UC Santa Cruz Freshman Class of 2028 Waitlist/Appeal Discussion

Colleges & Universities University of California - Santa Cruz
1

Here is some UCSC waitlist information and using the template, please post your stats.

2023 Waitlist timeline: Small number of admits on Monday April 24, 2023. Rare admit May 3. More admits on Friday May 5. Few admits May 18 and June 6. Few admits around June 18 including CS. Admits on June 30 but for Winter quarter (appears to be a new option for Freshman admits).

2023 Updated from CDS:
Number of applicants offered the waitlist: 18,398
Number of applicants opting into the waitlist: 12,285
Number of applicants admitted: 10,812

Update from Common Dataset 2022:
Waitlist offers: 18,099
Accepting Waitlist offer: 11,919
Admits: 1,573

Remember that for the Waitlist, the # admitted varies from year to year.

Once all waitlist activities have concluded, students not offered admission from the waitlist will receive a final decision and may submit an appeal at that time. In addition, there is no appeal to be invited to join or be admitted from the waitlist.

2021:
Number of applicants offered waitlist: 19170
Number of applicants opting into the waitlist: 12541
Number admitted: 6633

  1. No specific timeline for waitlist admits. If space opens up before the SIR deadline of May 15, then students can be pulled from the waitlist.
  2. Residency type and major are not broken out for the UC waitlists
  3. The number of enrolled waitlisted students is not listed.
  4. No LOCI’s since UC’s do not consider demonstrated interest. Opting into the waitlist shows your interest in attending.
  5. Opting into the waitlist is by invitation only.
  6. You cannot appeal your decision while on the waitlist.

For waitlisted applicants please share the following:

Major (and division if applicable) applied to:

ACADEMIC STATS:
Calculate your GPAs with GPA Calculator for the University of California – RogerHub
UC Unweighted GPA:
UC Capped Weighted GPA:
UC Fully Weighted GPA:
ELC (top 9% CA HS):

Comments about course load (including senior year):
Number of a-g courses:
Number of UC Approved Honors courses:
AP courses/exams (scores in parentheses):
IB courses/exams (score in parentheses):
DE courses:

SUBJECTIVE::
Extracurriculars:
Job/Work Experience:
Volunteer/Community service:
Summer Activities:

Personal Insight essays (general details/topics):

Supplemental/Augmented Review: Yes or No

DEMOGRAPHICS::
State/location of HS (if domestic applicant):
Country (if international applicant):
Applied for need-based financial aid?
First Generation?

Other acceptances/waitlists/denials:

Will you accept a spot on the waitlist?

3

For UCSC waitlisted applicants please share the following:

Major (and division if applicable) applied to:

ACADEMIC STATS:
Calculate your GPAs with GPA Calculator for the University of California – RogerHub
UC Unweighted GPA:
UC Capped Weighted GPA:
UC Fully Weighted GPA:
ELC (top 9% CA HS):

Comments about course load (including senior year):
Number of a-g courses:
Number of UC Approved Honors courses:
AP courses/exams (scores in parentheses):
IB courses/exams (score in parentheses):
DE courses:

SUBJECTIVE::
Extracurriculars:
Job/Work Experience:
Volunteer/Community service:
Summer Activities:

Personal Insight essays (general details/topics):

Supplemental/Augmented Review: Yes or No

DEMOGRAPHICS::
State/location of HS (if domestic applicant):
Country (if international applicant):
Applied for need-based financial aid?
First Generation?

Other acceptances/waitlists/denials:

Will you accept a spot on the waitlist?

