Competitive applicant waitlisted at UC Santa Cruz and UC Davis... worried about ivy day results

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Asian male, attend competitive Bay Area Public School (think like Monta Vista, Gunn, Lynbrook etc.)

Intended major: Electrical/Computer Engineering

ACT: 35

SAT II: 800 (Math II), 790 (Physics), 780 (Chinese)

GPA: 3.85 UW, 4.27 W; UC GPA: 3.88 UW, 4.46 W, 4.21 Capped and Weighted (GPA is probably the weakest point of my application)

AP Scores: AP Chinese (5), APCS (5), APUSH (5), Currently taking: AP Microeconomics, AP Gov, AP Physics C: Mech, AP Physics C: E&M, AP Calculus BC

EC’s:
Published researcher, co-author of two peer-reviewed papers, one was admitted into an international computing conference and won Best Paper Award.

Top nationally ranked athlete for a non-NCAA sport (so no recruiting), not going to say sport due to confidentiality purposes but it is in the Olympics. Training multiple days a week, played for over 10 years; competed at Junior Nationals

Schools Robotics Team

Interned at a self-driving car company

Piano for 10 years

Chess for 10 years

100 volunteer hours

Summer Programs:
COSMOS

Recs: Teacher recs (7-9/10), additional rec from research mentor (10/10)
Essays: 6-8/10

Current results: Was deferred from Columbia ED and UMich EA, accepted into UIUC engineering, Northeastern with 96k scholarship, was somehow waitlisted from UC Santa Cruz and UC Davis…

Currently super worried about my chances for Columbia, Cornell, Brown, Yale, UCLA, UC Berkeley, CMU, UMich, Duke, USC and Stanford due to those unexpected waitlists. Please chance me! Thank you in advance :slight_smile:

2

Some people get put on waitlists because colleges think they’re overqualified and want to keep their ratios good. I wouldn’t worry about something you can’t really do anything about, but I would say try to build a strong relationship with admissions counselors at your top choice colleges because interest goes a long way.

3

UCD and UCSC do not consider level of interest. But CS is probably the most competitive major at each campus. Also, essays do count, and most applicants (and others) have no idea how they compare to the entire applicant pool.

4

I don’t really understand your comment. I heard that Davis, Santa Cruz and Irvine are notorious for “yield protection” as in they will waitlist or reject an overqualified student. Also I was under the impression that COSMOS is a massive boost for UCs, so do you think it is possible that they saw it and assumed I would get into one of the higher UCs?

5

You applied for a very competitive major. If you look at the acceptance threads, you will find several students who were admitted with scores higher than yours. UC GPA of 3.88 is on the low side and that matters more than attending COSMOS.

6

im confused, is UC GPA the uw 10-11 or the w 10-11? or is it the c&w one? if so my gpa was definitely equivalent or higher than some accepted

7

First go here: https://hs-articulation.ucop.edu/agcourselist and see which of your high school’s a-g classes qualify for extra weight at the UCs. It doesn’t matter what your school calls the class, only the classes with the orange band/yellow star are weighted. For UCSC and UCD you get a maximum of 8 semesters of weighted credit.

Then go here: https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/ to calculate your UC GPA. It you took more than 8 semesters of UC weighted courses, don’t count those courses as weighted when calculating your UC GPA

Count courses from the summer before 10th grade until the summer after 11th grade.

8

yes, i go to a bay area school, so my uncapped weighted gpa is 4.46 W, UC capped and weighted gpa is 4.21. Based off other threads, I fail to see how this is considered low.

9

I’m sorry, I read your UC GPA as 3.88.

10

no problem. based off this, do you think my davis/sc waitlists were “yield protections,” and do I have a good chance for LA/Berk?

11

At the reachiest schools on your list (Yale, Stamford, Columbia), these will hurt: “Teacher recs (7-9/10) Essays: 6-8/10.” and a 3.85 uw GPA won’t help. “Top nationally ranked athlete for a non-NCAA sport… but it is in the Olympics” won’t help unless top nationally ranked = shoo-in to make US Olympic team and “competed at Junior Nationals” doesn’t sound quite like that level. You have a decent shot to be accepted to one or more of Cornell CMU or Duke. Don’t know enough about the others to comment. At this point, probably the best thing is to stop worrying. You’ll get your answers soon enough.

12

@throwaway123455 Wow!. You do have an impressive profile. I would say don’t worry about being waitlisted at UCD and UCSC . It might have a lot to do with yield protection. Unnecessarily stressful for the kids. You might make it into one of the Ivies /UCLA /UCB .

13

Can you update us with where you get in? Good luck!

14

@massmom2018 accepted to ucsb, waitlisted to ucsd and ucla, rejected from usc. ivy day chances aint looking too good right now

15

Whatever happens, don’t despair! While you might feel disappointed if you are rejected from the elite privates, objectively speaking, you are blessed to have the offer of merit money at Northeastern as a fallback.

I know a young woman who didn’t get in at her dream school of Brown and who ended up at Northeastern because of a large merit award. She is currently at a top PhD program in her field, and her fellow Northeastern-grad boyfriend landed a great consulting gig out of undergrad. I’m not sure how much better either would have done had they graduated from Brown, Cornell, USC, or Duke instead of from Northeastern. Good luck!

16

Committed to UC Berkeley!

17

Congratulations! Awesome!

18

Congrats!

19

Awesome! I heard that this year is especially competitive for the UC’s.

20

Dude congrats on UCB. You were for sure yield protected at UCD and UCSC LOL