B+ California Residents hoping for UC - Final Outcome

Parents Forum
1

<p>I am curious about folks in similar circumstances as ours, your thought processes through this crazy journey and your final decision/outcome. Please respond only if you meet these requirements.</p>

<ul>
<li>California resident applying primarily to UCs</li>
<li>B+ GPA (3.2 to 3.6 w or uw)</li>
<li>Decent SAT (1900-2100)</li>
<li>Avg ECs</li>
</ul>

<p>My S stats are 3.5 GPA, 2000 SAT, avg ECs and attends a competitive high school. He applied to UCSD, UCD, UCSB, UCI, UCSC, CalPoly, U of Arizona and SDSU as a safety. I was disappointed he was only accepted to UCSC, U of A and SDSU. I knew UCSD was a major stretch, but I had hoped at least one of the mid tier UCs would bite based on past admission stats. We completed the SIR to UCSC the other day, but may explore U of A further although OOS tuition would be painful. We appealed to UCI, have not heard back yet - not too hopeful. S is OK with trying to transfer in 2 years. I mentioned Penn State and Purdue since they have rolling admission, but S was fed up and not interested. We visited UCSC in April and loved the campus. In retrospect, I wish we would have applied to more schools in California, both private and public.</p>

<p>If your child has similar stats, please share:
- Schools applied
- School acceptances
- Did you appeal
- Are you planning on UC to UC transfer as a junior
- Opinion on UCSC vs Arizona</p>

<p>Any and all relevant comments are appreciated.</p>

2

<p>I’m a UCSC grad from the seventies and loved it. My neighbor’s daughter is there now and loves it. I learned recently that several of my classmates have done quite well for themselves-- and they’re sharing the riches with their alma mater. We toured with my daughter and I was ready to sign up for another four years myself. She’s looking for an urban campus, otherwise I’d be happy for her to go to UCSC. Check out the programs there and see if there’s something he might really like.</p>

3

<p>My friend’s son was very disappointed in not getting into the UC he wanted, and chose to go to University of Arizona. He’s in his 3rd year now, and really loves it. She told me they matched the UC tuition. I’m not sure if it was a scholarship, or if it is because of the Western Undergraduate Exchange program. Many universities in the western states have an agreement so that students don’t have to pay OOS tuition. I tried to check on their web-site, but it seems that you have to put in your potential major to see if it qualifies.</p>

<p>Several friends have kids at Santa Cruz who are very happy.</p>

<p>It has been a really tough year, and it seems like the type of student who just 1 or 2 years ago was able to get in to UCSB and Davis is no longer able to.</p>

4

<p>My D had similar stats to your son. We were quite happy for her to go to UCSC, but I made her check the boxes for UCI, UCD, and UCSB, and to our surprise she got into all of them. We still haven’t figured out why but I think it was because of her heavy courseload with many APs.</p>

<p>She decided to go to UCSB and applied to transfer the first year because she had a full year of AP credit and got into UCLA (based pretty much only on one quarter of grades). But the thing is, she’s happy now, doing well and probably won’t go. </p>

<p>I’m pretty sure UCSC would have been fine too. The only reason she didn’t go there was that it was too close to home. But if a kid doesn’t like it, there are options.</p>

5

<p>There seems to be a lot of variation in the admissions to the different UC campuses so it’s hard to figure them out. </p>

<p>Is there any particular reason he wouldn’t want to go to UCSC? I’m sure they can provide a good education for him. Is his intended major offered there?</p>

<p>I suspect that once he’s there for a couple of years he’ll not be interested in transferring elsewhere since he’ll now be involved in the school, have his friends, have his course plans, etc., but if he does want to, I’ve heard that it’s not necessarily that easy to transfer from one UC to another - it’s easier to do from a CC. Is he interested in going the CC route?</p>

6

<p>Unfortunately the UC’s are much less predictable than they used to be. However, both UCD and UCSD use a point system that is readily accesible on their websites. And, if you call the UCSD admissions office they will tell you exactly why you were denied. I would question his GPA; you state a 3.5 but is that the UC GPA which is really the only GPA that counts at the UC’s and can be significantly different from what a student thinks their GPA is. And, is he missing any of the requirements eg. 1 years of arts? Just some thoughts. UCSC is a wonderful school as is U of A, but as pointed out above if he wants to go to a different UC, cc is probably a better route.</p>

7

<p>If his heart is set on a UCSD, UCD or UCI degree, he’d be better off doing his first two years at community college. If not, well, Santa Cruz is a beautiful place. He probably would be happy there. </p>

