UC Santa Barbara Class of 2029 Waitlist and Appeal Discussion

Colleges & Universities University of California - Santa Barbara
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With Freshman decisions posting on March 18, I am starting a Waitlist/Appeal discussion.

2024 Waitlist Timeline: Admits on May 8, May 9, May 15, May 17, May 20, May 22. Instate wave May 29. Few admits June 4, June 20, June 28.

Below are some waitlist stats from the last few years but are not predictive of this year’s chances.

UCSB Waitlist 2024 CDS Data

Number of qualified applicants offered a place on waiting list: 15058
Number accepting a place on the waitlist 10641
Number of waitlisted students admitted 8715

UCSB Waitlist 2023

Number of qualified applicants offered a place on waiting list: 15689
Number accepting a place on the waitlist 9670
Number of waitlisted students admitted 5493
NO DATA FOR APPEALS

UCSB Waitlist 2022

Number of qualified applicants offered a place on waiting list: 16340
Number accepting a place on the waitlist 10163
Number of waitlisted students admitted 2793
  1. UC Waitlists are not ranked and it is not first in, first admitted.
  2. There is no way to determine your chances from being admitted off the waitlist. It will be depend upon how many admitted students SIR and how many spots are open after the deadline.
  3. No specific timeline for waitlist admits. If space opens up before the SIR deadline of May 1, then students can be pulled from the waitlist.
  4. Residency type and major are not broken out for the UC waitlist statistics.
  5. The number of waitlisted students that actually enroll is not listed.
  6. No LOCI’s since UC’s do not consider demonstrated interest. Opting into the waitlist shows your interest in attending.
  7. Opting into the waitlist is by invitation only.
  8. You cannot appeal your decision while on the waitlist.

UCSB Admissions Appeal Information: Appeal Process | Undergraduate Admissions

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is it possible to be admitted to an impacted major like engineering off the waitlist?

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Yes, you will be considered for 1st choice and alternate major.

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Is there a high chance of getting off the waitlist due to previous historical data admitting almost 58% percent 2023, and 80% 2024?

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Really hoping the numbers from last year’s waitlist hold because UCSB was one of S25’s top choices and getting waitlisted really stung. He’s had 3 waitlists in the last 5 days but this one hurt the most.

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Every year is different so one can only hope.

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Is your application reviewed again, or is it random

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Every campus may evaluate their waitlisted applicants differently but most will re-review your application when they are making the decision to admit based on available spots, major and institutional priorities.

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How much harder would you say engineering is

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Also when you get waitlisted, is it usually for your first choice?

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@Gumbymom, seems like UCSB is admitting such a large set of folks from their waitlist. any reason why they follow this strategy? they waitlist one too many folks and thank you for sharing this data. It was really interesting. year on year they follow the same strategy

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How much harder is it to get off the waitlist for Engineering is that your question? Since UCSB has a smaller Engineering College than many UC’s, it can be harder to be admitted off the waitlist. It really depends on how many slots are left after the May 1 deadline.

In general, applicants are waitlisted for their 1st choice major but not always. If admitted off the waitlist, you could be admitted for your first choice, alternate and sometimes undeclared.

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I do not know why they follow the strategy other than they may not want to be over enrolled so they under enroll and then fill in the gaps with the waitlist so they control their yield better??.

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Agree with you that they may be doing it to control the yield. otherwise accepting 8.5K students from 10.5K students who accepted waitlist offer is really odd. they are giving chance to let go off 5K who wouldn’t care to accept the waitlist offer. sounds odd with so many waitlist->acceptance conversion and this process is bit too opaque.. :slight_smile:

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DS, Waitlisted for phyiscs major OOS. stats in UCSD Thread.
Note: Reviewed the waitlist past data for UCSB from Gumbymom (thanks much) and that looked odd with so many waitlists year after year from this UC.

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@Gumbymom is that true for most WL experiences or does it vary by UC?

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Worth noting that my year, barely anybody got off the waitlist.

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Sorry, you mean that almost everyone in the wait list was accepted or the other way round? Then I wanted to know if being waitlisted Is anyway positive for an International student

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I believe @gauchoengineering meant that UCSB did not accept many students off the waitlist the year they were admitted as an Engineering student.

A waitlist is definitely better than a denial but there is no way to know if being International is a positive since it will depend upon how many spots are available after May 1.

2024 Freshman International admit rate was 30% and yield rate was 7%. Since International students receive no financial aid to attend, the enrollment is low. Also the UC Regents goal is to cap OOS and International student enrollment to 18% by this year.

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