<p>Look at it this way: About 10% of graduating seniors in California go to UCs. UC Davis is certainly in the top half of the campuses, but not even top three. Yet, they routinely reject people with 3.9-4.0s who happen to have SAT scores in the 97th-99th percentile. At the same time, they admit countless 3.7/1800 students. The discrepancy in ecs, recs, essays, etc. can explain some of this, but I don't think that UCD can in good conscience reject someone who has both proven them self academically and has scored better than 99 percent of people. This is why admissions to these schools are so nerve-wracking. I mean, they're HUGE state universities. Not Brown and Yale. Why the holistic approach? Thoughts?</p>
<p>Why? Because colleges aren’t looking to admit the applicants with the highest SAT scores and GPAs in the applicant pool. They are also looking for fit. Just because they are a state school doesn’t mean they can’t be competitive lol. Look at UNC Chapel Hill and UVA. They are extremely competitive for out of state applicants, almost like getting into an Ivy.</p>
<p>Be aware that UCs admit by division (Letters & Science, Engineering, etc.) and sometimes by major. Some divisions or majors may be much more selective than other divisions or majors at the same campus, so that a better (in the holistic review) applicant who applies to a more selective division or major may get rejected while a worse applicant who applies to a less selective division or major may get admitted.</p>
<p>ucbalumnus makes a good point, but i think cortana is confused. UCD is not as competitive for in state applicants as UNC and UVA are for out of state. It makes sense when Berkeley and LA do this, but not as much with the mid tiered UCs</p>
<p>The UC’s don’t want a bunch of robots lol</p>
<p>but why not just a few of the more exceptional robots? haha</p>
<p>Keep in mind a 4.0 UC GPA from a CA public school is no great feat. A 4.0 can be top 30% at many. Anyone can take honors and APs in CA and the rigor is often questionable. Average SAT at Davis is under 1900. Also note no recs are needed.</p>
<p>so waverly, what are you saying they base their decisions on, if GPA isn’t terribly important?</p>
<p>GPA is very important at UCs, I’m just saying a UC 4.0 isn’t like an ivy 4.0.</p>
<p>Cappex–that explains it. That’s not statistics from UC itself. It’s students supplying their own SAT and GPA. Not everyone is honestly reporting their stats. When they set up a cappex account, they’ll put in the GPA and SAT that they’re “planning” on having, because their current lower scores/grades in 11th grade aren’t what they’re going to have in 12th grade when they’re applying to schools. In order to find out their “real” chances, they put in the scores and grades that they think they’re going to have. Doesn’t always work out.</p>
<p>You’re also not seeing a fair representation of everyone in the app pool, just those who have cappex accounts and choose to submit their stats. Better than nothing, but not as accurate as UC’s own stats.</p>
<p>It’s not showing UC GPA. You put in one GPA for all schools. Not even just your academic GPA. Actual UC GPA might be higher…or lower. Some might not even be UC eligible (e.g. don’t have VAPA completed). </p>
<p>Out of state and in-state are all blended together here. Not a lot of OOSers applying to Davis, but there are some.</p>
<p>And, UC makes mistakes. They have an appeals system set up. If there’s really a 2350/3.9 UC GPA student out there who got rejected from Davis and who appeals, then I’d bet they’d find that there was a goof somewhere and the student would be accepted. In reality, if it’s a real mistake, that student might not bother with an appeal, because they might be happy going somewhere else.</p>