One panicked mom of the Senior here

Parent Cafe
1

We are California residents and while some lower level UCs should be considered as safeties for my D16 I am afraid that that they are not and she should add more matches/ safes to her list. The reason be is that I don’t “feel love” from UC schools for some reason. DD twice was denied from UCLA summer research program and twice from COSMOS. She got into and attended few more selective programs then those, but this raised a red flag for us.

Now I hear that some people received an invitation to UCLA open house in September. DD did not. Maybe I am reading too much into it, but why my high stats kid is not on a radar for our state school?

Would greatly appreciate if any California parents would like to share admission results. You can PM me if you don’t want to post it here.

2

UC admissions to their top schools is a crapshoot. Those UCs have more 'high stats" students than they can accept.

PLUS…the UCs are required to weight GPAs higher than test scores, so that means many high stats will be rejected.

What are your DD’s stats and what are her career goals/major?

If she’s concerned about safeties, then she needs to apply to some schools that are.

3

UCLA shouldn’t be considered a safety for anyone. That said, I don’t know who was sponsoring your UCLA open house, but it’s not going to have any bearing on admissions decisions. In this case Naviance is your friend. If a UC campus looks like a safety for your kid’s stats, then go with it.

IMO the best cure for panic is to apply to a rolling/earlyaction school. Around here, Lewis and Clark is popular for that if any LACs are on your list as well.

4

@mom2collegekids here are my DD stats http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1788171-where-to-apply-ea-p1.html
Our college counselor told my DD that UCSB and UCD are definitely her safeties and she will be really surprised if she will not get in. In the light of the luck of "UC love " I think she might be wrong.

@qialah UCLA is reach for everyone, but our school normally sends 20% of graduating class to UCLA.

5

Given your DD’s stats I think you are over reacting. There is no need to panic given the range of colleges she wants to apply to .
Just be sure she applies EARLY to USC [ before the Dec 1 deadline] even if she applies SCEA or EA to other colleges.
BTW- Is she applying to MIT? and any other top colleges? Applying only to Calif colleges is not a good strategy.

6

I personally feel the UCSB and UCD are not safeties, but Low Matches due to how unpredictable the UC’s can be. Your daughter is a very competitive applicant but I think UCI/UCR/UCSC will definite safeties. If she is interested in any of these schools, I would just add one the list just to be sure.

7

@Gumbymom She was not admitted to COSMOS at UCI twice. She doesn’t not see a point applying there. She thinks she would rather go to community college and transfer to UCLA and does not want to go to UCs ranked lower than UCSB and UCD.

@menloparkmom USC is on the top of her list. She is applying EA to MIT, Caltech, Santa Clara University and possibly LMU if we need another safety.

8

I think your daughter has a good chance of getting accepted at a number of the schools on her list. She has excellent grades and SAT scores. So what if she didn’t get accepted to COSMOS?

9

@thumper COSMOS is a semi-selective summer program, a safety, college admission speaking. Especially the UCI one. She got into few very selective summer programs, but not into UC programs. And now she did not get invitation for UCLA open house. That is why I think she might need to rethink her list if matches and safeties.

10

I think, like others, that you are overreacting. UCLA is a reach for almost everyone who applies because admissions can be u predictable. But there are plenty of other UCs where your daughter should gain admission.

My kid graduated from Santa Clara and didn’t have near,y as high scores as yours.

LMU would most definitely be a safety in terms of admissions.

Can you afford the costs of these schools?

ETA…your daughter has a 1530 CR/Math SAT score, and a near perfect GPA. The list of EA schools are top heavy, perhaps (with the exception of Santa Clara).

To be honest,your thread comes across a little like bragging…with these stats, it’s not likely she will be denied admission everywhere she applies…assuming her list is a balanced one. And I don’t think a community college is necessary unless she wants to do this.

I mean for heaven’s sake…she would get a full tuition award at Alabama guaranteed.

11

Is she still interested in engineering / comp sci ? There is a page called Big Door / Little Door for UCLA that explains how competitive engineering (and CS) are at UCLA. Berkeley is no different, it is ranked #1 for some programs so they get really, really impressive candidates. UCSD is likely no different and without direct admit, you have to take non-honors classes and hope your GPA is higher than others.

She has fantastic stats and likely a very high UC GPA. It is very unlikely they have 20 Eng/CS openings.

I think she may be too qualified, too in the know being at a top school to be admitted to something like COSMOS which might really want to attract less traditional candidates, especially women.

I think the idea of a 10 AP class person attending CC is irrational. Like many, she would waste at least a year waiting to transfer with no real classes to take (she will be done with CC STEM classes in less than a year). The quality of the classes would be far below what she had in a competitive high school, unless she attends the top CC in CA. So the I won’t attend UC-R because I would rather go to a CC, no … no … no … You could easily end up being an OK CC student and transferring to UC-R and still being behind, rather than being UC-Rs top percenter. Peers are important, interesting classes are important, etc.

