@Jokes123 The way these decisions have come out seem so arbitrary to me- my D didn’t get into UCD( which was her top choice) and friends with similar GPA and lower test scores did(same/similar majors) she got early acceptance to to UCSC )bio molecular engineering)and her friends either haven’t heard yet, or didn’t get accepted to the engineering program(accepted as undeclared). Now she feels like she will get waitlisted or rejected everywhere else she’s applied 
@Meli1168 same. My son got into UCD, SLO and SDSU Honors, waitlisted at UCSC, denied at UCSD. Fortunately he’s happy with either of the 3 he got into but interesting how there doesn’t to seem to be a lot of rhyme or reason unless they are reading into the essays and looking for culture fit?
Oh well. Good luck!!
@Meli1168 @TheCollegeDad My son got into SLO, SDSU and other private colleges with scholarship, but was waitlisted at both UCSD and UCD. His GPA 3.8-3.9UW, 4.1W, ACT 35. We are now expecting either waitlisting or rejection for the rest of the UCs. Oh well…
Best of luck !
@2bigkids I wouldn’t necessarily expect the rest to be waitlist/rejections. What is typically unknown about the UC system is that all universities can see each others decisions. Due to this, when students with high stats are being accepted to the higher tier UCs, other lower-tiered UCs will deny them as they assume the student will attend the more elite UC anyways (yield protection). Best of luck!
@unspirituals: ^^^^completely false. Over qualified and yield protection are always the reasons given for high stat applicants that are not accepted. Each UC campus will determine their decisions not only on academics, EC’s and essays but also on the best fit.
That is why decisions can be unpredictable.
I’m super interested in this discussion. My son got into UCSD, UCSC, SLO, and SDSU honors. But he was waitlisted at UCD! What if he had really wanted to go to UCD? We are in Orange County so I’m thinking location might be a factor? I don’t really understand fit. He did not proclaim his adoration for any of the UCs via essays because he didn’t want to offend. BTW his major is ME and he has gotten his first choice major for his acceptances. I’d love to hear some wisdom because I’m clueless.
@Gumbymom It isn’t false… the UCs are notorious for yield protecting. If you look the the candidates denied this year from UCSD, they were either well over the threshold of average statistics or way below. Almost all of the students admitted were in the average threshold. Not a coincidence.
I am also curious, but I 100% believe @GumbyMom, as she is spot on with every insight and prediction she has made over the last several years. So much so, that bloggers continue to ask her if she is an admissions officer. (=
I want to believe yield protection is a real thing, because my son got waitlisted at Cal Poly and UCSD as a ME major and he has a 3.9 GPA, 4.2 GPA weighted, a 1450 SAT and a 770 SAT II in Math. If yield protections were real, he may still get a UC acceptance. Sadly, he had a half dozen friends who graduated last year with the same stats and they got waitlisted at EVERY UC they applied to.
My Son did get into every out of state he applied to as well as SDSU and was encouraged to apply to the Weber Honors College, which he didn’t do because he was hoping for Poly and wasn’t even looking at SDSU originally. He’s starting to get excited about SDSU, and wanted to walk the campus, but we are in the bay area and I am not sure we can get out due to our shelter in place.
Thinking it’s not likely for UCLA, UCI or UCSB. Not sure why he is assuming the worst, but it just seems so hard too get into a UC these days if you don;t have a 1550 SAT.
Fingers crossed.
@unspirituals I have heard this before. But if UCB, UCLA, UCSB and UCI all haven’t made a decision - how can UCSD and UCD etc. (those who released already) used other UCs decisions in their decision making?
Don’t forget they also take the personal insight questions into account. And, as I’ve mentioned before, I’m sure each school has different qualities they are looking for. We have no idea how much emphasis they place on that.
What would be considered an average threshold? My D has a 4.2 W GPA, 1450 SAT and a 770 SAT II (Math) and was waitlisted. Qualified, but not admitted. That’s a tough pill to swallow. @kikiob has a point that maybe my son’s personal insight question was not on point?!? I tend to believe that carries some weight.
