Son was rejected from UCLA, UCB, UCSD, UCSB, UCI, UCD, CPSLO and now CPP. Wait-listed at UCR. Accepted to CSULB (pre-major).
Computer Science is a nightmare to try to get in anywhere in California for fall 2017. Ditto several other impacted majors. Not that UC admissions were ever a walk in the park. Still, this is crazy.
Learnings:
- Apply even more broadly than you think you should. I hate to say this, because it will only exacerbate the arms race that is overwhelming all the adcoms everywhere. Yet "safety" has suddenly become "reach" for many impacted majors. Plenty of kids with great stats were denied at the UCs (and CSUs) this year.
- Consider applying OOS via WUE (look it up, great deal). They want you and it's not expensive!
- Look up the detailed stats from the preceding year for each school to understand where the opportunities and roadblocks lie for the intended major(s).
- Think carefully about your first and second choice majors and be strategic. UCSB finally told my son, after the fact, that their College of Engineering considers admission to only one major. So if you don't get in to your preferred major and your alternate major is also in the CoE, you are rejected from the university with no recourse. We kind of wish they had thought to mention this before. This may also be the case at other campuses.
- CCCs sound good in principle, however, they are so overrun with students that many struggle to get needed classes to transfer. And UCLA, UCB and UCSD no longer participate in TAG. Articulation agreements may not provide a path. Still a decent option, with some caveats.
- GPA seems to override everything including SAT/ACT, ECs, URM status and essays. Most unfortunate, as plenty of actual geniuses have 3.5s or worse in high school.
- The strategy of getting in undeclared to a top school and then trying to slide into an impacted major is not likely to work. Don't go there. (UCSD admitted their CSE majors to pre-major status this year and will do a lottery later for everyone with 3.3 or higher GPA--the vast majority will be left high and dry. Ouch.)
After participating as a parent in all this craziness, I was motivated to write a long post (link below). In it, I propose a matching system for UC and CSU admissions, based on the way we assign medical residency slots. Several forum members suggested I submit it to the L.A. Times as a guest editorial, so I did. Haven’t heard anything yet from the Times–guess it’s waitlisted! 