UC Santa Barbara Class of 2029 Official Thread

Colleges & Universities University of California - Santa Barbara
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Decision: Accepted

Major (and division if applicable) applied to: Biology

ACADEMIC STATS::

UC Unweighted GPA: 3.98 (one B+ on transcript, rest As)

UC Capped Weighted GPA: 4.23

UC Fully Weighted GPA: ?

ELC (top 9% CA HS): Yes

Comments about course load (including senior year): 12th – 4 APs, one DE; 11th – 4 APs, 2 DE; 9th and 10th – lots of Honors

Number of a-g courses: 28

Number of UC Approved Honors courses: 10

Number of AP courses/exams (scores in parentheses): 4 exams with 4s

SUBJECTIVE::

Extracurriculars: 4 year swimmer; leadership; 4 years of photography; service clubs; Mock Trial (two year captain)

Job/Work Experience: Yes, summer plus some year round

Volunteer/Community service: Yes, including service club leader

Summer Activities: WORK!

Personal Insight essays (details): Very well rounded, good sense of voice/personality

Supplemental/Augmented Review: No

DEMOGRAPHICS::

State/location of HS (if domestic applicant): Nor Cal

Country (if international applicant):

Applied for need-based financial aid? Yes

First Generation? No

REFLECTION::

Strengths: Authentic kid

Weaknesses: Maybe could have more leadership?

Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/denied:
Accepted LMU, SCU, Cal Poly, and a few others
WL SDSU, BC

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282

The UC waitlist game has been wild!!
Daughter in at UCSB and thrilled.
4/4.3 (capped)
9 APs/ 3 Honors
Pre-Biology
Three time President’s gold volunteering
Leadership in two clubs
UCSF internship over summer that she sought out herself

So happy this kiddo will stay in state!!

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283

for anyone who got regents, where do you see that you actually got regents in your portal? I can’t find the scholarship anywhere.

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S25 Accepted

In-state
Major: Environmental Studies
Unweighted UC gpa: 4.0
Capped UC gpa: 4.33
Fully Weighted UC gpa: 4.42
ELC: no
AP/honors: 10

Acceptances: SDSU, UCSC, UC Davis, UCI, UCSB, Cal Poly SLO, UW Seattle

Waitlists: UCSD

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Daughter

Decision: accepted Neurocognitive Science

Merit scholarships awarded: none

UC Unweighted GPA: 4.0

UC Capped Weighted GPA:4.35

UC Fully Weighted GPA:4.49

ELC (top 9% CA HS): yes, Merced

Comments about course load (including senior year): substantial

Number of UC Approved Honors courses: 4

Number of AP courses/exams: 6

Number of college courses: 8

State/location of HS: California

EC:

Selected and serving member of International Teen Advisory Committee for Global Ehlers Danlos Foundation

2X Camp Counselor SciCon

Invited to and attended Camp Royal for top HS students

VP of Competition - FBLA, went to Nationals

4 years of Theatre

2 part time jobs: Peer tutor and Retail clothing store

Plays piano, flute, guitar

National Honor Society

CSF

Accepted:

Chapman/UC Irvine: 5 year BS/BS Applied Math, Engineering

Fordham: Applied mathematics

Fresno State: Mechanical Engineering

San Jose State: Mechanical Engineering

CalPoly SLO: Mechanical Engineering

UC Merced: Bioengineering

UCR: Bioengineering, 5yr BS/MS

Waitlisted:

UCSD, Aerospace Engineering

Pending:

UCLA, UCB, Pomona, Vassar, Barnard at Columbia, Stanford, Brown University, Harvard, Yale

Rejections: none… so far

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286

25 Decision: Accepted (In-state)

Major: Undeclared in College of Letters and Sciences (did not get admitted to CS in College of Engineering)

UC Unweighted GPA: 4.0

UC Capped Weighted GPA: 4.27

UC Fully Weighted GPA: 4.60

accepted: UCSC, UCR, RPI, UO
waitlisted: UCSD, UCD
rejected: Stanford (REA), UCI, UW
pending: UCLA, Berkeley, Cal Poly SLO (likely waitlisted or rejected since still awaiting decision)

Given that it’s very difficult to switch to CS in College of Engineering from College of Letters and Sciences, son will likely not enroll.

