So kid has 3.85 GPA 4.15 UC GPA and 4.2 Uncaped GPA. 7 AP Classes (Bio, Psyc, Gov, APUSH, World History, Lang, Economics). Not top 9% in class but easily top 9% in state.
Class rank 90 out of 500. Issue #1: So I think her class rank was the first issue as she is competing with her class mates.
Applied to Bio focused degrees for pre-med. So second issue is that only did AP Bio not AP Physics, AP Chem or AP Calc so that’s negative issue #2. Thoughts?
EC were good: Two internships shadowing Two times 3 month volunteering at food bank, Travel volleyball, School volleyball. I think this helped her a lot.
No leadership beyond chairing a committee: Issue #3 no leadership. Thoughts?
PIQs were very good as she’s a well rounded kid: Creativity likes to design fashion, challenge of living overseas for a year, finding career calling in woman’s health and commitment to social justice. I thought this would help her but perhaps not.
Accepted: UCM - Bachelor Science of Human Biology
Accepted: UCR Bachelor Science of Biology
Accepted: UCSC pre- Bachelor of Arts of Biology
WaitList: UCD Bachelor of Science - Biology
Rejected: UCSB BA Bio
Rejected: UCSD/UCI/ BS Bio
Rejected: UCLA BA Biology and Society
Overall acceptance into UCM was expected.
Happy to get into UCR and delighted to get into UCSC.
But a bit disappointed not to get into a mid-ranked UC like Davis or SB.
I don’t think you’ll ever know, but hugs. I have a kid in a similar boat. My kid is a true 4.0/4.33 but also lower ranked because she takes 2 band classes every year. She has, however, taken all the APs she could based on her music schedule and took a DE class every summer to try to “make up” for the school year. Since removal of test scores our school’s acceptances have dropped by 2/3 at all UCs. Example: 2020 Cal 16 acceptances to 2022 5 acceptances. I would guess there are few to none 1st gen/low SES students at our school as well. Maybe your daughter is in a similar environment. It sucks now but she will bloom where planted and will be a success at whatever school she chooses!
I think it is very hard to assess the PIQ component. Even if you think they were very good, each campus is looking for different flavors that may not show up enough in a very good set of PIQ essays. At the end of the day, you do your best to express yourself on them and let the powers-that-be decide if you are a good fit for that particular campus culture.
FWIW, I take a waitlist to mean that the student fits; there were just too many qualified candidates for the number of spots they could offer. Nothing right or wrong that the student did.
The UCs evaluate you in the context of your high school. On that note, what did she take instead of AP science and math? What do other kids at her HS, that are applying for UCs, take?
Don’t beat yourself - she has some great choices. But choice of major probably didn’t help. Teresa Watanabe from the LA Times has done some great reporting on UC admission. In an article from April 2021, she wrote:
Majors matter, they say. At UC Irvine, admissions officers had to review a record 108,000 applications for freshmen spots. Almost half of the students applied to just six of 85 majors — with biological sciences the top choice, selected by nearly 12,000 applicants. Other popular majors were business administration, nursing science, computer science and psychology.”
I wish that the UC’s were more transparent about that because it can really help kids to understand that there is far more competition in certain majors than others.
Further down: > Dale Leaman, UC Irvine’s executive director of undergraduate admissions, said Irvine probably couldn’t accommodate more than 10% of biological sciences applicants. Less popular majors would probably have a higher admission rate, he said. He added, however, that students shouldn’t try to game the system by applying to less selective majors, because they might not be able to change them under the strict rules for doing so.
We aren’t beating ourselves up, but for the next kid I’d like to know.
Now what you say goes the opposite what I thought occurs.
For example UCSB admits by college but the article you mention states the major one chooses does affect chance within the same college? So if she had chosen sociology instead of apology she would have had a better chance?
I thought we played that game a little bit by applying for the ba of biology not The Bachelor of Science Biology
For UCSB specifically, the College of Letters and Sciences does not admit by major but applicants are admitted into a Major or into a Pre-major for many programs including Biology. Then the applicant needs to meet the major pre-requirements and GPA threshold to fully declare the major.
UCI which was the Podcast mentioned above, admits into the University first and then directly into the major. If the applicant does not meet the primary major threshold, then the alternate major or Undeclared is considered.
Each UC campus admits differently so you cannot use the UCI podcast information for another campus. UCSD also admits in the same fashion as UCI, University first then major.
