What years are you looking at? Acceptance rates have gone down from 2020 to 2021 and 2022 - due to COVID effects, then over enrollment, and increases in applications (others can talk about this more). I suspect 2023 was lower still, but haven’t seen school-by-school data to confirm. It also seems like there was a lot of movement on wait lists last year, so the acceptance rate increased between March and June or whenever they close wait lists.
Our school has a tool we use called scoir where students get to share their acceptance results. 75% fewer kids have acceptances from UCD from her school this year vs each of the last two years. I would have thought they would be the same or more given the movement of wait lists last year.
Having said that last two years only 25% of the kids from her school enrolled at uc davis so i was wondering if UC davis is proactively reducing the acceptance rates to manage the yield instead of giving so many of them admissions to find out only 25% from her school have enrolled in UC davis over the last two years and that these kids are likely to go elsewhere given their student profile/ stats etc.
This obviously allows to manage their yield by placing additional candidates on a waitlist.
I don’t think the UCs worry about yield (and most campuses lose the greatest number of students to other campuses, so they’re only sort of lost). My son’s school didn’t have SCOIR, so don’t know the details, but assuming students enter info themselves, I wonder how many kids just haven’t added their info yet? Decisions just came out, and I could absolutely see many kids focusing on other things (including waiting until all decisions are out to enter any).
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Its possible but find it unlikely given what i have observed to date with the two UCs that have released their admissions. Will have to see when UCSC releases decisions later this week. It seems that UCs have changed their approach to admits given that they lose the greatest number of students to other campuses as this new approach may allows them to manage their enrollment yield better.
Not sure if anybody else has any data that can verify the above.
My son’s school uses Naviance and the students post their acceptances/denials there, but most students don’t update it until late May since that’s our high school’s deadline.
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Don’t you think it’s a little too early for kids to share their acceptances? They released the results last Friday, and it’s only Monday morning. My guess is you will see more in the next few days.
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SCOIR is self reported by students. Since admissions noticed were posted Friday, I suspect that many students haven’t yet updated their SCOIR account to reflect acceptances.
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He’s still in the run for other UCs. Don’t lose hope!
We’ve been through the roller coaster and arrived destination years ago!
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Decision: Waitlist
Major (and division if applicable) applied to: Animal Science
ACADEMIC STATS::
UC Unweighted GPA: 3.8
UC Fully Weighted GPA: 3.9
Comments about course load (including senior year):
Number of a-g courses: 21
Number of UC Approved Honors courses: 1 AP Psych; 3 AP senior year (Physics, CalcAB, Envi. Sci)
SUBJECTIVE:
Extracurriculars: 10 years Gymnastics team (Level 8/Excel Diamond; 3rd AA at National meet); 3 years Fencing Foil Varsity; 1 year Volleyball JV
Job/Work Experience: Gymnastics Coach Excel Bronze/Silver
Volunteer/Community service: Special Ed volunteer; Animal foster
Supplemental/Augmented Review: No
DEMOGRAPHICS::
State/location of HS (if domestic applicant): OOS NJ
Other acceptances/waitlists/denials:
Accept: Purdue, Ohio State, Rutgers, UMass Amherst, CSU Ft. Collins, CalPoly SLO, CalPoly Pomona
Waitlist: Grinnell
Reject: Penn
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Could anyone give me some generalized pros and cons for UC Davis rn? It’s currently in my top 3 choices, along with Cal Poly SLO which I also got into, but I’m not sure what to choose at this point. i want to make some comparisons. Still waiting for UCSB and Stanford decisions. my major is psych by the way. thank you!
I will list things about UC Davis and you can decide for yourself if they are pros or cons.
Academics: The quarter system is a grind so you need to keep on top of your classes immediately. Since the classes are 10 weeks, you can have more variety of classes within the academic year and get your least favorites classes over with quickly. Davis is seriously underrated academically. The place does $1.1B in annual sponsored research. You will have good professors and bad just like any other school. There are plenty of opportunities but as with any school it can be competitive.
