What do the UCs want from applicants?

:hugs: I know this is a very hard time for students. Are you a senior, did you get into colleges your parents can afford and that offer a major if interest? Or are you a super stressed junior?

Any college with a sub20% acceptance race is a crapshoot. All you can do is do your best at what you enjoy and let the chips fall where they may - there’s no way to predict who, among those who “make the cut”, will be selected.

So, you need to consider any sub20% acceptance college a reach regardless of your stats and ECs.
Start with 2 affordable safeties that share key characteristics with your favorite colleges - a few residential safeties, tour local Cal State, Cal States or OOS universities that admit on stats only or whose honors college admission is guaranteed for your stats, or if affordabke private colleges that admit 50-60% students that you’re in the very top of the applicant pool for.
Then, if you’re competitive for those, make sure you have a few colleges on your list that admit 25-35% applicants and a few colleges that admit 35-50% applicants.
-and of course, if all else fails, California students are lucky because they have ELC and the excellent, inexpensive California community colleges.

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