@sdsmile, if she is not set on her major and is open to other options, a gap year may help (however, transferring into sociology will not be easy).
@Pentaprism Thanks for posting that link
I’m surprised how many kids know their major before starting college. When I went, almost no-one went in knowing and even if you did, you didn’t declare until much later.
@PurpleTitan Yeah, I know, I guess I was trying to point out that even at a public HS there can be an incredible amount of competition. Maybe especially at a large public school.
@1andonly They don’t admit by major for that one, so I don’t know that is the case.
@Sdsmile – but you said that your daughter had a 30 ACT so even with a reduced GPA she should be meet statewide eligibility requirements and be invited to attend UC Merced. Also, the UC’s do have an appeals process so you might want to pursue that because of the ROTC scholarship – that is probably something that was not considered in the admission decision, but I think if you followed the appeal process at campuses that offer AFROTC you might have a chance. It’s worth a shot in any case. I think that for most kids, UC Merced-aversion is not very convincing, but I don’t think Merced has a ROTC program (though you would want to double check) – and “I would love to go to Merced but I also want to serve my country” might be a lot more compelling.
Also, you can use the ROTC web site to see which other colleges in California might be possibilities for ROTC --there are some less prestigious 4-year private colleges that have partner agreements with ROTC facilities that may also have rolling admission or spots open after May 1. For example, University of the Pacific students can do ROTC at Sac State.
So if appeals to the UC’s don’t pan out, you will be able to look at the list of college with open spots after May 1st to see if those present better options.
@gallentjill–CA has so many applicants everyone is asked their major/college. It is possible to transfer, but they have to regulate numbers in each major/college (makes sense)–and keeps applicants from backdooring into more difficult admits.
“As an example of how California has shorted its population of quality schools take a look at Colorado. It has 1/8 the population and 2 public schools in the top 100. California would have to have 16 schools in the top 100 to be equivalent. It currently has 7.”
That’s not an apples to apples comparison, there are actually three colleges in CO in the top-100 but two are small, total undergrad is 38,000. I think total undergrad enrollment for the 7 UCs is 182.,000 (give or take). It wouldn’t need 9 more colleges to match CO, more around 5 depending on how large the enrollment is.
@youcee, UCs ask your intended major, Cal Slo admits by major (not sure why asking if not a factor).
Huh. Interesting point, @1andonly.
For transfers, sociology has a 30% admit rate at Cal and 38% admit rate for pre-sociology at UCLA.
https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/infocenter/transfers-major
http://www.admission.ucla.edu/Prospect/Adm_tr/Tr_Prof16_mjr.htm
Philosophy is easier to get in to (46% at Cal, 55% at UCLA) but should be quite rigorous at those schools (both are tied for 9th in the US, with Harvard, Stanford, and Columbia). UCSD, UCI, UCR, UCD, UCSB also aren’t slouches (all top 50 in philosophy; UCI tied with Chicago, WashU, and Wisconsin; UCR tied with Northwestern and UVa).
Also, @websensation mentioned OOS honors colleges that aren’t so difficult for high-stats kids to get in to, but UCR also has an honors program with a lot of perks (with honors residence floors):
http://honors.ucr.edu/admissions/1st_year.html
UCR’s 75-25 ACT is 28-22. . . . which is exactly UNL’s 75-25 ACT range. Except in Nebraska, the best in-state public a high stats kid could hope to go to is UNL while in CA, they would have 7 more flagships that are even better.
You know what? I’m not that pumped on the UC system. I don’t think it’s a great product. 3-4 kids to a room? Oversized classes? Being taught by TAs, waitlists 5 years instead of 4 because you can’t get your classes? Doesn’t sound that great to me. I’ve been looking at schools with my daughter and there are some excellent schools in this state. Of course there isn’t the financial advantage but if education is the goal then UC fails to meet the mark.
@BeefyBill
Like everything else in life, UC is not for everyone. Some find it good, some find it bad, and some find it ugly. If you don’t find it best for your D, tell her not to apply there.
I just want to clarify something:
I’m not sure about other campuses, but at UCB CoE where my D was an undergrad and is now a PhD student, only professors can teach (be instructors). TAs are responsible for discussion sessions, however. The only exception is for summer classes that can be taught by GSIs.
If a student plans his/her course, this should not happen.
BTW, my D graduated in 3 years. She had a bunch of math/physics college credits from the classes taken at Stanford before she matriculated at UCB, but she didn’t use any to fulfill the degree requirements.
Re #247 @sbjdorlo weighted GPA
Yes, that helps for your school, but every high school can have it’s own weighted GPA. I have seen posts referring to weighted GPA as high as 6.something.
But it is the 8 semester cap on honors points that makes most students’ UC recalculated GPA lower than their HS weighted GPA, unless the student had a bad 9th grade.
@bluebayou post 118, the list is for tuition and fees. Rutgers and UMass are more than UC. (R- $14,970, UMass- $15,787, UC-$12,630 system wide, $13,900 averaging in extra fees) UC also has generous financial aid packages.
The UC’s don’t count freshman grades at all. I think the 8 semester cap does NOT mean all honors/APs over the course of 8 semesters-- but rather – no more than 8 semester’s worth of AP grades – so a year long AP course = 2 semesters. So maximum of 8 points total can be added to base GPA, no matter how many courses are taken.
Source: http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/counselors/q-and-a/calculating-gpa/index.html
Additionally, only a-g courses are included in the GPA – so grades in some electives may not be counted.
So basically, for purpose of admission, the 10th & 11th grade classes would be counted. (12th grade would not yet be available at the time of application).
If a student has taken 6 a-g courses during each year, then the maximum possible UC weighted GPA would be 4.67. Neither of my kids had anything near that – their public high schools just didn’t offer that many AP’s.
Yes, in practice, that means that the UC recalculated GPA for a HS student who took many honors and AP courses tends to be about 0.3 higher than the unweighted GPA of 10th and 11th grade academic courses.
With the Native Americans at 0.5% entrance rate, you’d think many people on here would be more willing to see them have some sort of diversity/URM consideration in the whole swing of things! But what I am sad to find here on CC is a real hostility to this idea. I know that when my children go through the process, I will not be talking about it here! Since I have found this site and have talked with other NAs; the huge consensus is “CC has their own way of 'scalping NAs” or “post your results or identify as a URM at your own peril!” or “CC has their own blood-letting on NAs, especially on Ivy threads.”
Honestly, I was shocked at the level of vitriol for this site! @KickingBear was highly regarded and NAs will follow his threads but rarely will post! It’s sad state on so many levels. I am still trying to find a balance.
@going4three
I guess I’m out of the loop. I have no idea what kind of animosity toward Native Americans you’re referring to, but I’m sorry you perceive that or have experienced that.
The highest capped UC GPA with 6 classes is closer to 4.33 versus 4.67. 6 classes (12 semesters) each year 10-11 capped with 8 semester of grade bumps. With all As:
((24*4)+8)/24=4.33