<p>It’s not the time for buyer’s remorse and second-guessing about which other schools he (“we applied”? we?) applied to. If you worry about the tuition for U of A OOS, how would you have paid the tuition for a California private?</p>

8

<p>Thanks to all for the feedback. I will try to address everyones comments. I’m familiar with the WUE program. From what I recall, Arizona Tucson campus offers reduced tuition (@1.5x in-state) for only 1 major - Mining Engineering. Perhpas they don’t advertise matching UC tuition. I will ask.</p>

<p>S has taken 5-6 AP/H courses, as well as all require A-G courses (AP Calc, Bio, Chem, Physics, 4 yr French and more). I agree in a few cases, the admission process seems somewhat arbitrary. However, this year the admission success rate in the aggregate simply seems much less than previous years.</p>

<p>S is OK with UCSC. He is undecided on his major, but has mentioned law and computer science. Bottom line is he doesn’t know. I’m not sure what to make of UCSC. My impression is somewhat neutral to slightly negative based purely on anecdotal info such as CC posts, friends opinion, and various ranking publications. If he veers towards a science-type major, UCSC seems weak in this area except astrophysics. How is there career placement center and who recruits there ?</p>

<p>I’m familiar with UC GPA and their point system, which I believe has a maximum value around 8800 ? Further, 75% is GPA and SAT based, while the remaining 25% are ECs and affirmative action type items such as 1st generation college student. S meets minimum threshold depending on scoring for the 25%.</p>

<p>I’m reluctant to suggest CC for several reasons, even though they receive preference over UC to UC transfer. Attending CC means living at home and continuing life on easy street. For his personality, I believe living on his own far away from home will force him to mature, be more responsible, develop social skills, and be more of a self-starter. Second, the “college” experience is not the same at a CC (i.e D1 sports, Frats, dorm comraderie, etc). Finally, if he can’t transfer out after 2 years, at least he can still get a UC degree. From the posts I’ve read, it seems transferring is equally as competitive as entering as a freshman.</p>

<p>As far as tuition, obviously I’d like to pay as little as possible. Paying OOS tuition would be painful, but not out of the question. In the end, I want him to have the best education and experience and cost will not be a factor.</p>

9

<p>I think the reasons for not selecting a CC are sound although from everything I’ve heard transferring from a CC is less competetive than entering as a Freshman due to the guaranteed transfers as long as one achieves the requirements. </p>

<p>One student I know was attending UCI but missed having a school football, BBall team so transferred out after I think 2 years, went to a CC for a year, then transferred to UCLA (she hadn’t been accepted when she applied as a freshman). </p>

<p>It’s not impossible to transfer from one to another though. Keep in mind that with a CS major he’s likely to have some GPA hit that could decrease his chances for transferring though.</p>

10

<p>i think it would be important that you add what majors your kids were wanting.</p>

<p>a lot of UC’s have different cutoffs for the different colleges (ie Engineering), causing confusion as to why a very qualified (and more) student did not gain acceptance, and maybe a seemingly not as qualified student did.</p>

11

<p>

So what’s the problem? UCSC is a good school – both my kids applied & each was accepted. (They chose other schools, as UCSC was a safety – but it was a safety they would have attended with no complaint – my daughter was also accepted at Berkeley but told me that after talking to other students, she would have turned down Berkeley in favor of either UCSC or UCSB). My ex-husband is a UCSC grad, went on to UCLA Law. My daughter ended up at very prestigious private school, and one of her profs her first semester was a UCSC grad. </p>

<p>I realize we all have our preferences and are often disappointed, but UCSC really is a terrific school. When my son applied he was told he was in the top 5% of their applicants (a letter accompanying a scholarship offer) – but he opted for another school. Two years later he was applying to get back into UCSC as a transfer… and he was turned down. He ended up finishing his degree at a CSU. </p>

<p>As far as I know, USCS has strong life sciences departments – so I wouldn’t worry there – but if your son is undecided its more likely that he will gravitate toward social sciences or humanities-- unless he has the self-discipline to opt to enroll in basic science classes like Chem 1A at the outset “just in case”. (It’s hard to decide late on a science major because there are a lot of science courses that need to be taken in sequence – a lot more wiggle room in non-science fields). </p>

<p>It seems to me from your post that your son is comfortable with UCSC, though not elated – and you as the parent are the one who is having a problem with it. I think you are basing your view point on internal biases, not reality. All the UC’s offer the same basic curriculum. If I had to choose between sending a kid to Berkeley or UCSC for undergrad - without a specific major in mind – I’d definitely opt for UCSC, simply because I think that undergrads get more attention from their profs there.</p>