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287

Gumbymom, how active is the UCSB waitlist? D25 waitlisted at SB. She was accepted at UCD, and waiting on UCLA and Cal.

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Unless cost of attendance is not an issue, he should go to CU. Big State U, thus lots of resources. Plus instate tuition.

289

Here is the waitlist info: UC Santa Barbara Class of 2029 Waitlist and Appeal Discussion

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My son is in the same boat. He learned he’s a Regent’s scholar at the Chancellor Reception, but he hasn’t received anything in the mail and we don’t see anything in the portal.

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UCSB Results Survey 2025:

This form is for tracking decision results, so it’s all centralized for future students. If you could fill this out once you get your decision, that would be very appreciated!

You can see all other people’s individual responses in the links above, along with overall form statistics (such as what percent got accepted).

292

My daughter’s 3rd UC waitlist as well with similar stats: 4.0 unweighted, 4.3 weighted, 7 honors/AP + various ECs, including dental clinic internship…getting discouraged. She did get into great privates with scholarships but really wanted UCSB.

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I will say it’s definitely not impossible, but yeah

Should be much easier to switch to Computer Engineering, which is more or less the same thing

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accepted international!!

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Accepted College of Creative Studies for the Art major, email at 6 PM PST from advising@ccs.ucsb.edu !

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Same stats/same boat, but we just haven’t heard from either of the 2 private schools yet so just have a string of WL at UCs + one in undeclared at UCSD, and some acceptances at good programs at OOS schools.
She really wanted to be at a UC for engineering. Hoping for a turn in her luck… very discouraging so far.

UW 4.0 UC 4.36 W capped, 4.5 W uncapped. ELC.
10 APs, 1 CC class in engineering, great extracurriculars, a certification for university-level language skills in German, internship in German in physics. Not sure what is going on.

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We are in the same boat! With the same stats! And S25 has also gotten some good money at privates but wanted to stay in state. Hard to not get discouraged! This UC system doesn’t make sense sometimes! Hang in there…

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We didn’t apply to any privates, as my son is super specific about what he wants to study and it’s only really available at big research universities. He did get into a lot of out of state schools with aid, but at this point he is likely going to commit to Davis and then wait and see if he gets off the SD waitlist. I don’t think he’ll get into UCLA but I hold a sliver of hope for Cal.

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Decision: waitlist

Merit scholarships awarded (if any):
None

Major (and division if applicable) applied to: environmental science

ACADEMIC STATS::

UC Unweighted GPA: 4.0

UC Capped Weighted GPA:

UC Fully Weighted GPA: 4.2

ELC (top 9% CA HS): yes

Comments about course load (including senior year):

Number of a-g courses:

Number of UC Approved Honors courses: 2 AP, 2 Honors

Number of AP courses/exams (scores in parentheses): 2 (4)

Extracurriculars: captain Water polo, basketball, swim.

Job/Work Experience:

Volunteer/Community service:
Over 700 hours

Summer Activities: club water polo, environmental science internship

Applied for need-based financial aid? No

First Generation? No

Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/denied:

Accepted - UCI, UCSD, UCD,UCR, UCSC, SDSU, LB, Fullerton, SJSU, SLO, Santa Clara

Denied - none so far

Waiting- UCB, UCLA, USC

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300

D25 Accepted for Undeclared (applied Mechanical Engineering)

UC unweighted GPA: 4.0
UC weighted & capped GPA: 4.33
UC fully weighted GPA: 4.67
Number of A-G classes: 25
Number of UC approved Honors/AP/IB or DE courses: 14
In-State/OOS/International: In-state
ELC (top 9% CA HS): Yes
IB Diploma, Valedictorian

Accepted: UCSD, UCSB, UCD, Cal Poly SLO, SDSU, Purdue, UTK, UNC Charlotte, Oregon State, University of Arizona
Waitlisted: UCI
Waiting on: UCLA, UCB, Georgia Tech, Cornell

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