@rebmob, you’re probably in HS, but being a slave to USN’s rankings (which, BTW, don’t always reflect real-world perceptions) betrays a lack of critical thinking skills. Evidently, the idea that 2 different ranking systems may use different weightings of criteria escapes you.
Also, while big publics tend to have more large lecture classes,
- You won’t be able to escape them even at Harvard or Stanford (Stanford’s largest class has 650 students).
- Depending on your major, your upper-level classes can be all small sizes. In fact, most majors would be that way (obviously the less popular ones).
- You clearly have no idea what makes a university class good or not. I went to an Ivy-equivalent, and the best class I had in my major had 100+ students. The worst class I took in my major had fewer than 10 students in it. The quality of the teaching of the professor makes a huge and much bigger difference than class size. I’ve been reading reviews of a major in another school, and the classes the students thought were the best were the core classes (all huge) while the worst were all elective classes (some small).
Anyway, to the OP, selectivity to the UCs can depend on your major. Plus, Cal (and UCLA) can be quite holistic. So maybe they weighed your essay more heavily than the other UC’s did.
Something many kids don’t get is that, fair or not, stats are everything.