Students: Socially, UCD is more earthy, laid back and friendly but there are students who drink and party if you like that scene. UCD students work hard but tend to be more collaborative. I would look at the curriculum for each school’s program and see which program best suits your academic interests.
Housing: On-campus housing is guaranteed for in-coming Freshman. Most continuing students will move off campus 2nd year and beyond. They do offer campus housing for continuing students but it is limited. There are 3 main areas for Freshman housing: Tercero, Segundo and Cuarto. Tercero are mainly triples and near the Dairy. Supposedly better food options and near many of the STEM related classes. Segundo is near the ARC/North end of campus and will have doubles and triples. Cuarto has been recently renovated, are suite style with doubles and triples. Located across the street from Segundo, off campus but near a small shopping center including Trader Joe’s.
Campus and area: UCD is a biking campus and had a great bus system which gets you around campus and town. The quintessential small town feel but only 20 min to Sacramento airport and about 1 1/2 to 2 hours away from Lake Tahoe, San Francisco Bay Area and Napa/Sonoma wine country.
UCD is large campus surrounded by rural farmland and Wildlife wetlands near by. They have a huge arboretum with bike and walking paths throughout the flat campus. Yes, there are cows and other farm animals on campus, but the smell is usually not noticeable.
Downtown Davis has many specialty shops, plenty of restaurants and cafes. Costco, Home Depot, Best Buy are in Woodland which is 15 minutes north of town, by car or bus (Yolo bus), so everything you need is relatively close. There is a Target just east of campus and some kids bike over to that shopping center. There is an Amtrak train station in town so access to San Jose and Bay Area. Also the UC Davis/Berkeley shuttle.
Weather: It also has four seasons so rain and cold during the winter, a beautiful Spring and Fall then a Hot summer (100F).
Hopefully you can visit to check it out for yourself.
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We live OOS in Texas and DD was admitted to Davis for Biological Sciences which has been her top choice for years. However the cost is incredibly high for OOS, and she wasn’t awarded scholarships.
Does anyone know how difficult it is to establish residency after a year? (Or if there is a separate thread somewhere that discusses this?)
She was also awarded a full ride scholarship to Ohio State but is less excited about attending there. We are trying to explore options to make Davis work via residency and applying for external scholarships. Thank you.
Very difficult if the student comes to CA for educational purposes. If the student is under 24, they derive their residency from where the parents reside. The student would have to prove complete financial independence so no help from family and show they plan to make CA their permanent home.
https://www.ucop.edu/residency/residency-requirements.html
Undergraduates: If you’re a nonresident undergraduate student with nonresident parents, obtaining California residency for the purposes of tuition is extremely difficult (this includes transfer students from community colleges and other postsecondary institutions within California). Virtually all nonresident undergraduates with nonresident parents remain nonresidents for the duration of their undergraduate career at UC.
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Thank you, this is helpful.
Any idea on how parents can establish California residency? If I buy a house there and work remotely from there, will that do it?
No, both student and parent need to reside in California 366 days prior to the Residency determination. You would need to show proof such as a Driver’s License, Voter registration etc. indicating you will make CA your permanent home along with cutting ties with your current state of residency.
Here is the complete UC Residency policy. https://www.ucop.edu/uc-legal/_files/ed-affairs/uc-residence-policy.pdf
Just wanted to add, there are “on-campus” apartment option for continuing students after 1st year (i.e. Green in the West Village). Also, meal plan is optional if living in Green. Overall, housing at Davis is not as bad as other UC campuses (from what I heard).
Beside Woodland, Sacramento is also about 15 minutes away, where you could find Walmart and Ikea. Also, most importantly, there is an in-n-out burger in downtown Davis.
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The city has amazing food. Very few chain restaurants but a lot of local owned eateries. The city itself has high costs for buying houses and they didn’t lose value in 2008 crash. It’s a very highly rated area to live. It’s safe to walk around unlike some other areas in California.
If you want the opportunity to take the train (Bay Area/SF) or uber to Sacramento, where there is diversity (I’m from the area and D24 got into UCD), UCDavis is your place. SLO is kinda in the middle of nowhere and the surrounding area does not have as much diversity vs. the UC Davis area.