What do the UCs want from applicants?

Colleges & Universities University of California - GENERAL
21

Part of the issue today is grade inflation…so so so so many As. I’m glad my kids had 4.0s - but c’mon - it shouldn’t be that way, etc.

There’s a lot of advice - and a lot of kids doing their best, doing normal activities - are getting in but also a lot aren’t.

Just because you know some that didn’t get in doesn’t mean they did anything wrong.

The schools simply found ones that were more aligned to them.

The other thing you don’t know - beyond stats - is how they essays are being seen.

It’s a tough world…but the good news is, the UCs aren’t the only school in the country. Heck, many of these kids can go OOS to other flagships, sometimes at less cost.

Good luck to your student.

22

OOS is almost always much more expensive

23

Not necessarily - the disadvantage though is that CA schools don’t require tests and that’s a disservice because, for example, a UC kid can likely, for engineering as an example, go to an Alabama for less than $20K all in - and end up in the same role. My kid works with UC kids.

There are many great OOS schools and there are WUE schools.

I get your frustration but there is UCM, UCR, UCSC, many Cal State schools and they are all good.

The kid in North Carolina might end up at Wilmington or Pembroke or East Carolina.

The NJ kid might end up at Stockton or Rowan or Montclair State.

The Va kid might end up at Wise or Mary Washington or Christopher Newport or Radford.

Texas - Tarleton State, Texas Tech, Angelo State

Michigan - Central, Western, Eastern, Grand Valley State

You see the point

CA is not necessarily different - there’s an oversupply of kids in many states and an under supply of spots at “perceived” top schools.

So no matter what - there’s going to be the “haves” and the others.

But that doesn’t determine their final fate in life…far from it. Nor does it hurt where they’ll end up for an MBA or law school - if that is in their path -not an iota.

24

From my experience, with our three kids and the students that I’ve had in the past, the UCs and the CSUs want nice kids who are willing to step out of their comfort zone and who aren’t “sheep”.
This includes applying to the UC’s and CSUs that aren’t applied to by every student.
All three of my kids got into their UCs, and they didn’t form clubs, nor were any of them leaders, nor attend STEM competitions. They worked summer jobs and volunteered with established non profits-food banks, homeless shelters. They took classes that they liked.

At one of our meetings, specifically scheduled for alumni, with the Stanford University admissions director, she called students, “books”. “It’s the students that spend all their time, creating class schedules and activities that think it will impress the university.” The admissions director said, “we already have books”. “We don’t need more of the same.”

She even harshly reprimanded the students that showed up for the meeting! (When we had to RSVP, for this alumni event, the invitation read~“Please no students, as space is limited at the venue, with reserved seating for alumni/parents.”)
She said:

“We also like when students follow our directions. This invitation and event was created for the parents of prospective freshman. My staff specifically stated that no students would be addressed, nor permitted, and that this was for parents. Yet, here is a wall of students who can’t read and follow directions!”

You have to understand that it was a small venue with reserved seating. You had to check in to receive a badge. The badge actually had a picture of the Stanford grad, with the year that they graduated from Stanford and major, and the guest badge had our name and the label Guest of Cardinal: “graduate”.

There was a sign in sheet for students that did show up but I think it was created for the curiosity of the admissions staff and to give pause to the students.

I’m sorry that you didn’t get into UCB and LA, but did you apply to Long Beach? Or Fresno State? My son was admitted to Long Beach and it was one of his top 3. He never considered visiting the school. But after we visited USC he was curious. He got into Caltech, USC, UCLA, Davis, SB, (Didn’t want to do the extra essay for Stanford.)

Students get in, but you’re competing with hundreds of thousands of students from California who are very strong but to seldom go out of their comfort zone, to apply to other schools within the UC and CSU systems.

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25

Then what types of students are getting in? Those that excelled even more in the standard extracurriculars? The ones who did unconventional activities hardly fared better from what I saw

26

UCR, UCSC, and the cal states are pretty selective now. I don’t think people in this forum have realized how hard it is to get into the less selective state schools. CSU Long Beach has below a 30% acceptance rate now.

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27

yes but there’s an entire list of Cal State schools and there is UC Merced - and you seem to feel an entitlement to certain ones.

