No…the OP wrote that the kid was applying to those schools…and they were matches. I didn’t wrote my post very well…sort of out of order! I so agree with Menloparkmom. They are not matches.
Is this kid a NMSF?
I’m not sure how admission results help you as last year there were over 92K freshman applicants at UCLA, and over 73K at both UCB and UCSD. Other than someone saying their kid applied to whatever UCs and got acceptances to whatever UCs, what could you conclude from that? And if you’re looking to compare a successful say UCLA applicant’s application to D, I don’t like to use absolutes like all or every, but I’ll bet the no two applicants had exact same background (academic or otherwise) as D at any of top 3 UCs. There are just too many high schools with differing grading systems, offering different course opportunities whether at high school or DE, with kids having countless differing ECs opportunities, etc, etc, that even if you had 100 similar applications, do you know how any particular UC weighs out various factors in an application. I’d guess, probably not. Even if you don’t “feel love”, if your D wants to go to UCLA, check the UCLA box, send the fee, and see what happens. Good luck to D.
I would suggest that your daughter make a trip to Santa Clara…and have n interview as well as do the info session and tour. You don’t want them to think they are an afterthought.
Thank you everyone! So much information to consider.
@Fish125 thank you for the link. She just signed up.
@trumper1 NMS hopeful
@menloparkmom I am also loosing track who said what. As fas as I understand she doesn’t have any UC as a match.
Thank you @RosaRugosa I think it better panic now and change the game plan then regret it later
I agree with above that having stats on past applicants aren’t going to help you make determinations with your D in the upcoming year. A lot has changed in just the past few years. Budget issues has UC’s waitlisting and rejecting a lot of kids they’d normally have accepted. It’s been a marvel to see almost identical candidates get wildly different results within our circle of friends. Kids get into Harvard but rejected from their first choice UCLA. Kids get regents at UCB and rejected from UCD. It’s just really difficult to predict right now.
Please don’t read into invites and summer program denials. You’ll just drive yourself and your D insane. She’s got great stats but she’s going for the most competitive majors so really, none of the schools you mentioned should be considered a safety. Did you not mention UCSB? Don’t they have a top notch engineering programs too?
All your D can do is put together her best application and cast a wide net. Keep looking into private schools or OOS public schools that can offer big merit. There is nothing stressing about the UC’s can do for you. Not one single thing. She’ll get into something and I’m sure it won’t just be UCR or UCM.
She does have UCs that are matches…just NOT UCLA or UCB.
It sounds like all the anxiety is aimed at UCLA - that and UCB are certainly the ones that kids with high stats cannot count on. Total crapshoot is repeated over and over again on cc and it is so true. UCLA turns away near perfection in droves, so don’t count on those and avoid heartbreak. I know a 4.6, 34 ACT, 800 Math 2, zillion APs, instate female, with all the other bells in whistles - that got into Stanford but not UCLA CS, go figure. There are so many stories like that out of UCLA. I had three accepted to UCLA that chose privates instead, to each their own in the college game.
Your list is really diverse, which is good, but do you know what she wants in a school? She doesn’t have to get into all of the schools she applies to, but do think about what she is going for - smaller, bigger, public, private, merit, program quality, honors program, intellectual fit - those types of things. Still apply broadly and she will have some great options. No sense in being disappointed that she doesn’t get into UCLA if that is not the type of school she sees herself at anyway.You daughter can’t be everything to every school, so deciding a good fit should be the priority. She will only attend one college (generally speaking), not all ten that she may be accepted to. So chillax, some of those on your list are certainly attainable with great rewards.
@CADREAMIN the most important thing for her is intellectual fit. She experienced it at her summer research program and this is what she is looking for in college. Size does not really matter. Her HS is small. Her summer experience was at a huge university. She said any size is fine with her. Of course Stanford is her top choice. She said she will be honored to get into UCB, but she finds it to be too politically active for her taste.
A double major in CS or engineering and business does not seem like a good idea. First, it will look like she is just looking for job prospects, rather than a subject that she actually has interest in, if she indicates that on applications. Second, the number of non-overlapping credits for these majors can make it difficult to fit both majors into the number of credits that one takes over four academic years. Third, some engineers believe that a new engineering graduate with a second major in business or large numbers of business courses may be thinking of engineering as a stepping stone to management, rather than engineering as something that s/he likes to do.
http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/infocenter/freshman-admissions-summary indicates the percentage of students admitted as frosh for 2014 with HS GPA range of >= 4.20 (assuming that unweighted 3.98 with many honors and AP courses gives 4.3-4.4 weighted-capped GPA) at each campus.
43% Berkeley
93% Davis
98% Irvine
56% Los Angeles
97% Merced
99% Riverside
88% San Diego
91% Santa Barbara
97% Santa Cruz
However, CS is a popular major, so it may be more difficult to get in as a CS major than generally for a given campus. At Berkeley, a prospective CS major may apply as EECS (significantly harder to get in as a frosh) or L&S (more typical admission selectivity, but then must get a 3.3 college GPA in CS prerequisites to enter the CS major). Engineering majors or engineering divisions may have similar impactions. Undergraduate business is only offered at Berkeley, Irvine, and Riverside among the UCs.
Probable estimated difficulty of admission:
Berkeley – low reach for L&S, reach for EECS
Los Angeles – reach assuming engineering division (where CS is)
San Diego – low match for the campus, possibly high match or low reach for admission to impacted majors (see https://students.ucsd.edu/academics/advising/majors-minors/impacted-majors.html )
others – near safety for the campus (but impacted majors may be more difficult to gain admission to) – unlikely to be shut out if she applies to several of them
Some campuses may admit to the campus but not an impacted major. Be sure to check on the difficulty of changing into the impacted majors after enrolling. If it is difficult, you may want to do reach/match/safety assessments on the likelihood of admission to the major at the campus in question.
If Stanford is her top choice, why isn’t she applying there REA?
For obvious reason-it is REA and she is applying to more realistic schools early.
I’m not sure Caltech is more realistic.
^^Not unless she has an 800 Math score on the SAT…
her current SAT Math score of 750 is below the 25th percentile of last years enrolled students…
“Her SAT score is 2300 (780CR, 750M and 770E”
here are some admission statistics from the 2014 Common Data Set.
C9 Percent and number of first-time, first-year (freshman) students enrolled in Fall 2014 who submitted national standardized (SAT/ACT) test scores. Include information for ALL enrolled, degree-seeking, first-time, first-year (freshman) students who submitted test scores. Do not include partial test scores (e.g., mathematics scores but not critical reading for a category of students) or combine other standardized test results (such as TOEFL) in this item. Do not convert SAT scores to ACT scores and vice versa. The 25th percentile is the score that 25 percent scored at or below; the 75th percentile score is the one that 25 percent scored at or above.
C9 Percent submitting SAT scores 88% Number submitting SAT scores 200
C9 Percent submitting ACT scores 41% Number submitting ACT scores 93
C9 25th Percentile 75th Percentile
C9 SAT Critical Reading 730 800
C9 SAT Math 770 800
SAT Writing 730 790
She does have 800 on SAT Math 2 and 5 on AP Calculus.
It doesn’t make up for a 750. Not at Caltech.
I mentioned that before…
She needs to take the SAT again if she wants a GOOD CHANCE of acceptance there.
They have more than enough applicants with perfect Math scores .
Unfortunately she does not want to take SAT again. She took it once and is happy with her scores. She is busy working 15 hours per week, volunteering for organization that is important to her, and finishing her research in time to enter it into Siemens and Intel. Not to mention taking full AP schedule.
I wouldn’t take SAT again.
Ok.
that’s her choice.