It does seem like since the CSUs are a numbers game (no essays, etc.) so that you can just run the applicants through a database, generate a score, separate by college and major, rank order them by score, adjust based on the number of slots and yield, and have an answer pretty quickly. Yes’s, No’s, and WL. What you describe for the kids who are denied is what I was picturing when I first understood the process. I also feel bad for the WL kids who never get off. To touch it and then get denied in the end also.
For the UCs with their essays, I can understand the process. Reading 20K sets of essays and fairly weighing them against the other 19,999 sets of essays… yikes! But the CSUs are numbers crunching with only a little judgment based on sorting students along the dividing lines. It definitely seems like it could be done all at once.
Exactly! Even for the UC schools, I suspect an algorithm does the initial sorting and they are only doing a detail reading of those in the “maybe” category, which is picked by computer algorithm, to move them on in the review process or over to the “no” pile.
I believe they contract out a lot of the reading to external readers that they’ve trained for years. So, I would expect the UCs to be able to deal with application volumes.
We went through the exact same torture in 2019 with my son. Hoping this year is better for my daughter who is still waiting for 11 of her 12 admissions decisions…to say I absolutely hate this entire process is an understatement (. I too am so darn happy this is my last go round!
Yes, as an example, UCLA states that they will be hiring “an extremely limited number of new readers” for next year’s class. You can see the hiring criteria and how much UCLA’s readers are paid here.
Back to SLO… The way they drag out their acceptances, wait list and denials is painful. Be prepared for a rocky road ahead.
According to the ad for the UCLA essay readers, the reader gets about $2.60-$2.70 per application (i.e. 4 PIQs per applicant). To get to a CA minimum wage rate of, say, $16.50 an hour, the reader has to read a little over six applications in 60 minutes (24 PIQs). That’s a total of 10 minutes per application and about 2.5 minutes per PIQ. This assumes no physical and mental breaks between readings.
I hope most kids did not write with a lot of nuance, because if they did it will be lost on these underpaid and overworked readers.
I also hope that two readers are provided for each application to get some standardization and oversight on this highly subjective process.
My daughter was accepted to SDSU mid December, along with her friends that applied, so-so to top students. She was invited to apply for $8k per year merit scholarship a month ago. It said she was top 1% that applied. Don’t know if she was accepted early by being local or being top applicant or both? Good luck to you!
My daughter spent a ton of time on her essays and her English teacher and I went over it many times, so both left and right sides of the brain were covered. When there was a conflict, I told her to listen to her English teacher over me, because she an English teacher and she recently got her kids into good UC schools!! My daughter’s final edit was clear, direct, concise and brief. She REALLY SHINED on the UC applications, because she’s done so much.
My son received a decision from cal poly Pomona as a business transfer student. He was accepted last year too as a freshman, I am not sure if that help accelerate their decision. Good luck. Cal Poly SLO is my son’s first choice
