Confused on why top students are rejected at UCSD

Colleges & Universities A-Z University of California - San Diego
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<p>I'm a parent of a rising senior in So. Cal. I've taken a look at the thread of acceptances/rejections for the class of 2015 and it's left me quite confused. I see some students with stellar stats (2300 + SAT and impressive ECs) being rejected while a number of students with much lower scores are being accepted.</p>

<p>My son had hoped that UCSD would be one of his safeties but now I'm not so sure. Is there any explanation for this? I thought the UCs were pretty formulamatic but it appears they are focused on admitting certain types of students perhaps while passing over other types?</p>

<p>Anyone care to comment?</p>

2

<p>UCSD has a point system where each aspect of an applicant, GPA, test scores, extracurriculars, personal situation, etc. are given a certain about of points out of a total for each category. Excelling in 1 or 2 of the categories does not necessarily mean a candidate will pass the point threshold to be admitted. If I remember correctly, I think GPA was the biggest chunk of points, so it might be that their GPA was not high enough. </p>

<p>An alternative explanation based completely on speculation is that perhaps admission officers thought that the candidate was too good for UCSD, ie they would definetely be admitted somewhere else, and so felt that they should give one of the limited number of seats they have to a strong candidate that was more likely to attend. However this is just speculation and there’s no evidence to suggest it.</p>

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<p>To be completely honest (and you probably figured this out on your own), UCSD imagines that students with stats that high likely applied to UCLA and Berkeley as well (and would choose those over SD). Unless your son is applying to be a Med Scholar or is in the running for a Regent’s or Jacob’s scholarship, there’s little point accepting someone who has no intention of attending. Especially since SD had a record number of applicants this year the school might have judged this move necessary.</p>

<p>Of course, I am not a spokesperson for UCSD. However, this is what common sense tells me happened.</p>

<p>Basically, don’t be too offended because at the least your son is sure to land a spot in LA, Berkeley or both.</p>

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<p>Well, I do know after having a fairly long talk with someone from admissions, the guy more or less admitted that it was somewhat of a bureaucracy. My son is homeschooled and will have over 60 units of community college and has what I think are strong scores, a 4.0 GPA, strong coursework (but not all the work will fit nicely into A-G since he did a lot of it at either the CC or through unaccredited means) ECs, community service, etc., but this guy said because of the formulamatic way they do things, my son might have to appeal if he was rejected for some reason even after he said he was more qualified than most applicants. He encouraged my son to apply, though. (My son was considering applying a year early but has decided to wait and apply to college in the fall)</p>

<p>It’s the local UC for us so it makes sense to apply there but I guess I should tell my son he shouldn’t take any admittance for granted.</p>

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<p>UCs do not yield protect, so getting into LA or Berkeley should not effect your chances at all.</p>

<p>I have heard, however, that this year the number of students that UCSD plans to enroll is a bit lower than last year.</p>

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<p>

Other people have posted that UCSD was their safety and they got rejected. It is not an easy school to get into, so don’t make the same mistake they did; tell him to apply to Davis, UCSB, etc.</p>

<p>

No, the enrollment goals went up by 100 from last year, but the acceptance rate this year was still much lower than last year.</p>

<p>Seemingly top applicants get rejected because you can’t see their application. UCSD moved to holistic review this year, so essays played a larger role than in the past. With the holistic review, a 2350 SAT and 4.5 GPA aren’t enough to get in if your community service and extracurriculars are lacking. UCSD is now looking for a well-rounded applicant (probably more so than they used to.)</p>

<p>If your son has good grades, test scores, and extracurriculars, then he has a good chance, but I would be hesitant to count UCSD as being a safety.</p>

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<p>i think the speculation isn’t true. Everyone at my school who are qualified for berkeley and UCLA or even better are all accepted by UCSD. Everyone who was accepted by UCLA was def accepted by UCSD</p>

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<p>Thank-you for the responses. My son is not interested in any other UC. If he goes to UCSD, he’ll be able to live at home. The other UCs are financially out of the question because our income is between 70-80K, so he’ll get no help. I haven’t looked into scholarship amounts at the UCs but I don’t, even if my son won a few, that they would cover enough to make it feasable to attend.</p>

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<p>Finances are always a big consideration. However, as the superintendent of our school district used to tell me, it doesn’t matter where you start college, just where you finish. In other words, if UCSD is important to your son, start at the CC, participate in the TAG program, and then transfer. Will save quite a bit of money. Good luck.</p>

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<p>@Lawlue5: i was going to say the SAMEEEEEEE exact thing!!; go to a CC for 2 years and then transfer out, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that; my best friend had to go to a CC and work 35 hours a week. now he’s at Cal w/ scholarship but still has to work…i just got into UCSD but i have to get a job cleaning houses, being an assistant, etc. if i want to be able to afford anything; and quite frankly after seeing my best friend succeed at Cal, i look forward to working w/e job so i can enjoy LIFE.</p>

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<p>None of it makes sense. Rejected with high gpa, good test scores, >200 hours service, sports, club presidents, art awards, UC summer programs, with A’s and overseas college research, great essays, recs, not impacted major. Going to UCLA or Berkeley</p>

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<p>Cannot add a whole lot to what’s already been said except that some of the decision making, on who gets accepted or not, depends on an applicants intended major.</p>