No one is entitled. You are entitled to a proper education through the state system.

28

Of course you aren’t entitled to anything in life. I got cut from the track team in high school for crying out loud. But the reality is the UCs have not grown to keep up with California’s growing population.

29

Is Merced over capacity?? I don’t know.

Are all the state schools? No

Are the CCs? No

It’s not just CA - it’s many places.

I wish CA mandated tests though - it would help kids find opportunities elsewhere.

30

And this is what I dislike about the college admissions process and high school in general. If you aren’t successful at something, people just tell you to give up. If you get poor grades, people push you into the trades or the military. If you didn’t get into a certain club, people just tell you to look elsewhere. Same is true with college admissions.

31

I just told you.
It’s the students that follow directions, but go out of their comfort zones to help out others- students and staff.
It’s the students that are WELL KNOWN and liked by their COUNSELOR, TEACHERS, EMPLOYERS who are not “suck-ups” nor star athletes.

My children didn’t make any waves in school, but what they did do is they were kind and respectful to everyone. The principals and staff knew all three of my children, on a first name basis, and this was a high school that had 3000 kids. My kids were at the school seven days a week when they weren’t working or in their sports. They were helping the staff repaint buildings. They were serving hotdogs or making baked potatoes for the school fair.

I happened to be on campus one day and I saw the principal talking to my son. I asked my son, “what did the principal want? My son said, “oh nothing, he just wants me to help a new student”.

My son left and I asked the secretary, “Do you know what the principal wants my son to do?” And she said yes. She said, “your son is very good with making new students feel welcome”. She said that the principal often sought out my son or his elder sister.

Apparently, my son “quietly”introduced new students to his friends and invited that person daily to eat lunch with him and his friends. He would buy lunch or share his lunch with the new student. I didn’t know my son did this, but the Principal did.
I didn’t know my girls did similar things as well. I do know that the counselor said that the principal wanted to write the letters of recommendation for my children.

I really believe that that’s what got them in. Karma had something to do with it.

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32

Hey, don’t knock the trades. My nephews are in the trades and they went to universities, but the trades weren’t as stressful.

Plumbers work whatever hours they set. They don’t work weekends unless you pay them a lot! My nephews are Electricians and carpenters. They make really good money.

Comparable, and sometimes, better than my daughter and son who are EECS grads. They set their hours. They set their fees; if they don’t want to take a job, they don’t take that job. They’ve been taking vacations lately. My kids can’t do that as often.

33

Recommendations are not involved, so if this is accurate, this would need to be clear by other means - for UCs, essays and activity descriptions.

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34

There’s colleges for everyone and I don’t know what you define as poor grades, but yes if you a 2.3, college may (or may not) be for you.

Not everyone desires college.

We get to choose. Some choose the military or trades.

It doesn’t mean they’re pushed.

I think most educators will push education but they can also read a kid.

Again, what’s wrong with Fresno or San Marcos or Humboldt or Merced or community college - to which many get to all the UCs and CSUs.

And this is not a CA only thing…

35

Why are star athletes not desired? Does playing a sport make you hated by the school staff?

36

It just sucks when you worked so hard in high school to take those 15 AP classes, get top grades, and work hard in extracurriculars only to end up in the same college as someone who did much less work.

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37

: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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38

Star athletes get recruited. They’re in their own admissions category. The universities also want all around students. It depends on what drives the athletes and how they perform on their PIQ‘s.
My daughter was a recruited athlete, but she was also a powerhouse in academics and a strong writer.
Our son was a very good athlete and was a star on his team, but that’s not what drove him.
The letters of recommendation were for the private schools that they got into.
All of these kids are working extremely hard, you’re not the only one, but there’s only so much space. So you have to include schools where everyone isnt applying.
Visit the schools that you did get into. You’ll be surprised!

39

Essays generally decrease transparency, since they are subjectively evaluated.

Of the Cal Polys, Humboldt is not impacted, so it admits at CSU baseline for all non impacted majors (meaning all except nursing). Pomona is impacted, but they publish the prior year thresholds, so it is reasonably transparent. San Luis Obispo seemingly avoids transparency even though they could be much more transparent than they are.

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40

Northridge, Pomona, and San Jose do. San Luis Obispo and San Diego do not (they should).

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