Top Universities of California in 2014-2015 | US News

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - GENERAL
1

<p>Key: Campus | City | Commuter or Residential? | Rural, Suburban, or Urban?</p>

<p>• #1 [University</a> of California, Berkeley](<a href=“http://www.berkeley.edu/index.html"]University”>http://www.berkeley.edu/index.html) | Berkeley | Residential | Urban
• #2 [University</a> of California, Los Angeles](<a href=“http://www.ucla.edu/"]University”>http://www.ucla.edu/) | Los Angeles | Residential | Urban
• #3 [University</a> of California, San Diego](<a href=“http://www.ucsd.edu/"]University”>http://www.ucsd.edu/) | La Jolla | Residential | Suburban
• #4 [University</a> of California, Davis](<a href=“http://www.ucdavis.edu/"]University”>http://www.ucdavis.edu/) | Davis | Residential | Suburban
• #5 [University</a> of California, Santa Barbara](<a href=“http://www.ucsb.edu/"]University”>http://www.ucsb.edu/) | Santa Barbara | Residential | Suburban
• #6 [University</a> of California, Irvine](<a href=“http://www.uci.edu/"]University”>http://www.uci.edu/) | Irvine | Residential | Suburban
• #7 [University</a> of California, Santa Cruz](<a href=“http://www.ucsc.edu/"]University”>http://www.ucsc.edu/) | Santa Cruz | Residential | Suburban
• #8 [University</a> of California, Riverside](<a href=“http://www.ucr.edu/"]University”>http://www.ucr.edu/) | Riverside | Residential | Suburban
• #9 [University</a> of California, Merced](<a href=“http://www.ucmerced.edu/"]University”>http://www.ucmerced.edu/) | Merced | Commuter | Rural</p>

<p>Notes</p>

<ul>
<li>University of California, Merced was not ranked anywhere at all in any college ranking by US News.</li>
<li>The rest of the UCs were ranked in the “National University”, meaning that they are institutions where they offer several Bachelor’s in addition to Master and Doctoral programs with research and is comparable to many other universities in the nation. UCB came in 20th place, UCLA came in tied at 23rd place, UCSD came in 37th place, UCD came in tied at 38th place, UCSB came in tied at 40th place, UCI came in tied at 42nd place, UCSC came in tied at 85th place, and UCR came in tied at 113th place.</li>
</ul>

<hr>

<p>The purpose of this topic is to discuss about this subject, inform others who are a hard time in choosing colleges - specifically UCs, and debate whether this list is accurate or not in a mature way.</p>

<p>Please discuss this in a mannerly way; drama, flaming, nor trolling are NOT allowed. Any questions, comments, or concerns are very welcomed. You must follow CC Forum rules also. Thank you and many appreciations!</p>

<p>Would be nice to post your top 3 Universities of California also! :)</p>

2

<p>US News may rank UCSB above UCI, but through a careful analysis of scatterplots I believe UCI is above UCSB in selectivity. According to US News, UCD and UCSB are both “most selective,” but UCI is only “more selective.” Also according to US News, UCD’s acceptance rate is the greatest at 41.3%. UCI’s acceptance rate is 41.1%. UCSB’s acceptance rate is 39.8%.</p>

<p><a href=“http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/freshman/profiles/”>http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/freshman/profiles/&lt;/a&gt;
According to freshman admission profiles, here are the average stats of admitted freshman for fall 2014.
UCD - 4.07 UC GPA, 1924 SAT score, 28 ACT score
UCI - 4.05 UC GPA, 1867 SAT score, 27 ACT score
UCSB - 4.03 UC GPA, 1925 SAT score, 29 ACT score</p>

<p>Here, we see that UCD has the highest GPA average. UCSB has the lowest GPA average. However, it has the highest test scores average. UCI has the lowest test scores average.</p>

<p>Perhaps US News only looked at this data and determined that UCSB was superior to UCSB because UCSB was strong in one area (test scores) and weak in another area (GPA) while UCI was only average in one area (GPA) and weak in another area (test scores).</p>