4

Major applied to: Biology

ACADEMIC STATS:
UC Unweighted GPA: 3.12
UC Capped Weighted GPA: 3.42
UC Fully Weighted GPA: 3.46
ELC (top 9% CA HS): I have no clue

Comments about course load (including senior year):
Number of a-g courses:
5 years English
5 years Math
4 years science
3 years Spanish
4 years avid (college prep)
1 year of visual and performing arts
2 years history
Number of UC Approved Honors courses: 4 honors courses
AP courses/exams (scores in parentheses): None
IB courses/exams (score in parentheses): None
DE courses:
1 class during junior summer
6 classes for senior year

SUBJECTIVE::
Extracurriculars:
2 years of academic decathlon, 1 year of leadership
Job/Work Experience:
6 months working at a restaurant
Volunteer/Community service:
Volunteer 8 hours a week at an animal shelter
Summer Activities: N/A

Personal Insight essays (general details/topics):
my role in leadership/ positive changes made
finding my voice again
inspiration through tv show
advocating for my education

Supplemental/Augmented Review: No

DEMOGRAPHICS::
State/location of HS (if domestic applicant): California

Applied for need-based financial aid?: No
First Generation?: No

Other acceptances/waitlists/denials: Waitlisted at cpp and ucsc; accepted humbolt sfsu, denied ucd ucsd

Will you accept a spot on the waitlist? Yes

2 Likes
5

It looks like only ~15% admits from the waitlists, other than the COVID years.
Since UCSC doesn’t rank the waitlisting, how do they admit?

6

Waitlist admits are based on each UC campus’ institutional priorities and the # of spots available after the admitted students accept or decline.

1 Like
7

Can you change your proposed major on the wait list ? Digging some old posts I found the link

8

Normally on the waitlist you cannot change your primary major. If the primary major is in the College of Engineering, then No. If the proposed major is a non-engineering college major, it does not make a difference on the major listed since they do not admit by major. You can take the required courses for any “proposed” major and then declare it after you have completed those courses.

9

He’s waitlisted for BS Comp Sc , on the link I saw it’s grayed but there’s option for
BA Comp Systems & also robotics engineering.
Does that mean changing to proposed Rob engineering will boost better chance ?

I was surprised that it was not grayed out . The robo Eng majors were declared on their first wave end of feb

10

Before changing the major on the link, I would contact UCSC and ask if changing the primary major choice now while on the waitlist will impact his chances.

11

Thanks , yes ofcourse I will ask since the option wasn’t mention to us.

So changing from comp sc to robotic engineering is ok ?

12

If UCSC gives you the option, I would assume it is Ok.

13

Waitlisted for computer science
3.2 GPA
Attends performing arts school so 8 classes per semester ( 8.25 hr school day) some are dual enrollment
Minimal AP, lots of volunteer service
Crossing fingers but not holding breath
Instate

14

Do you know where I can find waitlist data for 2020 (class of 2024)?
Just curious.
Thanks!

15

section C2 https://mediafiles.ucsc.edu/iraps/common-data-set/common-data-set-2020-21.pdf

1 Like
16

Thanks!

1 Like
17

Wait, so UC Santa Cruz accepted 8,000 off the waitlist last year???

18

Yes, but unfortunately they do not list how many students opted into the waitlist and how many they originally waitlisted but based on the previous years, around 18-19K were probably waitlisted originally.

1 Like
19

During 2020, and 2021, UCSC accepted a lot more students from waitlists, but last year it looked like 15%.
Data for 2023 is not there still but 2024 can be similar to 2023

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Major (and division if applicable) applied to: CS

ACADEMIC STATS:
UC Unweighted GPA: 4:00
UC Capped Weighted GPA:4.33
UC Fully Weighted GPA:4.33
ELC (top 9% CA HS):Yes

Comments about course load (including senior year):
Number of a-g courses:
Number of UC Approved Honors courses:
AP courses/exams (9): All 5
IB courses/exams (score in parentheses):
DE courses:

SUBJECTIVE::
Extracurriculars:Varsity Captain Tennis, MVP, Gold seal Award, CCS champ
Job/Work Experience:
Volunteer/Community service: 40 hours for Congressman
Summer Activities:

Personal Insight essays (general details/topics):

Supplemental/Augmented Review: No

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

Other acceptances/waitlists/denials: SJSU, SDSU

Will you accept a spot on the waitlist? Yes

Still waiting for first UC admit