UCSC admits into a proposed majors similar to UCSB’s Pre-major and their College of L&S does not admit by major. Once in the College, you are free to change and declare a different major within that College.
UCD admits into the College of Biological Sciences and not by specific Biological Science major listed on the application.
UCR/UCM admit by major and will consider an alternate major if the primary major threshold is not met.
UCLA’s College of Letters and Sciences does not admit by major and will only consider your Primary major.
UCB’s College of Letters and Sciences does not admit by major except for the High Demand majors and alternate majors can be listed by may only be considered except when evaluating the waitlist.
Bottom line is each campus admits differently so knowing the different nuances can help students better understand their chances.
Thanks for the detailed reply. But how would you action/use any of this. It seems to be whether you admit first into the college or university and then into major means it doesn’t matter what major you choose. But the podcast seems to imply otherwise.
For some students set on a specific major, how a school admits can factor into which schools they will apply.
My younger son was set on CS and that was all he would consider so we targeted more likely schools such as the Cal States that admit directly into the major vs. taking a chance with some of the UC’s. For him it was all or nothing, so we made sure all the schools on his list were schools he would attend no matter the outcome.
One of my nieces on the other hand was not set on any specific major so she applied to different schools with different majors. She ended up at one of her top choice schools but locked into a major which was not her first choice but made it work and is happy she preserved.
In the end, sometimes a decision has to be made, pursue your choice major or attend your top choice school. The best case scenario is you are able to do both.
The podcast is specific for UCI so you cannot make assumptions about the other UC campuses or other schools.
Most liberal arts colleges do not admit by major and usually do not require you to declare a major until Sophomore year so you have more flexibility. Also in the case of your daughter, there are Bio-related majors that could possibly have higher admit rates than Biological Sciences such as Biostatistics. Bioinformatics, Microbiology, Molecular Biology, Biochemistry etc….
Biology programs are found at all schools so you would need to widen the type of schools a student applies if it is an impacted major.
The takeaway from the Podcast is that the majority of students apply to the same schools with the same majors so there are more qualified applicants than spots available since the applicants are focused only on small area of specific programs.
I was looking at a previous post about the mission statements of each UC campus. Side by side you can see what they highlight: Cooperation at Davis, Leadership at UCLA, etc… My D23 was rejected by UCLA and UCI, but accepted at UCSB and UCD. I wonder if her PIQs just better aligned with the values of those schools – and I wonder the same about your D23? (of course, my D23 had grades similar to yours and I just don’t see many <4.0 UW getting into UCLA or UCB (to be determined)).
If you analyze the results from the pre-med lens, UCR has a med school. Maybe going there would be of more benefit than Berkeley perhaps, with the grade deflation there.
Sure UCD or UCSD may have been better. But are UCLA/UCB really better options for pre-med?
People with better knowledge of pre-med scene, correct me if i am wrong.
I think you are spot on. I knew my DD would be a better fit for UCSB, UCD, and UCSC right off the bat rather than for UCSD, UCI or UCLA. And sure enough–she was admitted to the 1st set and not to the 2nd. I could have guessed that even BEFORE she wrote her PIQs. She is being steered to the campuses that are the best fit for her. UC AOs have wisdom and have seen it all. And yes–most UCLA students had a 4.0 uw GPA and my DD did not and that’s that, for UCLA. . .
But how about zip code alignment? Do you believe you were more aligned to Nothern CA or Southern CA? This is a general question. I know a kid from my kids’ school who got into all the UCs and waiting on UCB. Dont particularly know his major.
I have a theory that certain extracurriculars may be flagged as a way to sort candidates for certain majors. For example, certain selective internships and fellowships are known to the system and candidates with those listed in their activities are automatically sorted into a group for closer consideration. Would love if ppl could share their most prestigious/impressive ECs - particularly kids who had average or lower stats - and whether they think those ECs made a big difference.
Some obvious examples would be UCSB research mentorship program, but I’m more interested in the non-UC activities that seem to be making a difference.
An example for NorCal kids wanting to study history/human rights/pre-law: JCFS Holocaust Center Manovill Fellowship to study genocide.
Anyone out there agree with my theory and have examples to contribute?
Edited to add: what I’m trying to get at is that UCs must obviously rely on outside sources of “selectivity” to augment their own sorting and selecting, and it would be great to gather some research on the organizations and programs that UCs have deemed prestigious enough to rely on.