UC Santa Barbara Class of 2028 Official Thread

Colleges & Universities University of California - Santa Barbara
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S24 Waitlisted (gosh darn!)
Major: Political Science
GPA: 3.96
UC Capped: 4.29
UC UnCapped 4.46

Extracurriculars: not a ton…lots of surfing
Job/Work Experience: Yes – same employer since we was 13 and he’s moved up and trained new employees
Volunteer/Community service: yes, not a ton, but some meaningful, local things
Summer Activities: Mostly employment, some volunteering, surfing, UCSB SRA 10th grade summer
Personal Insight essays (general details/topics): I haven’t read them but hoping they were good

State/location of HS (if domestic applicant): Bay Area

Accepted: UCSC, SDSU in Dec, Cal Poly, UCD, UCI, University of Hawaii, CSU LB
Waitlisted: UCSB & UCSD
Denied: n/a

UCSB is definitely his top choice so he’ll accept the waitlist and hope for the best. He’s bummed, but he has some good choices and will accept one by May 15 in the case UCSB doesn’t pan out.

When he got into UCI and UCD he said he hoped that he didn’t “use up his UC luck.” Really hoping he might have a little bit more to get him off the UCSB waitlist.

Congrats to all who were accepted!! xo

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Decision: S24 Declined
Merit scholarships awarded (if any):
Major (and division if applicable) applied to: Physics

ACADEMIC STATS::
UC Unweighted GPA: 3.75
UC Capped Weighted GPA: 4.08
UC Fully Weighted GPA: 4.08

ELC (top 9% CA HS): Yes

Number of a-g courses: 44
Number of UC Approved Honors courses: 16
AP courses/exams (scores in parentheses): 9 (2 x 4, 3 and 2 (Calc BC, got a 3 on the AB subsection))

Extracurriculars: Some School Clubs, highlighted informal leadership
Job/Work Experience: No
Volunteer/Community service: Minimal
Summer Activities: preCalc through U Utah (Online)

Personal Insight essays (general details/topics): Strong, worked quite a while on these and gave insight into some unique experiences and his personality

Supplemental/Augmented Review: No

DEMOGRAPHICS::
State/location of HS (if domestic applicant): Northern CA, Peninsula
Applied for need-based financial aid? No
First Generation? No

Accepted: CU Boulder, UCSC, UCR, Cal Poly Pomona, SJSU
Waitlisted: UW, SDSU
Declined: UCI, UCD, UCLA, UCSD, UCSB
Waiting: UC Berkeley, Occidental, Harvey Mudd, USC, Rice, Stanford, Cal Poly SLO

At this point, we are considering it low chance of any additional admissions and are planning visits to both CU Boulder and UCSC, his top choices of places he’s been admitted. Putting my own stereotypes aside, I’m already very impressed with what is available in sciences and math (his interests) at both schools!

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Decision: D24 accepted
Major: Pre- Psychological & Brain Sciences
In state: Bay Area.

ACADEMIC STATS::
UC Unweighted GPA: 3.97
UC Capped Weighted GPA: 4.2
UC Fully Weighted GPA: 4.8

AP/honors classes: 16
DE: 10+

PIQ’s: Wrote about leadership, significant challenge ( kept the tone positive) , favorite academic subject and why, and creative side which was connected to a class. Genuine, positive, concrete examples, passions and what’s important to her all came through in her application. Kept it simple. She hasn’t published a book or done research. But her application shows consistency in her activities and part-time job. She is an AP Scholar with Distinction, has academic awards in school all four years for being tippy-top student. I looked at her UC app tonight so I could give some examples of the overall tone of the application(without giving details). I also looked at my son’s UC app from 2021 and his app is also very straight to the point, concrete examples, positive, and also simple. He didn’t have the academics that my daughter does, but his one major activity is all over his application in many different ways…participant in a sport, captain, coach of summer camps for years. Athletic Scholar. And part time job. Both took classes at the junior college and my son focused more on classes that were in one subject area. They both had at least 5 years of math and both had a full senior yr schedule with full rigor. He had a couple of grade blips in sophomore year and explained why in application. Had upward trend rest of high school. He is at UC Davis. He had an augmented review for UCLA and did not get in. ( 2021). Lastly, both of their applications were well written. No spelling or grammatical mishaps.

Hope this helps future UC appies. :slight_smile:

Acceptances: SCU, Michigan, Wisconsin, SLO, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC Santa Cruz, UCLA, UCSB.
WL: UCSD

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My Son

Decision: Waitlisted
Major (and division if applicable) applied to: Computer Science
Alt Major: Physics
ACADEMIC STATS::
UC Unweighted GPA: 3.94
UC Capped Weighted GPA: 4.3
UC Fully Weighted GPA:4.65

ELC (top 9% CA HS): Y

Comments about course load (including senior year):
Number of a-g courses: 28
Number of UC Approved Honors courses: 6 H, 11 AP
AP courses/exams (scores in parentheses): one 4, the rest 5s
DE courses: 3

SUBJECTIVE::
Extracurriculars: Cofounder/VP of a large Coding Club, published programming tutorials with a large audience, game developer, ASB with a technician role, and coder
Volunteer/Community service: SAT tutor with ~60 service hours

Personal Insight essays (general details/topics): He talked about making/helping manage the club, working on games, his love of history and how it’s impacted him in computer science, and making coding tutorials to help young developers.

State/location of HS (if domestic applicant): Orange County, CA
Applied for need-based financial aid? No
First Generation? No
Other acceptances: CSUN , ASU, CSLB, CSUF, UCM, UCR, Penn State, CPP, SDSU, UCSC
Waitlisted: UCD, UCI
Rejected: UCSD, UCLA

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Such a competitive major, but I bet one of those WL will pull through for him . My nephew is at ASU for CS and loves it.

