I bet your daughter does great in college. The other kids may have to worry about her ruining the curve.
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UCs mostly admit engineering students directly to major, so there is not the competitive secondary admission to major process that is present at some other well known for engineering state universities (e.g. Texas A&M, Purdue, NCSU, Ohio State, Penn State, Minnesota, Virginia Tech). However, that also means that changing into a popular engineering major can be very difficult, because it is completely full.
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Well, this is great news. Congratulations to your daughter.
I’m not really answering your question based on personal knowledge, but one extremely crude measure that you might consider when weighing these options is the first-year retention rate. MIT/UChicago/Yale have a 99% first-year retention rate, which is a sign that students were happy enough with their first year to return as sophomores. Other schools on your list have a much lower rate–Pomona is at 94%, and UC Santa Cruz is at 88%. There can be many, many reasons why students don’t return that have nothing to do with safety or mental health, but it is a concrete number that you might look at.
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Retention and graduation rates are mostly related to admission selectivity and how well students can afford the college. A highly selective college with mostly students from wealthy families and good financial aid for other students is likely to have fewer students leave due to academic difficulty or running out of money (the usual reasons students leave before graduation).
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@chrisntine, I am not sure I’d put too much weight on this year’s freshman to sophomore retention rates, because of the disruptions and impact of the pandemic on those entering college in the Fall of 2019. For example, out of curiosity I looked up Pomona’s retention rate and it is usually in the high 90s (97, 97, 98 for three years prior to pandemic), and its 6 yr. graduation rate is mid-90s.
Also, as @ucbalumnus mentions, even in normal years these retention and graduation rates are closely related to students abilities to pay. So it should be expected that the rates would be lower at a state school like UCSC where the financial demographics skew lower.
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Not sure why there’s negativity about UCLA. The students all seem really happy and love being there (the weather helps!). S has had great relationships with his professors and amazing opportunities. I wouldn’t characterize it as particularly pre-professional, more that there’s a lot of ambition to be successful.
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My d who is some way is similar to yours struck MIT, UChicago, Harvey Mudd and Carnegie Mellon on grounds of being too intense and not enough fun.
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For our son, it was a bit of that, but just as much having a feeling that they might not represent a “typical college experience.” As someone had mentioned previously, some schools attract quite a few students that might rather talk math or physics over the weekend than hike, ski or surf. Even though he had the horsepower, he definitely wanted no part of that paradigm. His roommate is an alum of one of those though and is a rabid fan.
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Not sure why either but there sure is negativity. To each their own. I have shared with the OP my kid’s experience as a freshman engineering student at UCLA so I won’t repeat myself. The only thing that I will add is that LA has some great nightclubs with 18+dance parties that the students avail themselves of. It’s a very effective pressure relief valve for those who like to dance 
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Well as they say about U Chicago - it’s where fun goes to die 
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Sorry didn’t mean to suggest there was a lot of bad info on UCLA, that was the first I’d heard it might have a pre-professional vibe (which isn’t bad, just not my D’s preference). Ambition is good. I think D’s aversion to a “pre-professional vibe” means she doesn’t want to be in a place where there’s an incessant drive to get good grades merely to get into grad school or a specific kind of job, seeing college is a stepping stone to the next goal, rather than enjoying the process of exploring and learning for learning’s sake. I think that’s why she’s drawn to the LAC model, even though she also likes many features of a major university.
Her friends at UCLA are also happy but I don’t think are in STEM so I think @teleia D’s experience in Engineering may be more relevant (assuming my D gets into a major in that school) and definitely sounded positive too. @Twoin18 can ask what department your son is in?
And haha, love the dance parties tip! My D may be too much of a nerd for that, but who knows what she’ll be into next year! 
I think the main concerns she still has for all the UC’s (besides admissions!) are housing, not being able to switch in/out of majors and the size of the student body for most of the campuses.
Right now, she’s stuck figuring out what majors to apply to for the various UC’s (and SLO) on top of finishing the application itself. We still love the UC’s (especially her favs UCLA and UCSD), even Cal which I’ve heard (but not confirmed with anyone there recently) might be too competitive in the STEM fields.