<p>If we look at scatterplots, we can see the reason why UCSB has such high average test scores and such a low average GPA.</p>

<p>The old Parchment provides a very useful tool for analyzing college admissions. That tool is the scatterplot and all of its editable settings. However, the new Parchment, in order to increase simplicity, removed the scatterplot settings, thus, making Parchment a useless website. Fortunately, I saved some pictures of the graphs before they are no longer available.</p>

<p>College Confidential does not like and censors Imgur. To view the pictures, remove the “%” symbol from the links. The SAT score is the average of the three sections, reading, math, and writing. Blue = accepted. Green = attending. Red = rejected. The yellow lines, which I drew with MS Paint, approximately divides the the data points into three sections. In the top right section, I believe, are the stats necessary to call the school a safety. In the bottom left section are the stats that make the school a reach. In the middle section are the stats that make the school a match.</p>

<p>Settings: <a href=“http://i.imgur.%com/Pu5KNRE.png”>http://i.imgur.%com/Pu5KNRE.png</a></p>

<p>UCD: <a href=“http://i.imgur.%com/1s2QCYR.png”>http://i.imgur.%com/1s2QCYR.png</a></p>

<p>UCI: <a href=“http://i.imgur.%com/4wXVv7W.png”>http://i.imgur.%com/4wXVv7W.png</a></p>

<p>UCSB: <a href=“http://i.imgur.%com/3ab0Dfk.png”>http://i.imgur.%com/3ab0Dfk.png</a></p>

<p>If you have not noticed already, the yellow lines that I drew are almost vertical in the graphs of UCD and UCI. This suggests that UCD and UCI really cares about GPA. UCSB’s graph is different. Its graph suggest that a high SAT score (2200+) can make up for an unweighted GPA below 3.7.</p>

<p>What this means is that a student with a very high GPA and an average or even below average SAT score can be accepted by all three mid-tier UCs. On the other hand, a student with a high 2200+ SAT score but a subpar GPA will most likely only be accepted by UCSB.</p>

<p>Therefore, UCSB, by being less selective than the other two mid-tier UCs, creates an illusion that it requires a higher SAT score than UCD and UCI. In reality, the higher SAT score average of UCSB is due to its acceptance of students with a high SAT score and a low GPA. This is also the reason why UCSB has a lower GPA average than UCD and UCI.</p>

<p>Here are the rankings that I believe are more accurate (based on selectivity only).
UCB
UCLA
UCSD
UCD
UCI
UCSB
UCSC
UCR
UCM</p>

3

<p>Bump, I want people to see this until the admissions promptly end after November 30th. </p>

4

<p>I recently got in trouble for using Imgur, so I will also provide the ■■■■■■■ pictures.

<a href=“http://i58.■■■■■■■.com/nbuh54.png[/IMG]”>http://i58.■■■■■■■.com/nbuh54.png

</a>

<a href=“http://i60.■■■■■■■.com/2me98ir.png[/IMG]”>http://i60.■■■■■■■.com/2me98ir.png

</a>

<a href=“http://i57.■■■■■■■.com/339r47s.png[/IMG]”>http://i57.■■■■■■■.com/339r47s.png

</a>

<a href=“http://i60.■■■■■■■.com/9tgw1g.png[/IMG]”>http://i60.■■■■■■■.com/9tgw1g.png

</a>

<a href=“http://i58.■■■■■■■.com/2m7gd1x.png[/IMG]”>http://i58.■■■■■■■.com/2m7gd1x.png

</a>

<a href=“http://i58.■■■■■■■.com/1255dee.png[/IMG]”>http://i58.■■■■■■■.com/1255dee.png

</a>

<a href=“http://i60.■■■■■■■.com/mw4j11.png[/IMG]”>http://i60.■■■■■■■.com/mw4j11.png

</a></p>

5

<p>Ranking helps at high level but what major you are pursuing also has a bigger role. For example, physics seems to be top rated at UCSB compared to all the other UCs except may be Cal.</p>