UCI is nationally ranked. Who cares about COSMOS, just check another box on the UC application. As a non-CA resident, I don’t know much about other schools, but I doubt they are awful… Cal Polys may also be good contenders.

Without being emotional about it, a balanced list of reaches (Stanford, Caltech), matches (UC-4+ top schools), and safeties that she actually likes, will give her a good choice of schools by spring. One will work out, and it will be good. One thing you can easily see here on CC or by talking to parents is that it is rare to get exactly the acceptances that you want or that you think you deserve, but if you keep reasonable options open, you can go to a great school (and I really think any top 100 USNWR is likely a great school, not just the top 20).

If she wants to trade Cali for a cold climate school, that opens up a lot of other options who would probably be thrilled to accept her and may even offer significant merit aid.

12

"And now she did not get invitation for UCLA open house. That is why I think she might need to rethink her list if matches and safeties. "

you are WAY overthinking this!!..and reading WAY to much into it!!! go take a long walk or do some YOGA or something!!!

COLLEGE admissions officers have NO interest in knowing or even finding out who DID NOT get into HS summer programs. They dont check. So relax already! !!!

if she needs more safeties and matches, [which I think she does], then have her apply to them.

But I REALLY dont understand why she is ONLY applying to Calif colleges, except LMU [??]why LMU???
There are many far better colleges than LMU who I’d bet would love to have her.

13

<<
Our college counselor told my DD that UCSB and UCD are definitely her safeties and she will be really surprised if she will not get in. In the light of the luck of "UC love " I think she might be wrong.


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Are UCD and UCSB ELC schools?


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@qialah UCLA is reach for everyone, but our school normally sends 20% of graduating class to UCLA. <<<<

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edit…just saw this…


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your daughter has a 1530 CR/Math SAT score, and a near perfect GPA <<<

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excellent stats.

I don’t think your D will get shut out of all the UCs, not sure that’s possible assuming ELC, but if your DD won’t want to go to a low tier UC, she needs to find other safeties.

What is this UCLA Open House? Is it something that UCLA does to get certain students on campus who have high GPAs, but might not consider UCLA? Is it focused on URMs or other low-income students?

LMU is probably a certain safety. SCU could be as well. Is she happy with those?

Are you happy with the NPC results?

14

Sure likely overreaction and general panic at getting to senior year in a very competitive college environment with a very talented daughter that you want to do the most for.

Some reality check is good for all students, they are free to throw away that acceptance to a school in the top 40 that is just so beneath Yale or Stanford, but also won’t face a sea of rejections from highly selective schools and have limited options. Sometimes just one safety that you don’t like doesn’t solve that issue either. UCSB would not disappoint, but LMU might. LMU seems to be a Loyola in LA.

That said, I really would be surprised if there is no place for her at a UC.

I can imagine they don’t particularly set up special summer programs to attract top students in top high schools in CA to convince them to come to UCs, so I would just ignore that as well as some random UCLA open house that might be targeted to specific folks as well (athletes, URMs, specific majors, some particular recommendation from someone, etc).

15

@mom2mom - I read on the thread you linked to that your child is possibly interested in double majoring. I don’t know about the other schools, but at UCLA double majoring can be tricky especially if one of the majors is engineering/CS. UCLA has a max number of units that they allow in order to graduate. To go above that amount, a student has to petition for approval. If the student can graduate with a double in four years, they are a bit more flexible in granting the request, but it is definitely very hard to get a waiver for this if the student needs to remain in school for more than 4 years. UCLA is very serious about their unit cap.

Please tell your daughter not to worry about not receiving the invitation. My kids didn’t receive one, and they all got in with similar stats, but they had friends with similar stats who didn’t get in…it is just a crap shot with the UCs and with a few of the out of area CSUs, too.

16

I was surprised she was not accepted to any COSMOS program. I thought those programs were not as competitive as others that my kid applied to.

17

I was surprised too. And that is why I am trying to understand the reason and learn from the experience. Is she is not UC material because she is not URM?

18

California publics banned affirmative action so URM status cannot be used for admission purposes. Not sure if this pertains to COSMOS.

19

This just the official version. I can’t find it now, but it was on this forum somewhere. The statistic for UC enrollment to UCD last year. The drastic change in acceptance by race compared to the year before.

20

Once again- those who make COLLEGE Admissions decisions at the UC’s are NOT that same people who make Summer Cosmos admissions decisions!!

you are trying to extrapolate and find a connection between 2 entirely different events.

One has nothing to do with the other!! :open_mouth:

There are OVER 85,000 OPENINGS FOR FRESHMAN AT THE UC’S- FAR more than the number of openings at Cosmos. And in 2014 there were 148000 applicants. So your DD has a better than 50% chance of acceptance at a UC campus.

Download the 2014 statistics and take a deeeeeeep breathe.
you are going to make you and your DD crazy with your unnecessary anxiety about getting into a UC college. :-t

http://www.ucop.edu/institutional-research-academic-planning/data-reports/key-reports/student-workforce-pages/2014-admissions.html