My D is a California resident and we’re beginning to work on her college list. She’s considering LAC’s as well as UC’s. She’s a junior. Her UC capped GPA is 4.21 and she’ll take the ACT in the Spring. Her composite on a school administered ACT practice test was 31 without any prep. When she finishes up this year, she’ll have completed 4 AP classes and she’ll take another 4 AP’s her senior year. All other A - G classes with the exception of foreign language are honors. She doesn’t have a tremendous list of ECs or Awards, however the EC’s she does have are quite concentrated in theatre arts (both on stage and in arts advocacy). Is it possible to consider a school like UCSC a safety? UCSB?
The only two UC safeties I would consider would be UCR/UCM. UCSC is probably a Low Match and UCSB a Match but with the competitiveness of the UC’s these days, I would be hard pressed to call them Safeties.
It also depends on her intended major. If Eng’g or CS, then her chance is lower. What’s her rank and UW UC GPA?
True, UC’s are very competitive but it’s more predicatable than private colleges.
I would not consider the UC’s safeties, except for possibly UCSC, UCR and UCM. If you look at the rejection threads from last year, you will see many kids with similar stats as your D who were rejected from many of the UC’s. If she is in the top 9% of students (I don’t remember how this is determined but she will get a letter letting her know if she meets this qualification), she is guaranteed a spot at a UC but not the one of your choice. Usually it is UCR or UCM. My son graduated 2 years ago and we know several of his friends with very high stats who were not accepted to any of the top UC’s (UCB, UCLA, UCSD, UCSB, UCD, or UCSC). It has become even more competitive since then and the UC’s recently announced that they have record numbers applying this year and will not increase enrollment. I think with your daughter’s stats, she has an extremely good chance of being accepted, but would not consider them safeties. It’s sad that it has become so difficult for in-state students to get into a UC! Good luck!!
Thank you so for the input. She’ll most likely go in undeclared. At this point she’s interested in Art Conservation, so Art History/Chemistry. I believe her UW GPA is 3.84 (all the different GPA calculations baffle me!) and she’s ranked 31/201 in her school (a magnet) but 35/601 on campus. A million years ago when I applied for colleges, I applied to UCLA and got in … and that was it. Things have changed so much!
I know that at least at UCSD, major is not considered in admissions. That is not true for all of the UC’s but I don’t know which ones admit by major and which, like UCSD, admit by stats only.
You are right grlscoutmom that things have changed a huge amount from when many of us applied to one school, got in, and that was it! I feel sorry for kids now. If you read many of the threads on this site, it seems like everyone has a 4.0 GPA and a 2200+SAT; I know that is not true but it is discouraging to see what it take to get into a good school now. BTY, I love your dog.
UCR has a guaranteed admission program if her GPA is high enough and her ACT or SAT is high enough. She needs to sign up in June or July and then include UCR in her regular UC application. This can make UCR a sure admit without concern about essay readings and such.
Of course, check the net price calculator.
A safety is a school you can afford and want to attend. If your D is considering LACs she ought to think carefully about whether the UC environment is right for her. If there is any large public (CSU or UC) in your area she ought to visit to get a sense of what attending a large public is like. And since you attended UCLA you might want to chat about your experiences as well.
You might try using the “Find a College” tool at the top of this page. You can put in her stats, desired majors, location, size of school, public or private, etc, and it will generate a list of the schools that meet her requirements. It is a nice tool to use when you are first starting out to get an idea of what is out there and then you can refine the list from there. Be sure to include not only academic, but financial safeties as well. Sometimes the private schools end up being less expensive than UC’s after financial aid.
Aw, thank you @takeitallin … your pooch is precious - they could be buds! @ucbalumnus I’ll check into it, thank you. That’s a great option. Aside from that, in order to have a true safety (and a financial safety) I guess we’re looking at a Cal State school.
Sonoma State and maybe CSU Monterey Bay may be trying to market themselves as LAC like. Low selectivity may make them safeties or near safeties, but a top student may be an outlier and not find much of a peer group at a small school.
Out of state, consider UMN Morris and Truman State.
@mikemac She’s been to UCLA and we’ve discussed what it’s like to attend a huge school. She sat in on a large math lecture and it didn’t sound like the best experience. She toured UCB her Sophomore year and absolutely loved the vibe of the campus. We’re going to look at it again and we’re touring UCSC. Most recently we looked at Scripps and Pitzer and she liked those schools very much. She thrives in discussion based classes, so I feel a smaller school would serve her better, but the decision is hers (so long as we can afford it). @takeitallin, I’ve been using various college tools to generate a list with her intended major, schools that offer merit aid, etc.
You might check out USD. One of my S’s friends is there doing some branch of art and received a great FA package that made the cost significantly less than the UC’s. The campus is beautiful and class size is small. He loves it there, but if your D liked the vibe at UCB, this would be decidedly more conservative and much smaller.