my son has slightly higher stats -1560 SAT with 1 attempt, unweighted GPA 3.97/4. similarly strong ECs but goes to a private high school in CA. STEM focus and music interest. really interested in UMich but college counselor puts it at a Reach. has UCSC and UWash as Likelies. also applying to super Reaches like Stanford. but as a long-time lurker here on CC - I do worry that he will feel like he’s ‘settling’ if he goes to a Likely. And yet, I know an accomplished student can do well in alot of settings, it’s still anxiety-producing.
What particular area of STEM? Washington may be likely for some majors, but not for engineering majors or CS.
I understand the feeling… but the best you can do is develop a balanced list with likely, target, and reach schools, then just see where he gets in (and gets $$).
We spent the longest time on the likely category to find a safety school that S23 would be genuinely excited to attend.
For your list, note that UW does not look at the SAT score except in rare cases, so the strong SAT doesn’t do much for your son there. It’s a likely school as far as admission to the school as a whole, but as ucbalumnus mentioned, it wouldn’t be in the likely category for admission to the engineering school or CS.
UCSC also doesn’t look at the SAT score, so it may also be in the match category rather than likely (but you should calculate your UC GPA for that one).
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math and physics. not engineering. some CS interest but not definite. his UC GPA capped is 4.25, uncapped is 4.6 (I used the RogerHub site that others suggested to calculate). so I think UCSC is OK - his counselor also suggests CalPoly for a likely.
UW pre-science would be an easier admit than engineering. Note that math and physics are not direct admit and are capacity constrained. Here’s info on the secondary admission process for these majors:
Math: Undergraduate Admissions | Department of Mathematics | University of Washington
Physics: Admissions | Department of Physics | University of Washington
edit to add: I see you mentioned some CS interest. Note that it’s virtually impossible to switch to a CS major at UW. He might consider schools that have a more flexible entry into CS once he is a student.
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Cal Poly SLO uses 9-11th grades with an 8 semester Honors point cap for 10-11th grade courses.
Projected target acceptance rates for Cal Poly SLO below:
Physics around 50%+ so Match
Math around 35% so High Match
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I believe there are seats set aside for internal transfers at the end of freshman year. Useful to call the department and confirm.
Thanks! I agree that my phrase “virtually impossible” is probably too strong, as there is a pathway. It is “unlikely,” according to UW’s official guidance. However, at the admissions event we attended at UW, we heard stronger language than “unlikely.” They actively discourage students from enrolling in UW with the plan to declare a CS major at a later time.
From Admission to majors | Office of Admissions
“If you’re not admitted directly as a freshman, it’s unlikely you’ll be admitted to either computer science or computer engineering as a UW student.”
From High School Students | Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering
“if you are absolutely certain that you want to major in Computer Science or Computer Engineering and do not receive a DTM offer, you should strongly consider attending another university.”
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Michigan is always a reach for out of state students but they take a lot of students from California.
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Going to be completely honest, if you’re blessed with in-state tuition at the UCs, I wonder why you would apply to UW OOS for non-CS or engineering unless you love the school or Seattle (which there is a lot to love about). Your in-state likelies and matches are both higher ranked and will be cheaper.
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Based on what you’ve shared Michigan not impossible.
Interest in music ? Rochester might be worth a look.
Good luck.
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Just my opinion, I think your son has a legit shot at UMich.
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The good UC’s have become quite challenging for the kids in our school. Don’t know why - there are kids that are getting into CMU but getting rejected at Top 4 UC’s. My son will certainly go if he gets into SD or Davis. I don’t know if he will.
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UW OOS will be harder for admission, as UW has a commitment to us WA residents. It would be tough to justify going to UW over UCSC if I were a CA resident, and vice versa as well.
I know UW is next to impossible for CS major like others have said… my son isn’t keen on CS - maybe info-sci and music. UW has excellent faculty in Info-Sci and data visualization which are areas he is passionate about. So, we wouldn’t mind paying the OOS tuition for something like that over UCSC.
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Those are amazing stats @CaliParent2 . That kind of unweighted GPA would most likely be a valedictorian in our school. I feel that he will do better than UCSC and UW - what reasons did your counselor give for his view on UMich?
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not sure the counselor’s exact reasoning, but I suspect that it’s become so popular that he can’t count on UMich being an easier admission than UCLA or Berkeley, that are also Reaches. I felt that test optional, rather than test blind, might help a little. I was surprised -but looking at the trend over several years at our high school -it seems it was much easier even just 5 years ago to get into UMich than recently.
Certainly worth applying to Michigan with those strong stats. My CA D22 was admitted to Michigan with a similar GPA and lower SAT (1470). Applied as a Political Science major. She was also admitted to UCLA and Santa Barbara (rejected at Berkeley). We went to visit Michigan and it was a lovely, fun school and Ann Arbor was great. Not worth paying double+ in out of state tuition tho.
Personally, I wouldn’t bother with UW. It’s expensive and impacted. You can have impacted for much cheaper in CA. 
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I think your son has a definite chance to be accepted to all the publics you’ve mentioned, but as you know, none of them are guarantees, or even likelies (excluding Cali publics…that’s a whole different beast I don’t feel comfortable chancing on).
As @tamagotchi alluded to, I would spend significant time trying to find schools that are extremely likely to be affordable, extremely likely for acceptances, and that you son would be happy to attend.
Have you considered Indiana University? It’s music program is world renowned and it has lots of CS/info sci options that could be appealing. Your son would certainly get into the Honors College and would be likely to get merit aid as well, and it’s a great college town.
Another possibility would be Case Western. It wouldn’t necessarily be a safety, but if he shows interest, it’s better odds than some of the reachier ones. There’s music options, including the possibility of of classes at Cleveland Institute of Music right next door (besides the music classes at Case). And obviously, very strong STEM programs here.
If you son likes Michigan, I’d also take a look at U. of Wisconsin - Madison. It’s similarly strong academically, has great college life, etc, but is an easier admit than Michigan. I’d probably call this a likely rather than a safety, but wanted to throw it out as well.
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My daughter has similar stats. We are in CA and the only in-state UC school (didn’t apply to Merced or riverside) she got into was Davis (lots of waitlists). She has solid ECs and better stats than her older sister who got into UCLA in 2020.
She did get into Michigan (off the waitlist) but will be attending Washington. She absolutely loved the vibe. FWIW her high school and others in our local area did not get a lot of acceptances this year to top UCs, Michigan and Washington but DID get more Ivy acceptances than they ever have. Go figure.
Admissions seems to now be such a crapshoot.
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