@unspirituals: This is not a debating society, so all opinions are welcomed but if you plan to pursue this line of thinking, then please present some un refutable evidence to back up your statements.
CC is a self selecting group of posters and you cannot make judgements based on a few hundred posted stats vs. the thousands of admits.
No one can take into account how much the personal insight essays, EC’s, special talents, life experiences etc… are factored into each UC campuses decision unless you are actually involved in the process. This is what makes life and UC admissions unpredictable.
At this point I say we can agree to disagree.
@kishorekp shared that their child received…
- UCI - CS - 1st major - Feb 14 - offered Regents (5K) and Dean scholarship (6K/2 yrs)
- UCSD - Math-computer science - 2nd major - no scholarship news - mar 13th
- UC Riverside - CS + 1 yr masters - 1st major - 10K in Regents - march 4th
- UCSC - CS - 1st Major - Feb 28
- UCD - math - math & scientific comp - 1st major
Given these types of reports, I would tend to believe yield projection is not unilaterally applied, or 5 UC’s would not have accepted. Congrats to @kishorekp! Much to be proud of!
It’s going to be OK. Sometimes you don’t know why you weren’t picked and someone else was. That’s life. As hard it is to watch and not be able to do anything to help our kids it is a learning experience and part of growing up. Kids need and deserve our love and support no matter what happens. Give them the tools to respond to setbacks and disappointments because it is an important life skill.
Good luck everyone! Chinese International here, CS applicant, 1490/35/113, so far accepted at UCD and UCSD. Can’t wait for my UCSB decision (if I get in SB I would assume I had a great chance at UCLA, which is my dream school).
Good discussions 
For me, I am just trying to set the right expectations so that there would not be too big of a disappointment if the worst happens. I told my son that waitlist means that he still has a chance. I also told him that this selection process is somewhat subjective, so don’t take the decisions too personally. I am also just hoping for the best.
Just that deep down inside, I am worried that him being waitlisted can be because his personal insight question answers were not as good as other applicants’, and if so it would affect his chance for admissions at the other UCs.
Anyway, I wish everyone best of luck!
@unspirituals I’ve definitely heard rumors of what you’re saying from others, but no one could provide any evidence that it is true. Can you tell me the source of your claim, or are they just from your own observations? And what is this “average threshold” that you speak of? Give me an example of what an average threshold is.
Some insight: My daughter had a low test score because she has a learning disability but high gpa, almost every AP offered, (I only think she skipped 1 this spring semester,) tons of awards, EC’s, leadership roles, volunteering etc. Everything else was really strong but act was very low and she still got accepted to UCD, UCSC, and UCR Honors, so it’s definitely not all about the scores. They like diversity, first generation, etc. which makes me happy because she’s had to work harder than many other kids (her friends) to do well.
For what little it’s worth – and I submit that its anecdotal and probably not worth much – in 2018 our son was denied at UCSB and UCD with mechanical engineering as his major, and was accepted to UCB as “engineering/undecided”. We were told that the chances of getting admitted to UCB as engineering/undecided was in the 4-5% range due to the fact that they don’t like “undecided” as a major. It gives the admitted student too much leeway to select an impacted major. It seemed to us as though UCSB and UCD knew from his stats that he wasn’t going to enroll, so why offer him a spot and reduce their yield? We could be wrong, but that’s the only thing that made any sense. No waiting list, just outright rejections.
My daughter was waitlisted @ UCSD and rejected from John’s Hopkins. I think she is pretty average on her stats, from what I’ve been reading. Her GPA 3.8UW, 4.1W (10 AP’s, 1 Hon), 1 ROP class and Spanish 2 yrs online. SAT 1540 (superscore), ACT 33, Bio M 700, English Lit 660, good EC’s and teacher recs. I think she was waitlisted because of her selected major (Bio). We are worried about UCSB’s results. Good luck to everyone!