The truth was out there…people didn’t see it or didn’t pay attention. Case closed.
2 Likes
Might I remind members of the forum rules: “Our forum is expected to be a friendly and welcoming place, and one in which members can post without their motives, intelligence, or other personal characteristics being questioned by others."
and
“College Confidential forums exist to discuss college admission and other topics of interest. It is not a place for contentious debate. If you find yourself repeating talking points, it might be time to step away and do something else… If a thread starts to get heated, it might be closed or heavily moderated.”
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/guidelines
As the recent posts have been dominated by a handful of users, I have put the thread on slow mode until morning. My hope is this will allow other users to join the conversation and prompt the more exuberant users to be strategic in postings.
10 Likes
The trickle down effect won’t just affect the UC’s, it’ll also affect some of the top CSU’s, like SLO, SDSU, SJSU, etc. and community colleges (TAG program), where you can transfer into Cal later, if the applicant REALLY wants Cal.
2 Likes
@CharlieGirl22 If you look at the eventual destination of UCB admits, the top 3 are UCLA, USC, and Stanford. The other UCs account for just 5%. So I don’t think there will be a huge down-UC effect other than perhaps at UCLA.
@sushiritto Not saying there won’t be any effect and if its an impacted major even a marginal impact could be deadly.
10 Likes
This is fascinating information! Where did you find it? And how do they even find out this information to be able to compile it?
3 Likes
So, if I’m doing the math correctly, then that’s about 12,000 admittances from 15,000 total admittances and 88,000 total apps in 2020? And it relies on applicants submitting their destinations when declining their acceptance?
Edited.
1 Like
I think so. Another way to look at the data: when someone doesn’t enroll at UCB, 30% of the time they go to Stanford, UCLA, or USC. Only 8% of the time do they go to another UC (other than UCLA).
4 Likes
Just trying to wrap my head around the info, but do you think that 2020, with the pandemic just taking off in 2020, had any impact on those stats, like admittees wanting to stay closer to home?
1 Like
My question is how exactly can Cal reduce its enrollment by 3000? In 2020, 88064 unique application, 15390 unique admits, 6117 unique enrolls. So, even if Cal send out only 10000 unique admits, there is not guarantee the unique enrolls will be 3000 less. In order to achieve 3000 less enrollment in the whole school, it needs to admit “Number of student graduating this May - 3000”.
Looking forward, for those both in state and OOS who are accepted to Berkeley. Take time to research the housing crisis, class sizes, impacted classes & majors, COVID restrictions/testing/protocols, crime & safety, accessibility of advising, competitive environment, etc. to make sure it is the right fit for you.
11 Likes
I have a child who is currently a grad student at Berkeley and completed her undergrad degree there as well. If anyone has any questions about the campus or the school, the vibe, etc, as you wait for decisions let me know. I also have a child at UCLA so I’ve been able to compare the two schools over the past few years. 
. Good luck to everyone!
20 Likes
@kibbles, since you offered 
…
On a scale of 1 to 5, where
5 = serious problem,
3= a problem, but typical of many/most public universities, and
1 = rumors have greatly exaggerated this/this is not a problem,
how would you rate:
-
Hyper-competitiveness among students at UCB relative to getting top grades and internships over classmates?
-
Hyper-competitiveness among students at UCLA relative to getting top grades and internships over classmates?
-
Crime, homelessless, and general urban decay near campus at UCB?
-
Crime, homelessness, and general urban decay near campus at UCLA?
-
Lack of community/ease of making friends among first years at UCB?
-
Lack of community/ease of making friends among first years at UCLA?
-
Difficulty getting desired classes at UCB?
-
Difficulty getting desired classes at UCLA?
-
Difficulty finding acceptable housing at UCB?
-
Difficulty finding acceptable housing at UCLA?
-
Difficulty getting desired major at UCB?
-
Difficulty getting desired major at UCLA?
-
General sense among students that conditions are getting worse at UCB?
-
General sense among students that conditions are getting worse at UCLA?
6 Likes
If anything, the other UCs relative to OOS are becoming more popular for UCB admits. That chart allows you to go back until 2015. What we can see is a gradual movement up the top 25 list for the other UCs. Some privates like Yale used to prominently feature but they’ve slipped down the preference order. The pandemic probably drove some of this but the trends were already at play.
Would be interesting to see Kibbles response and I am sure will be helpful to all
1 Like
Great questions. May I answer with an overview instead?
The Good: both are wonderful schools. Beautiful campuses and wonderful , world class professors and staff. Both were able to pick fulfilling majors and meet all requirements with no problems. They are both International Bacclaureate h s grads so they were bumped up a grade so class selection may have been easier for them but neither had a problem getting the classes they needed and both were “undeclared” for two years.
The Bad: UCB is (and please understand this is my child’s perspective) very very competitive. Students can feel very isolated and it can be super stressful. UCB does an excellent job of Golden Bear Orientation which allows students to meet a lot of other people in a short amount of time. My child made friends through GBO and her assigned roommate but still expresses how isolating the vibe at campus can be. UCLA also has an excellent orientation (it was over summer when my child went while UCB was first part of semester) and my child met a lot of people. I sensed that extra curriculars at UCLA may be promoted more or part of the culture while at UCB there wasn’t it isn’t as much of promotion of events and clubs etc. may play a part in the isolation some experience. Ditto the housing.
The Ugly:
UCB housing. Guaranteed for one year then you really have to scramble to find anything affordable and in a decent location. My child has paid over 900 a month to share bedrooms in apartments and she’s one of the lucky ones who can walk to campus. Cf UCLA where there is at least two years of on campus housing guaranteed. My child is actually in their third year of UCLA housing and is in University Housing which is a beautiful apartment off campus but near school, for dorm rates. Likely they will remain there next year, senior year, as well.
13 Likes
Based on your inputs, UCB seems bad for housing and super competitiveness.
Also very isolating.
Housing we know the challenges UCB vs city.
My elder went to UCB and she echoed pretty much the same feelings.
Personally, I did not like the area surrounding UCB as it seemed unsafe.
9 Likes
Homelessness and crime seem to be an increasing issue at UCB, unfortunately. The streets around the campus can be a little concerning and my child had the experience of having a neighbor and fellow student shot and killed two years ago outside his off campus housing. Horrible Isolated incident but jarring nonetheless and there have been break ins and robberies that they’ve heard about as well. UCLA campus is tucked under BelAir and seems to be in a little bubble. Westwood has grocery stores and a target so it seems that everyone can walk or bike to anything they need almost without leaving campus or the hill. Because of that we have t seem or experienced issues regarding crime or homelessness. But again LA is a big city. My kid pretty much stays within a few blocks except to take the bus to the beach sometimes.
I actually love both schools and very happy my children were able to attend UCs. The excellent education and practical experience outweigh any concerns we have about either place and we just admonish then to be careful. And to adopt stress relievers (walk on the beach, ice cream, hike in the hills etc).
And watch out for wildfires. A concern at both campuses. We make sure they each have Air filters and n95s at the start of each year.
12 Likes
This is all news to me, and I am a lifelong California resident. We live in Southern Cali and I suspect all those articles you posted are from Northern Cali publications. I’m not sure how they could have warned potential applicants before they paid their $70 fee. But I am thinking there will be many disappointed students this year. Most of which wouldn’t have wasted their time or money applying if they had known all of this.
1 Like
I am just wondering, out of over 100,000 applicants, how many wouldn’t have applied to UCB if they had known this issue?
3 Likes
@kibbles, thank you so much for the insights from students on the inside! Much appreciated!
1 Like