My poor daughter was rejected from 9 colleges waitlisted on 2 and accepted at one (safety school) CU Boulder with a chancellors scholarship and honors program. My daughter has a 4.5 GPA 33 ACT score, in a medical specialty program in high school. Belongs to several volunteer clubs and volunteered at a hospital for 2 years. Captain of the track team and top 10% of her class. Her reach schools rejected her (Johns Hopkins, Harvard, Brown( letter of rec from former graduate in the family) DUKE, Stanford. Now for the ones that don’t make sense, UW, UCSB, USC, UCLA. I mean UCSB?! UW?! We appealed both haven’t heard anything. Opted in for UCI and Berkley. I guess applying to 12 schools anymore isn’t enough. She is devastated but starting to finally get some handle on it all. This waiting is a nightmare. We accepted CU but she really never wanted to go there it was a last minute gran. Does she have a chance with the waitlists?
What is her UC-recalculated weighted-capped HS GPA calculated by https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/ ?
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-general/2127392-faq-uc-historical-frosh-admit-rates-by-hs-gpa-2018.html shows 2018 admission rates by weighted-capped HS GPA (2019 may be different, but this will give a general idea):
Campus 4.20- 3.80- 3.40- 3.00-
higher 4.19 3.79 3.39
UCB 37% 10% 1% 1%
UCLA 41% 9% 2% 1%
UCSD 70% 34% 7% 1%
UCI 75% 38% 7% 1%
UCSB 80% 41% 8% 1%
UCD 89% 52% 14% 3%
UCSC 92% 70% 33% 12%
UCR 96% 84% 49% 15%
UCM 98% 95% 82% 45%
But note that some majors (e.g. engineering majors and CS) are typically more selective than the overall campus.
I think California parents need to start sharing these stories with their state legislators. I’ve heard this story too many times this year.
Did she get offered a spot at UC Merced? Was she a top 9% of her high school class?
See, that’s the thing. To the legislators/Regents, all UC’s offer a great education. As long as Merced is a guarantee for the OP’s D, the state has done its job by offering a research Uni to its residents.
Note when five are uber-reach privates, and the two flagship UC’s have become big reaches for unhooked instate kids. Of your 12 schools, 7 were highly unlikely. UW, as in UWashington Seattle?
That being said, UCB’s question is on point, what was the d’s UC (weighted, capped) GPA? Was that 33 a one-time sitting, i.e., not super scored?
This poster did not state that they are CA residents although there were several UC’s on the college list. CU Boulder was listed as a safety, so my assumption would be that they are Colorado residents. Knowing the actual UC GPA capped weighted and fully weighted would be helpful and if OOS, then only AP/IB classes count for the GPA weighting. Intended major?
I agree the list was Reach heavy and why no in-state CA safety schools if she is a CA resident?
UCI has started accepting off the waitlist, but I have only seen an International applicant and an OOS applicant post of their acceptance. UCB has no activity as of yet, but it could be any day now. You cannot count on the waitlist, but hopefully she has a chance but there is no way to know for sure.
The great news is that your daughter has an acceptance! With honors college and scholarship to boot!
I would highly, highly encourage you and your D to start getting excited about CU Boulder. Buy swag, join the social media groups, and prepare to shine brightly there!
This was a very reach heavy list with a low ACT for most of those schools.
For other parents reading this post who haven’t been through the process - focus on safety and reach schools! That should be 80% of your list, not the other way around.
Thanks for your input. Yes I have one applying next year so lesson learned there. Additionally she is a pre med major (so cellular and development biology major) which I think doesn’t help because it is highly impacted. Yes trying to encourage her to be excited about boulder. She is praying for the waitlist though
Thanks
The other lesson is that the criteria for a safety school are three-fold 1) applicant expects to be accepted 2) applicant expects the school is affordable AND 3) applicant would be excited to attend the school.
Agree with @momofsenior1 – Many people place too much emphasis is places on finding those great reach schools and way too little time and effort goes into finding those wonderful safety schools (and they are out there). IMO the emphasis of a college search should be on match and safety schools.