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<p>DS (fantastic stats) just got into UCSD (:)) but when he told his GC last year that he thought of this school as his “UC- safety,” she told him UCSD is no longer ANYONE’S safety school.
Which is a better way to understand it.</p>

<p>Good luck to your son. I completely understand your dilema.</p>

14

<p>OP, Study the UCSD freshman admissions criteria very carefully.</p>

<p>Here is an example:</p>

<p>UCSD points </p>

<p>2344 (5 tests (660/500/580/650/540) * 0.8 )
4150 (GPA uncapped UW GPA 3.79, School Weighted 3.95, UC weighted capped 4.05, UC weighted uncapped 4.15)
500 ? (a-g Semester Courses: minimum 30, actual 42 )</p>

<p>6994 total points academic metrics, estimated</p>

<p>Accomplishments and Life Challenge Categories:</p>

<p>500 Challenges (severe medical challenges, ongoing)
100? Leadership (Manager of team, section editor yearbook ???)
300 Volunteer (= over 300 documented hours. Max =300 points)
0 (Accomplishments)
0 (Low Income)
200 (Participation in Academic Improvement Programs (300 possible) )</p>

<p>1100 Total Accomplishments & Life Challenges points</p>

<p>8094 Total of all Categories. UCSD Cutoff for 2011: est. 7775</p>

<hr>

<p>So, you see with 1,100 Accomplishment/Life Challenges/Volunteering points, this above applicant would get in wheras a top 1-2% 720*5 test taker with 4.1 UC weighted, uncapped GPA, and without any severe life challenges and only moderate leadership and EC/volunteering accomplishments would NOT get in. Here’s the math: </p>

<p>Tests: 3,600* 0.8 = 2,880 points
GPA: 4,100 points
a-g Courses above 30: Let’s say 400 points</p>

<p>Total: 7380</p>

<p>Additional points needed from Life Challenges (low income, single parent home, 1st gen college, underperforming HS, learning disability, physical disability, participation in Academic Outreach Program, etc.), Accomplishments and volunteering: about 400. If this applicant is not in leadership in sports (Captain) or student Government, and doesn’t have any other notable accomplishments outside the classroom, only performed sporadic or minimal community service, he/she won’t hit the points needed.</p>

<p>To put it another way, lots of life challenges and accomplishments totalling 1000 points is worth the same as an additional 250 points on <em>each</em> of the 5 standardized tests [250<em>5</em>0.8=1000.]</p>

<p>I think you can see that the method used by UCSD admissions does not put much weight at all on the five standardized test scores.</p>

<p>Though UCSD is the only UC that has easily accessible published admissions formula, I believe that all 9 of the UCs follow a similar philosophy in their admissions rubric. Bottom line… overcoming challenges and high GPA are each worth a lot more to UCs than very high standardized test scores. this typically leads to shocked disbelief when a 99.5% testing student (let’s say 750*5) with, say 4.1 UC Weighted uncapped GPA, or even 4.3 UC Weighted, uncapped GPA, does not get in.</p>

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<p>edit: I see that this year UCSD is not publishing its point formula. This is a good idea, I think, because by doing so, when a student is rejected and appeals, there naturally ensues a debate over whether XXX is worth y points or z points… not a comfortable discussion for admissions. Nonetheless, ALL admissions committees use some sort of point formula guided by their values, and the UCSD point system of the past several years clearly communicates what UCSD (and I believe all UCs), prioritizes and values (and that is NOT high test scores).</p>

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<p>So if you are not a low income, disabled minority raised by a single meth addict mother who never finished 5th grade and pays no california taxes, you get an advantage point wise to go to a school that you have supported for three generations?</p>

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<p>Futureholds,</p>

<p>You bring up some interesting points. In the case of my son, because we don’t fit in the box of public, acredited school, based on what others are saying here, my son could stand a real chance of not getting admitted. His community service, leadership, ECs, etc. are all done outside of a school-they are done in the broad community but no one is documenting things. He just lives life and does them because that’s who he is. No one at church documents his service. No one in the community orchestra is documenting his service.</p>

<p>I understand the idea behind helping people who have faced challenges. My middle son has diabetes and his schooling has been affected because of it. But, I can see the politics of college admissions interfering with otherwise qualified students who haven’t faced severe challenges.</p>

<p>Wow, this has been eye opening. </p>

<p>As to transferring, I guess my question would be, why would I assume my son could get accepted as a transfer any easier than getting accepted as a freshman? I would argue it’s harder not easier. He has a 4.0 in all his CC work but again, based on all I’m hearing, I wouldn’t assume he’d get in and maybe as a freshman, he’s eligible for more scholarships.</p>

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<p>edit: nvm.</p>

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<p>

</p>

<p>No no no no no no no no no no no no no.</p>

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</p>

<p>I’m not sure of the specifics (except that you need at least a 3.5 GPA), but the TAG agreement can guarantee you transfer into UCSD.</p>

<p>And let’s all stop discussing the points system, please. It was almost completely eradicated this year and next year UCSD will be entirely holistic.</p>

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<p>even though the UCs say they dont look at apps. considering what other schools/UCs that the student would get into/go to, they probably do. loads of highly qualified kids last year at my school (when i applied) got rejected from one of the top 3 UCs and accepted to only one (if any at all).
i know my teacher has no clout, but when my classmates were confused as to why they didnt get into like ucsd, for example, she said it’s probably because ucsd assumed that s/he would get into ucla or ucb.</p>