@SFBayRecruiter, confused on timing of these. Was UCD a wait list acceptance? And you’re waiting to see if she gets off the waitlist for Berkeley?
@TTdd16: She is a 4.0 CCC transfer student; accepted at all of her schools so far that have announced decisions. UCB announcements are next week.
I know a kid – I should say I know the father of the kid – who went to UCSC, got 3.9 and successfully transferred to UCB. He debated whether to transfer because he was enjoying himself at UCSC but UCSC did not have a major in the area he wanted to pursue. He also wants to go to law school.
@TTdd16: follow-up. Timing/Announcements were:
UCSC mid-March: She got her letter a few days before general announcements due to the Regents award there
UCD April 20th
UCB April 27th (they are the last UC to announce, a day after UCLA)
Transferring ‘up’ has absolutely zero impact on law school admissions, which is 95% LSAT+GPA. Of course, not offering the major of interest is an excellent reason to transfer.
My brother, who works a tech firm in SF, said they were astonished this spring when his son–white, no hooks, no financial need, a 3.9 GPA and decent SAT scores–got into all five UCs he applied to (UCLA, Cal, UCSD, UCSB and UCSC). He intends to study foreign languages and economics. They had been told by other “informed” parents that his kid had no chance. UVA and Michigan weren’t so kind. They rejected him. He’ll be enrolling at Cal in the fall. Guess it’s the luck of the draw.
@exlibris97 to get in to one UC could be luck but not all 5. Sounds like he applied to a non-impacted major (foreign language?) and had other factors in his applications that made him a “fit” for all these schools such as rigor of courses, UC gpa, great essays, etc.
I personally believe that “luck” is not a big factor in admissions and does a disservice to the AOs who take their job very seriously and the student applicants who have worked very hard in high school to meet the requirements of admission. While admission officers might only review an applicants file for 5-15 mins each, they know what they are looking for and don’t randomly accept students IMO.
@socaldad2002 I was being facetious. My point is that it is very possible for white kids from upper middle class backgrounds to be accepted. And that includes California residents.
Re: #805
3.9 unweighted GPA is certainly within range of admission to UCs.
I agree - every major needs great students. I’m not sure what “foreign languages” means, but let’s say this applicant has shown study, interest, and commitment to a less-popular (Italian, Japanese, Korean, German, etc) language and also indicated their desire to study said language in college. Of COURSE that person will get accepted, if their application is one of the strongest for that major!
@exlibris97 Those stats are good for non STEM majors. My ORM kid had very similar stats (probably worse SAT scores but with 33 ACT and NMF in CA) with the similar areas of intended studies, and he also got into all UCs, and I wasn’t surprised at all. It’s not as if he was applying as a CS major.
Both my students got into all UCs for the most part. One of my students got rejected only by UCSD.
So the update from our informal (anecdotal information gleaned from hundreds of posts in the UC Berkely 2018 Transfer thread) is that a 3.6-3.8 GPA will probably land a student on a wait list at UCB, UCLA and UCD (almost guaranteed if the program is impacted). For a non-impacted program or UCSC, a 3.6+ will probably be an accept, 3.3 and an interest in going to Merced; “come on in!”
Bonus points/lower GPA requirements:
A female looking to get into a STEM program
First generation college students
Underrepresented
College returnees
Veterans
Interesting life stories
And to be 100% honest - I like how the UC Regents are looking for these types of students. They make the programs stronger as these students bring in real-world views on real-world problems.
My D got her accept to UCB and cried like a baby - she is Berkeley bound.
Prospective transfer students to UCs may find the following tables useful in assessing likelihood of admission in order to make realistic application lists:
https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/infocenter/transfers-major
Note that UC admissions is by holistic reading, not a point system, although college GPA is the strongest influence for transfer applicants to a given campus and major.
Neither gender nor race/ethnicity is considered in UC admissions.
@KTJordan78 My D applied to one of those ‘less popular’ languages, 3.95 UW, 4.2 W, 32 ACT and was denied from UCB. Extracurriculars involving the language too. She did get into the other UCs she applied to – maybe there were too many girls in the UCB pool? Who knows?
@SFBayRecruiter Are the transfer rates and acceptance/stats different from the regular decision pool? I would think transfers can apply with more certainty, but not sure.
Transfer acceptance rates at Cal and UCLA were 23% and 25% for 2017, and GPA (mid 25th-75th percentiles) were 3.65-3.94 (Cal), 3.63-3.93 (UCLA). Yes a bit higher than the 13%/15% for Frosh, but still highly selective.
A CCC transfer who had a 3.95 was above the 75th percentile overall for all transfers accepted into CAL. This year the number of applicants was north of 19,000 students wanting to go to CAL and I think over 23,000 to transfer to UCLA. From what I have seen, completing the IGETC, most of the significant prereqs, any TAG/TAC program + ECs, are all needed to get a sniff at impacted programs. Cal Comp Sci: 3.89-4.00 was the middle percentile!
So, one ‘B’ at a community college is the max to stay above the 75th percentile for most programs. That is nuts…
As an example to the other side, Landscape Architecture had a 25th-75th percentile of 3.25 - 3.61
As a long-time Californian married to a native and having paid income tax into the system our whole working lives, I would have been EXTREMELY unhappy had my D not been admitted into the UC system. Got in at all 3 she applied to (UCB, UCLA, UCSB). She went in as an undeclared L&S (now STEM), but she also had a 4.0 unweighted and a 31 ACT score (not stellar, but in there). I think that where she stacked up as compared to her classmates really helped (she was one of 4 grads with a 4.0 uw) - it’s difficult to stand out at a school where there are 40+ valedictorians, the case with a different HS in our district (which only recognizes unweighted GPA for that kind of thing). Took a healthy dose of AP’s, but certainly didn’t max out the school’s offerings. Essays probably helped (she writes well) and LOR’s were very good. EC’s were solid but not over the top. No offense to the AO’s out there who have to evaluate thousands of applications, but when you start comparing kids with identical stats/majors and cannot for the life of you figure out why one got in and the other didn’t, it really DOES start to feel like luck. While the holistic approach to application evaluation can truly help the unique applicant who maybe doesn’t have tippy top GPA/test scores but a lot of things to offer and tons of potential, it means rejection of a kid with top stats. That’s why it’s imperative in today’s college admissions climate to cast a net far and wide, even if you are 4th generation Californian and you child is a superstar.
UCs do emphasize GPA more and test scores less than many other highly selective colleges. So her profile with a 4.0 unweighted GPA, presumably in hard courses, helped her.
It is those with high test scores but somewhat lower GPA who are most likely to have disappointing UC results. Of course, essays also matter, while applying to more competitive majors reduces likelihood of admission.
Here are some stats UCLA Engineering just sent out for the students recently admitted to engineering:
Median Unweighted GPA: 4.0
Median Weighted GPA: 4.59
Median SAT: 1540
Actual enrolled stats will be a bit lower, but wow!