Oops, sorry I guess I had it wrong I thought some of the UC’s had extra requirements to be able to declare their intended major. She’s still trying to figure out which majors to apply to at each campus, knowing thatwhat she picks can really hurt her admissions chances and/or keep her from transferng to a more selective one later.
Thank you all for your help!
Thank you, I really appreciate your feedback. My D’s list is still too long and we can’t visit anywhere so I don’t mind nudging her to cut some schools based on reputation. I especially like your reports on which schools you all got that "happy students’ vibe. That really struck me and is how I want to see my D in college. 
Ah yes, I forgot about those. Thanks again for all your help!
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Ugh just read about it, thanks for the head’s up. Hopefully there’s an appropriate response.
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Yes I think that’s the one good thing to come of this pandemic – the realization that we need to do more to support everyone’s mental health. So I’m glad to hear of which have made it a priority for all students.
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Haha so not true, but thanks for your kind words. She was happy to just finally be able to take it! Unfortunately it won’t help her UC/CSU applications, but hopefully will help with the private schools.
Thank you all for the discussion. I’ve always wondered how we should view the retention and graduation rates. As you and @ucbalumnus note, poor retention and graduation rates may be more an indicator of family income or other similar stressors. But assuming the financial and other supports are there, either from family or school, I also thought like @lll1 that a higher retention rate suggests the students were happy and supported enough to return and, in the case of graduation rates, had enough resources finish in a timely manner.
So I do still look at those numbers, but mainly as a positive indicator. If the numbers are good, I tend to think it can reinforce a perception that students are supported. If they’re not good, and there’s no other red flags at the school to explain them, I don’t necessarily think it’s the school’s fault, but maybe something about the student’s personal circumstances that prevented them from continuing.
I actually haven’t looked at the most recent numbers, I can imagine how skewed they are now. I’ve been mostly looking at pre-pandemic SAT scores too. Thanks!
Wow, our kids’ lists are pretty dang identical. My son’s list is a tad shorter (15 including the UCs, which is still too long, but it is reach-heavy so it feels like it has to be). But they are definitely looking for similar things.
I know a lot about Mudd, as more than one family member has attended. If I were a female applicant I would be especially enthusiastic about it. I am enthusiastic for my son, too, in part because it is a great place for women and he values that. They are also aware of the pressures the students are under because of their core curriculum and work load, and are actively exploring ways of addressing it, even on a one-on-one basis. There is a humanity to Mudd - probably because it is so small. They know you. They like students who aren’t dead set on one narrow area of study, and see themselves as producing stem leaders who straddle disciplines. DM me if you want more specifics.
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This is somewhat more common for some non engineering majors, such as UCB L&S CS (although for this specific case, they try to make it non competitive, based on a set GPA in courses not graded on a curve).
It can also be an issue if a student enrolls as general undeclared but wants to change into a major that is filled with direct admission students (such as engineering majors at many UCs).
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You are such a nice OP, you should teach a clinic!
I am not sure if this has been mentioned yet but I am finding that skimming the student newspapers also helps you get a sense of vibe, student priorities, and challenges. Of course that should also be taken with a grain of salt but it has helped us find topics to look into more.
You are doing great research and this will help your D so much. We did extra research last year for my D21 since she couldn’t visit and it paid off - she is so happy at her school and there have been no unpleasant surprises.
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Sadly, it looks like the 2 UCs with the best housing guarantees pre-COVID, UCLA and UCSB, no longer have those. Prior to the pandemic it was 2 years in the dorms and 2 years in apartments at UCSB and 3 years of housing at UCLA. UCLA just opened new dorms and has new apartments being built with plans of a 4 year guarantee, but that doesn’t appear to the be the case right now. Those were huge pluses for those schools for us.
As for school size, it may be surprising to know that UCLA only has one lecture hall with as many as 400 seats, so class sizes there can be smaller than a smaller school such as UCSB where some freshman math classes can be 500-600 students. If you want smaller class sizes, go for the 8 am where class sizes tend to be much smaller.