We are California residents. Yes we should’ve applied to more it was a new process for us and apparently we weren’t realistic enough about the possibilities of so many rejections. Boulder is a great school we would live for her to choose it.
Yes she is in the top 10 th %tile of her class and she did get Merced I neglected to mention that. Yes the legislators will say they did their job you are so on it about that. UW, yes Huskies, Seattle Washington.
ACT was final score not super scored and wasn’t a first time at all. Someone mentioned that was low for Ivies, that’s true and it appears there was too much emphasis on reach schools and even some UCs that I didn’t realize were becoming reach as well. I should’ve done more detailed research.
Pre med as area of interest makes for super competitive admissions. The GPA that the UCs use May be different from what OP is reporting.
Still, it is a rough season for the young woman who is a great student. UC is a fantastic school. I’m glad she has it in her pocket. It’s not what I would designate as a safety school either
There are a lot of kids I’ve known who didn’t get into a school as selective as UC, and though many got into a number of colleges, it was because they had several safety schools on their lists. OP’s DD did not. It has gotten to this point where if you want several choices, you make sure you have several schools certain to take you on your list.
I’m also a CA resident and have watched over the past several years as friends’ kids have gotten rejected or wait-listed from UCs and top private schools that they thought they’d get into. (My oldest, with a higher ACT than your daughter although a lower GPA, was wait-listed at both UC Davis and Cal Poly SLO several years ago, although she did get into UCSD. Also a likely bio major at the time).
It’s disappointing for your daughter to have so many rejections and I’m sorry she had to go through that. The upside is that most kids seem to really enjoy attending CU Boulder so I hope she’s able to recover from the rejection and have a great experience there. I was just talking to 2 friends at lunch yesterday whose kids will be going there next year (also who were hoping to get into higher-ranked schools).
This site can be a good place to get some suggestions for places to consider for your younger child if you want help with a list of potential match/ safety schools to look at.
Surprising that UCR was not on the list for a California resident pre-med. In state price and the opportunity to apply for an early acceptance to medical school program there a year before normal medical school application make it a desirable choice for that.
4.5 is almost certainly an exaggerated high school weighted GPA that probably encouraged an overreach application list. The UC recalculated weighted capped GPA is typically significantly lower than what people often list as their high school weighted GPA.
My observation of “UC disappointment” threads is that one of the more common scenarios is a student with an impressive-looking 4.4 or 4.5 HS weighted GPA overreaches with the UCs (i.e. does not apply to UCSC, UCR, or UCM), not realizing that his/her UC-recalculated weighted-capped GPA is significantly lower, typically in the 3.8-4.1 range. I.e. s/he applies thinking that UCD, UCI, and UCSB are “safeties” when they are actually high match to low reach (see the second column in the table in reply #1).
It is also common in the “UC disappointment” threads for the applicant to be aiming for a major that is more competitive due to a high number of applicants relative to department capacity. Engineering majors and CS are common majors for this, though other majors may also be more competitive, depending on the campus.
My kids would not have done well getting into the UCs, other than possibly my youngest who would have had a shot.
Ironically, they all were accepted to the most selective SUNY. Are SUNY system was modeled after the CA system but it never got the luster that the UCs have.
I don’t know much about the Cal States, but they seem to be fine schools much more like the SUNYs overall in rankings
For high school students applying as engineering, computer science and even biology majors, the mid tier UC’s, UCSB and UW (Seattle) have gotten more difficult to get into than say 3, 4 or 5 years ago. Your daughter has a high GPA and ACT score and they would be good enough to get admitted to the mentioned schools if applied under a less impacted major. It is a lesson learned for your next kid. I would not count on getting off the waitlist. If it happens, great.
Thank you washugrad! That was so helpful to hear. I plan on showing her this thread. I have to say this has been some good therapy for me maybe it will be for my daughter.
Thanks to all of you for your insight and valuable information
@Shiloh18 I see that some are reporting on the UCB waitlist thread now that they were accepted today. I hope your daughter will be one of them.