My son is a going to be senior this year. We are currently in Oregon but I got a job in California, I have a choice to move to California this year or next year. If I move this year and with some other conditions my son would be eligible for resident tuition next year. But I am not sure if it will increase his chances or hurt his chances for Berkeley/UCLA. I would not care about money if it increases his chances. Any advice would be helpful.
@Gumbymom can clarify if I’m wrong, but my understanding is that the parent and the student have to reside in CA for 1 year with the intent to stay long term to qualify.
The stats needed instate are generally lower than OOS, but this conceals the huge discrepancies between schools in different parts of the state: expectations for applicants from a poor Central Valley high school are much lower than a wealthy Silicon Valley high school. So part of this depends on where you are moving to.
But I would be at least as concerned about senior year disruption, introducing challenges for recommendations and it not being clear how a student compares to peers in the new high school (since there’s a side by side comparison of all applicants from a given high school). Again that comparison will look very different in different high schools, but I think moving to say Palo Alto would put you in an incredibly competitive peer group where it would be hard to stand out, especially without any leadership positions as a new student. Someone with elite out of school ECs (athletics, math Olympiads, etc) might be OK though.
Note I assumed your son would move too, if he stayed in Oregon then I don’t think it would impact his admissions, merely what you pay.
@eyemgh is correct in that to receive in-state tuition for any CA state school, you and your son need to reside in CA 365 days prior to the state residency determination and plan to make CA your permanent home.
That said, OOS admission to any of the UC’s is usually slightly higher than in-state due to higher OOS tuition costs, less applicants and lower matriculation rates. 2020 data for UCB shows OOS admissions lower than in-state.
Competition for top UC’s is tough for both in-state and OOS so UCB should be considered a Reach regardless. I would not base my move decision on the chances of getting into UCB but are you willing to pay OOS fees $65K for the first year if accepted and delay the move.
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To tag onto what @Gumbymom said, are you sure that’s the type of experience your student wants, giant lectures and lots of time with TA’s? Especially at that price?!?
We’re from Oregon too. Our son, since graduated (BS/MS ME), applied to one CA school, Cal Poly, because he specifically did not want that experience. Plus, it’s cheaper. The IPEDS data is stark. I’ll post it below with school, number of full time faculty and number of teaching assistants across the whole university.
UCB
2737
3481
UCLA
5196
2778
Cal Poly
1289
100
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Some 2020 UCB admission data:
Overall: UC Berkeley: 17.5%
In-state: UC Berkeley: 20.2%
OOS: UC Berkeley: 18.3%
The UC’s are also capped on the # of OOS/International student admits and they are still trying to increase in-state admits so the #’s could get lower.
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You don’t have that data for Cal Poly, or any of the other CSUs do you?
I have not found any data from the CSU system which breaks out acceptance rates for OOS and International applicants vs. In-state. I can only find overall acceptance rates by campus.
Most recent data listed is for 2019: https://www2.calstate.edu/attend/counselor-resources/Documents/freshmen-2019-admission-impaction-chart.pdf
Individual CSU Campus websites will have more updated information.
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This is kind of a silly discussion without his stats. Honestly, UCB and UCLA aren’t realistic targets for the vast majority of students - that applies to both in-state and OOS applicants. The in-state admit rate at both is about 20%, slightly lower for OOS. Even for 4.2+ GPA applicants, the admit rate for both is in the 40% range - far from a sure bet.
that will give you admit rates at each UC for in/OOS and by GPA band.
If you want/need to move to CA, come on down but, I wouldn’t make a big life decision - like moving a happy high school senior to improve his admit odds at UCB or LA by a couple %.
Most OOS students that can get into an elite UC probably will also get merit aid at CA privates like LMU, USD and Santa Clara so they can enjoy the CA college experience without the absurd price tag.
Good luck.
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As gumbymom said above, UC admit rates are generally higher for OOS than in-state (because OOS yield is lower than in-state). UCB admit rates in 2020 were an exception. UCLA 2020 admit rates, from the page you linked to above: 21% OOS, 14% in-state, 9% international. UCSB 2020: 53% OOS, 35% in-state, 32% international.
I do agree that many of the OOS students who attend UCB and UCLA would garner merit aid at other schools.
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Good catch I read the UCLA chart wrong.
My point remains, this is kind of a silly discussion - especially without the kids stats. For the vast majority of applicants, whether in or OOS, UCB and UCLA are a longshot (I think its fair to categorize both 21% and 14% admit rates as really unlikely to most applicants.)
The OP is considering relocating his family from Oregon to CA to pick up a few % better chance at getting into either of them. Even high stat students have a less than 40% admit rate (meaning more than 6 in 10 are declined) we don’t know his stats but, In all likelihood, the kid won’t get into either UCB or UCLA whether he applies from OR or CA.
I get this is subjective but, IMHO Its a pretty absurd reason to uproot a family.
My understanding is that the parent is moving regardless since s/he got a job in CA. The only difference is moving now or in 2022.
@kushwahajitu
UCLA and UCB will further restrict the number of OOS and international applicants they can admit, and the State, thanks to its surplus, will be able to cover the budget difference for the UCs (since OOS and international applicants pay so much and therefore used to offset budget cuts, however at the cost of places for CA residents). Therefore, being a CA resident makes it marginally more likely a student would get in. However, those odds are very long no matter what and would be impacted by where you move.
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The question is….is the student also moving now to CA…if the parent does. Or will the student complete high school where he currently is enrolled?
Oh my gosh! I am also in the same situation too and my parents aren’t sure if it would help to move there or be here as UC’s might accept a decent amount of out of states because of higher tuition.
There’s a legal limit to how many OOS/international students each UC can admit. Only UCSC, UCR, and UCM are below. In other words, unless your goal is one of these three, you will be better off living in CA. In addition, UC weighted capped GPA only counts AP/IB courses from OOS (v. Approved Honors classes from.CA HS in addition to AP/IB). Since UCs are now test blind, your GPA is even more important.
This article had interesting stats on Merit Aid (based on test scores/GPA) for in-state and out-of-state at certain universities. This might help.