This is likely true. The one pattern I’ve noticed is that there is a bit of a regional bias in UC admits. NorCal admits more into UCB and UCD, while SoCal admits more into UCLA, UCI, and UCSD. I could see this in my S22’s admissions by source school dashboard.
2022- UCB
2022 UCLA
2021 UCB
2021 UCLA
I believe there was someone on these boards last year whose daughter got into Caltech and MIT but was waitlisted/denied by some of the lesser UCs even though she got ino UCB LSCS. I am not sure its yield protection but there is clearly some “fit” factor that these UCs have honed in on based on hundreds of thousands of reviewed applications over a period of time.
I agree about the Regional bias not just on the admits but self selection of the applicants. Living in Southern California for the last 60 years, you saw the HS students applying more to the SoCal UC’s while now living up here in Northern California, you see a preference in students applying to the NorCal UC’s.
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If you see the data I posted for my S22’s bay area school, more actually applied to UCLA than UCB but the admit rates are better at UCB. I also went back and checked, the UCLA cohort had a higher Applicant GPA.
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I guess some students like familiarity and some want a completely different experience. Believe me that having lived in Southern California vs. Northern California, many times it seems like I am in different states. Give me Northern California anytime.
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It is the opposite at our So Cal HS. Consistently, a greater percentage were accepted into Berkeley than UCLA.
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Once you’ve lived in the Bay Area, I think it can be hard for many people to live anywhere else. We are very spoiled here, with access to San Francisco, great sports, great museums, great theater, concerts of all kinds, great FOOD, usually decent weather (the past month of rain notwithstanding…), access to water sports, hiking trails, relatively convenient public transportation, the list goes on and on…We have it all. How do you beat that? Sadly, all offset by the outrageously high prices for real estate…
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Ya, I think UCLA is generally hard for everyone so that could be an explanation. I did check UCI and UCSD, both had much lower admit rates than Cal.
UCI
UCSD
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At our Bay Area HS it seems to vary a bit, year to year. More definitely apply to UCLA (presumably to get a different experience) and the admit rates at UCLA are indeed lower. But in 2022 there was only a 1 point-ish difference (15% admit to Cal, 14% admit to UCLA). My son’s year (2021) the difference was significant, though! 19% admit to Cal but only a 9% admit rate to UCLA. Yeesh! My understanding is that Cal is one of the more holistic of the holistic-admissions campuses.
How does Cal compare to UCI and UCSD? As I posted above, UCSD is an absolute bloodbath at our HS and UCI isn’t much better.
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Also Bay Area public high school, for 2022:
UCB
UCLA
UCI
UCSD
And, bonus, UCD
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UCSD is surprisingly hard from our HS – I hadn’t noticed! 22% admit in 2021, 21% in 2022.
UCI was 23% in 2021, 29% in 2022. But that seems more in line with general admit rates, and actually pretty high for UCI in 2022. Yield doesn’t look great for either from our HS but not that far off their general yield rates. Interesting!
I am not sure that all this discussion (of typical admit rate for various CA high schools to different UCs) is really on topic for UC Berkeley thread, maybe it should be moved elsewhere? General UC discussion?
I do not want to stifle the discussion, but I think there are lots of other interested participants in this thread for whom it isn’t relevant. Also, seeing a whole lot of replies, all of a sudden, can make people think there might have been a release of decisions or something else they should pay attention to… 
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Thank you! I was just realizing that was all in the UCB thread where it was getting us off-track. Appreciate your making a thread because this is definitely an interesting topic to me!
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One thing that is fascinating to me is how much of a drop-off there is in applications from our HS to UC Irvine. It’s obviously a very selective and objectively excellent school, but it’s almost as if there’s a bit of a historical view of the campus as not being one where kids apply/want to go. I confess that I didn’t know much about Irvine when my son applied and he didn’t put it on the list. In my mind it was one of the “lesser” UCs but that was obviously my 1989 brain categorizing it from when I was in HS and applying myself. I had no idea how good and competitive it has gotten. We ended up going to visit after S21 was admitted to the other So Cal UCs (just stopped on the way from UCLA to UCSD) just to see if his sister might want to apply, and it seemed great. She did add it to her list this year. But I wonder if kids from Northern Cal just really don’t know as much about it. Almost 100 fewer applications to the school from our high school than from the others (except for Merced and Riverside).
Looking at the data, at UCI:
- OOS has a really high admit rate
- IS Socal kids have a decent admit rate
- Norcal kids have a tettible admit rate
Many of the NorCal kids are likely treating UCI as a backup UC while not realizing that their chances are actually lower than at UCB.
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My husband went to Irvine for grad school, and it is almost funny how he has been vigorously trying to steer S23 away from even considering it for college. Every time it comes up in conversation, “Oh no, you don’t want to go to Irvine.” I think it is partly exactly what you are talking about, how it is categorized by your 1989 brain… It is very hard for him to get past his view of Irvine in the 1990s. Just yesterday he was telling me how Irvine is just a commuter school for kids from the surrounding area… I had to ask him, is that the impression you got as a grad student and are you really sure it’s the same way now? 
As a data point, we are a northern CA family (we live near UCB).
I think you are right! It’s wild. I’ve been telling people they should put it on the list and give it a good strong look. Why not, right? Also been a good illustrative point as to how eventually a UC that may be newer and have perceived lower status (ala Merced) may ultimately become quite competitive and desirable. It’s a UC education, and that will likely always be in demand. At some point UC Merced will be more sought-after (if the area gets developed! granted it’s hard to compare Merced to Irvine where you at least have the beach) and it’s the new UC Eureka or whatever that people will raise an eyebrow at.
Based on what I hear about UCI from other parents/students, the commuter school impression is still prevalent. Not sure why? It is a very popular option based on my son’s Southern California HS admission numbers.
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