“So…comparing to Florida it would be like Cal or UCLA being at Merced. Our state flagships aren’t in Merced. I don’t think the comparison holds an ounce of Florida humidity.”
Oh, how I wish Florida only had an ounce of humidity! The point is that kids choose to go to the school because it offers a great education at an unbeatable price. They deal with the crap town because that’s where the great education at the unbeatable price is instead of acting like spoiled brats that it’s not located an hour to the east or west so they could be at the beach.
Guess I’m not very sympathetic to the idea that how excited the kids are about the surrounding location should be a primary factor. If the education at Merced is high quality for a reasonable cost, then the fact that it’s in a less than desireable location is a bummer, but shouldn’t be a huge deal.
"Our jorts wearing hicks add a little je ne sais quoi to our local culture in Hog Town. "
Having grown up in a tiny armpit of a town populated by hicks (many of whom were my relatives), I agree there are jorts out there but the camo shorty overalls are perhaps more jarring to newcomers.
Gainesville makes lists of best college towns. UF is the flagship.Lots of activity and school spirit. It doesn’t sound like the kind of experience a kid would have at a place like Merced . But, I am not from California, so not sure how student life compares at the different campuses.
The issue isn’t that Florida kids have to go to Gainesville to go to the ‘best’ college, it’s that they are not guaranteed a spot at UF even if they are willing to live in Gainesville. Even the best students have been being rejected from UF this year (and for the last few). Those who don’t get in may have to go to North Florida in Jacksonville (closer to the beach but not paradise) or UCF in Orlando (hell on earth to me). A friend’s daughter who is from Gainesville with top grades and scores didn’t get in because UF will only take so many from her high performing high school so even a 4.0/1500 didn’t work for her. She’s going OOS because she doesn’t want any of the other Florida schools. Her choice.
Same in Texas. Not everyone can go to UT-Austin. Lots of other choices, but everyone can’t go to Austin.
California kids have other choices, but they just don’t like them. The citizens could demand that 100% of the seats go to California residents, but that would change the school. They could demand that the top 2% get into UCLA/Cal, but what does that do for the student in the 3% group? Aren’t they deserving of being with others at the best schools? No system is going to make everyone happy.
I wish the process was more transparent. How do they pick some kids with lower grades over kids with higher stats. Also, my son got regents at UCI but not at Davis. Why?
@mompup: Each UC is separate so getting Regents at one UC is not an positive indicator that a student will get Regents at another UC. Each UC determines Regents by their own criteria. Each major department determines the Regent scholars at UCI. For UCD, Regents criteria is not available other than based on academic and personal achievements.
The UC’s are far more transparent about college admissions than many other universities. They tell you how they calculate their UC GPA. They post GPA/test score information on admitted students on the UC website, Freshman profiles. You can use the UC website to see admit rates based on UC GPA, admissions by source school, UC transfer admit ranges by campus and major etc…
There is a lot of information out there if you spend the time researching. UCI even lists UC GPA by major and SAT scores for admitted Freshman on their website.
I would strongly recommend anyone applying to UCLA (or really, any UC) to read this blog post. Most of it is standard wisdom, but there are a few things in there I didn’t know. My own kid is at UCLA and I never realized back during application season that they don’t read midyear reports. I didn’t need to worry about those fall semester senior year grades!
@twoinanddone – while I agree that “no system will make everyone happy,” I feel for the California residents whose children – with good grades, stats and ECs – are shut out of the most popular UCs.
They used to be more accessible. That’s simply a fact. They used to also be more affordable, that’s also a fact.
Yes, you can go to community college and then transfer and graduate with a UC diploma. But that comes at a cost for those students hoping for a traditional 4-year college experience.
California’s enormous economic power doesn’t seem to translate to adequate funding for its flagship schools. And that’s a huge shame. If we’re not funding even the elite public universities we’re guaranteeing a decline in quality, a decline in importance, a decline period. And if this is happening in rich, blue California, just think how badly the rest of the country is, and will be, doing.
My huge fear is not just that we’re seeing the decline of one of the great public college systems on the planet. My fear is that we’re seeing the decline of our country reflected in this trend. Justified feeling bitter? Hell yes.
I don’t think the public college system is in decline at all. It used to be easier to get into Cal and UCLA, but also into Michigan and Virginia and Washington too. It used to be easier to get into Harvard!
Most if not all the kids know midyear grades are not needed because the UC does not consider them. Counselors already inform students about this in most schools during 11th grade or early 12 grade. I don’t know why UCLA Bruin Blog mentioned about it. That bog is probably never read by students. It’s not an official admission site.
I knew that the UCs only officially consider 10th and 11th year grades, but I didn’t know that they don’t even receive the midyear reports. Maybe I would have known this if my kid only applied to UCs and CSUs, but with private schools also in the mix, the midyear report was still relevant for us.
My daughter had a 4.0 unweighted 4.34 and 1490 sat. in state and was accepted to all uc’s. ucb etc. She had lots of class office, varsity sports, volunteer, leaderships. She was still not expecting to get into ucla and ucb. She is ranked 5 in her class of 620. All of the top 1-6 students at her high school got into ucla. Not all Ucb. She was still not expecting to get in and realized what a crapshoot it was. Her classload is very rigorous and she is taking all 5 ap’s this year. I think the combo of all got her in. Who knows!
My daughter goes to school in the East Bay. She’s middle class, Jewish, white. Her friend are all over the map racially. She doesn’t care one bit about their race, they are her friends. When she went to UCLA to preview day she was excited about all the students and how diverse it was!
“My own kid is at UCLA and I never realized back during application season that they don’t read midyear reports. I didn’t need to worry about those fall semester senior year grades!”
Question: do colleges look at the fall semester grades when deciding which students to take off the waitlist?
If yes, fall semester grades may be very important…
Fall semester and spring semester grades are relevant. But they only look at them in June or July of the senior year when official transcripts are available. If the grades are bad then the acceptance will be rescinded.
Back to the original question. This is basic economics. I have a great product that sells on the open market for $100, but the government tells me I have to sell 70% of my product for $50. They say they’ll reimburse me $30 of the $50. Demand for my discounted product goes through the roof and I’m selling all my product, but I’m just breaking even. Meanwhile my competitors are selling the same product for $100 and they’re making money and improving their product. How long until my product starts to have quality issues?
