 100%) for these in-house transfer admits, which is also very different from what they could expect for freshman admits.
So I don’t see how this could give us any information about the applicant pool or acceptance rate for high school seniors applying for the new 4 year program. We’ll just have to wait and see!
Similar here. As the kid was wrangling with UCSD vs UCSB (visited twice and was “glowing” happy at UCSB), the unexpected Cal acceptance arrived. I don’t see the Cal fit, a laid back athlete and surfer. Many, except academia folks, are saying “of course Cal”. They didn’t like UW or NYU bc too urban. A best Friend going to Cal 
We visit Cal today/tmrw and UCSD the next. Hope there is an epiphany somewhere 
Wants to study a social or environmental science and combine it with statistics (data science sure but would need to boost computer skills over summer). Loved AP Stat and research methodology coursework, isn’t great at computer sci relative to classmates. Is there a page for comparing the UCs? Any input valued - thank you so much
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My suggestion would be to start a comparison thread in College Search & Selection. Share what major(s) your student is interested in and other things that might be priorities (ex. campus culture, access to surfing, non urban, etc).
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For all those comparing with other UC campuses (and other schools), don’t forget about academic fit, too. This is something that only you can determine, based on your own major, interests, and background.
- look at the actual 4 year curriculum in your major, is this what you want to do?
- does the major offer enough flexibility (electives, free units)?
- if your major requires a declaration process, how does that work?
- if you wanted another major, or are unsure, is it possible to switch? what would be involved?
- if you wanted to take popular classes outside your major (such as CS classes) what kind of access would you have to them?
- how would AP/IB/DE credit apply to your major at each campus?
- look at breadth requirements, and whether AP/IB/DE counts for those?
All these things can be VERY different between UC campuses, and not necessarily in obvious ways. For example my son found UCB to be the most generous with APs applying to classes in his major, giving him more freedom to explore other classes, take advanced classes in his major, or graduate early.
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An unexpected admission to UCB for my S24 to College of Engineering, Mechanical major. I say unexpected because he was denied at UCLA, UCD, UCSB, UCI, UCSD and a waitlist at UCSC. Accepted to CPPomona (physics), denied at CPSLO. Other admits: Drexel with merit and honors, Pitt and CWRU with merit. CMU waitlist (and first choice). Lots of other denials at Ivy/East Coast schools. The UCB admit throws a wrench into the whole thing. I’ll post a separate thread to further discuss.
Re Stats, I’m not really good at that sot of thing. Small bay area private school that doesn’t do APs/Honors distinctions but most of curriculum is designated honors/APs by UC. 3.7 UW gpa, UC gpa 4.? (maxed out honors/AP classes), lots of engineering/physics/math electives. Awards/ECs: just general stuff like rocket club, soccer, music-related, engineering summer programs (non-competitive). PIQs/LORs: assume very good, but so subjective.
Will attend Cal Day on 4/13
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Holistic review for the win! Congrats!
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JJhoops: Sounds like we have a few boys here (You, me and Foodiemom) that have boys with similar interests and wrestling with if it is a good fit. I’m excited for my son to look at Cal. Glad other parents have shared their kids were in a similar situation, chose Cal, and were happy with their decision (calmom2024). Happy my son isn’t the only one unsure because that means there are others feeling the same and those are the folks he might connect with at Cal. Please share your experience after you visit. We are going to Cal Day and I’ll report back after our visit. Good luck!
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And extracurricular activities related to your area of interest. @tamagotchi, wasn’t your son originally headed to Oregon State because they had a specific program (and extracurriculars) that he was interested in?
Congratulations! Is this the same kid that you were asking about in your thread comparing semester to quarter system schools?
Yes, although engineering project teams are available at all engineering schools, Oregon State has particularly good support of its project teams… much better in my son’s opinion than any of the UCs he visited, honestly. Cal Poly also really impressed him for its hands on engineering and great support of its teams.
Ultimately UCB won out for my son though, because of the superior flexibility of the curriculum within the College of Engineering, with more options for interesting electives and combinations of majors … and a better orchestra with the perfect blend of quality and accessibility 
So yes, ECs, clubs, and teams are important things to check out on admitted student visits. Talking to students involved in these activities can reveal a lot about the school!
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I’m bringing this up because many people are struggling with the fact that they were admitted to Berkeley, but are unsure if it is the right fit for them.
Didn’t your son (or was it you?) have to deal with people (relatives?) who were questioning his initial decision to go to Oregon State?
Yep, it’s definitely confusing to extended family when a student announces that they are picking their “safety school” over the reaches where they were admitted! 
He was admitted to most UCs and a bunch of other great schools… and Oregon State was a better fit for his interests than all of those.
He did want to go to Cal all along though, so when he was admitted off the Cal waitlist, it wasn’t a (very) difficult decision for him.
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