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Thank you so much for your kind words. ASU gave him a 56000 dollars scholarship, but he is very sad and depressed. I keep telling him how proud I am, but he is doubting himself a lot.

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Oh no, I’m so sorry to hear this . He has great stats and experience , he will land where he is meant to be ….and thrive . :heart:

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Thanks, I really needed to hear that. :heart_eyes:

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This is a tough time for some kids as they’ve all worked so hard and it can be discouraging when they don’t get in where they hoping. Sadly, CS is an impacted major everywhere. There was a student at our school who had a very high GPA like your son and strong activities, also applying for CS. He only applied to UCs and got waitlisted at several, but no acceptances. He ultimately went to a state school, but due to his APs and courseload was able to transfer after one year and got into UCSD. Additionally, a number of kids at our school got off the waitlist at UCSB in past years, so there’s still a chance!

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I really appreciate your encouragement. I will let him know. It is definitely a good idea. He keeps insisting on going to a CC, but based on this year’s result, I am afraid that he can’t get accepted to any CS program later.

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CC is a good option as well. If he is targeting a UC, he can guarantee a spot in certain UCs through the TAP program. Not sure how it is at every UC, but in our experience at Cal, you can’t apply to your major until you take certain prerequisites (and some have gpa requirements), so getting into a UC at this stage is still not a guarantee you’ll get your major.

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Unfortunately, the CS major is excluded from TAG in all UCs except UCM and UCR, which he has already been accepted to.

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I know multiple high stats, well rounded kids who only got accepted to Riverside or UCSC for CS. CS has been like shooting for the moon here in CA. I feel so bad for all of the kids this month, it’s been so stressful.

I know CC to UC won’t TAG CS, but that is always an option to try if his heart is set on a UC. My daughter wasn’t counting on getting in anywhere and already had a plan to do a CC for a year and combine it with AP credit so she wouldn’t have to wait two years. At least it would have kept her moving forward faster.
But waitlisted there is still hope!

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Decision: D24 Accepted
Merit scholarships awarded (if any):
Major (and division if applicable) applied to: Pre-Psychological and Brain Sciences
ACADEMIC STATS::
UC Unweighted GPA: 3.96
UC Capped Weighted GPA: 4.29
UC Fully Weighted GPA: 4.46
ELC (top 9% CA HS): Don’t know
Comments about course load (including senior year):
Number of a-g courses: 25
Number of UC Approved Honors courses: 9
AP courses/exams (scores in parentheses): 7, (submitted 5, 4, & 3).
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): none
SUBJECTIVE::
Extracurriculars: Several years of competitive volleyball, 3 years on two varsity sports
Job/Work Experience: Working at a coffee shop for 1.5 years
Volunteer/Community service: food bank, part of several clubs
Personal Insight questions: wrote about work, being a mediator, involvement at school, and shortened common app essay
Supplemental/Augmented Review: No
DEMOGRAPHICS::
State/location of HS (if domestic applicant): Southern California
Applied for need-based financial aid? no
First Generation? no
Other acceptances/waitlists/denials: Accepted to UCSC, Cal Poly SLO, CU Boulder, SDSU, Chapman
waitlisted at UCD, UCSD, Santa Clara
denied at UCI, UCLA, Tulane

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Merced and riverside are great schools. They are still highly ranked nationally. I would encourage him to go visit both schools.

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Unfortunately, CS is like shooting for the moon just about everywhere.

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Oh wow! This could have so easily been my son.
I’m thinking back on all those classes that were 91% could just have easily been 89%, in the end he did get 89% in one class but that was this year-senior year.
I’m seeing how the 4.0 9-11 th grade really helped him out.
And I’m seeing how the focus on 90% vs the 89% is also not good.
To me that 3.97 seems like it should be equivalent to a 4.0. Doesn’t it just mean 2-3 weighted B+ grades? And shouldn’t students be rewarded for trying the hardest and most challenging subjects that can, if they wish?
We told our son earning a 89% was awesome in his most challenging subject and basicalky equivalent to a 90%. But seeing now how having that happen senior year and not before may explain how he got into every UC and CSU he applied to.
Also, he did not apply to Computer science because we have several brilliant friends who did not get accepted to their favorite schools who applied to that highly impacted major.fortunately for him, he is equally interested in many subjects- math, physics, computers, robotics and AI. He in the end picked majors in the Colleges of Letters and Sciences, though hesitated for Berkeley as he visited a friend of a friend there in the EECS department. In the end, he picked math instead of EECS for Cal, we’ll see at the end of the month how that one goes.
Edited to add, oh I didn’t see the alt choice of Physics, dang that is a bummer! I wish he would’ve been considered for his second choice there! May I ask how many weighted Bs are there, asking for my younger teens turn, I’d love to just remove the pressure to get that 4.0 gpa (bc it’s not low, a 3,96 is in reality Excellent, and also look at less prestigious or less famous or less coastal schools for her. My oldest is having excellent results but seeing everyone’s info on here makes me want to lower our expectations for future. Not that she might not also be applying to top schools like her brother but I’m seeing how many Californians with top grades are being shut out of the campuses on the coasts.
Also Congrats on UC Santa Cruz! stunning campus and great town! Have you visited? I bet the CS program is excellent there, plus very close proximity to Silicon Valley!

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was notified about CCS acceptance today

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Congratulations!!!

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D24 was accepted into CCS Studio Arts!

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