12

<p>My son went to UCSC and my d will be at UCB this fall. UCSC has all the basic advising any kid needs; there is a career center to help decide a major; a law advising office for those who want to go to law school; general advising within the individual college the kid is in; departmental advising when a major is chosen. Like any other school, it depends on the student — they don’t come looking for you; it’s there for the taking. U of A has a great undergraduate advising center (we had looked there for my son) and the advisors told us few freshman boys come by to take advantage of it. UCSC is a wonderful campus in a great town with opportunities for those who opt for them.</p>

13

<p>UCSC is a great school. My brother went there decades ago and I know multiple kids there now doing a variety of interesting things. I love the residential college aspect which generates a variety of kinds of community where kids can find their place, often much more easily than on the giant mono-campuses. And I think their sciences are pretty highly regarded in the employment world. At least I know of several grads that landed jobs readily in interesting environmental science areas and are thriving.</p>

14

<p>Is there still time to appeal to one of the UCs he didn’t get into? One of my Ds best friends was going to go to UCSC this fall and was very happy, but her first choice was UCD. She just found out that they accepted her appeal so she is going to Davis. Another friend’s D just heard from UCB that she got in on her appeal.</p>

15

<p>My S who applied last year had similar stats (slightly higher GPA (3.6U/3.8W) and slightly lower SATs (1900ish)) and got into SB, Davis and Irvine. Rejected by UCSD and UCLA (no surprise there). I think part of it depends on the major you apply to – some are just more competitive than others. For example, Irvine rejected S for his first choice of a major (Economics) and accepted him for his second choice (Environmental Science I think)</p>

<p>In addition, from all I have heard, this has been an unusually tough year to get into a UC. We have a friend with a D with stellar stats (4.3 GPA, 2300ish SATs) who, according to our school’s Naviance, had a high probability of being accepted to UCLA and Cal, and got into neither, and is going to Davis. I know other kids with 3.9s turned down from schools they thought they were sure to get in. </p>

<p>I don’t know anyone who appealed a UC decision, so can’t help you there. I do know several kids who love UCSC, and think its a great option.</p>

16

<p>I have heard that the UC’s take the GPA of the senior class (i.e. 3.5) and look at those applications and any GPA above. That might be why some get in with a 3.5 and others where the senior class GPA is maybe a 3.7 don’t have a chance. I have a friend who’s son could have changed high schools his senior year because his family moved. He decided to stay in his old high school. He was in a very difficult public school. The GPA his senior year was 3.8. His own GPA was 3.7 his did not get into the UC he wanted to. The GPA of the senior class of the high school that he could have moved to was 3.4 he may well have been able to get into the UC.</p>

17

<p>I have heard from several of my S’s friends who transferred from UCSB and U of A to UCLA that it is easier to transfer to a UC if the students’ current school does not offer the major
that they want and their grades are good.</p>

18

<p>

</p>

<p>Umm, not really. Class rank is not an admissions criteria. ~50% of all admissions to UC is based on gpa+test scores. The other half is based on comprehensive review, cynically called compassionate review, which gives big bonus points for “overcoming adversity”. For example, a great essay about overcoming self-imposed eating disorder can tug at the heart and earn an admission even with a 3.5. Other plus factors are low income, first gen to college, attending an inner-city school (API <5).</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Absolutely true (and logical).</p>

19

<p>It was a random UC admissions year. My D applied to UC Davis and was told by her counselor it was a “target” school bordering on “safety”, and to UCLA as a big “reach” school. She didn’t get into either of them, and in fact some other kids from her school with over 4.0 GPAs and solid SAT scores also didn’t get into UC Davis. Fortunately for my D she had already decided she wanted to go out of state and experience living in another part of the country, so while the rejections hurt they weren’t a huge deal. She’s going to Indiana University as a Kelley Business School direct admit and is thrilled. She received a scholarship so the cost is almost the same as a UC, and she will be able to finish in 4 years which is becoming nearly impossible to accomplish in California. Generally speaking I think it all ends up working out just fine, even if not how envisioned at the start of the crazy admissions process.</p>

20

<p>Congrats to your D. IU is an awesome collegiate experience.</p>

<p>I just want to challenge one point, however.</p>

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</p>

<p>Just not true, particularly since the UCs are extremely generous with AP credit. Sure, kids may have to take a class Friday morning at 8:00 am, but they are available for those that want to get out in four years. (The reason for the low grad rates is the poor finaid which requires kids to work half time and therefore take a minimum course load.)</p>