Well, waitlisted at UCI and waitlisted at UCSD for computer engineering, and rejected at UCLA for electrical engineering.
This comes after being waitlisted to UC Davis for Computer Science, and somehow getting into campus honors and Regents for UC Santa Cruz.
Accepted at Merced and Riverside though.
Last night was very disappointing, to say the least.
This whole process is just shockingly random, and I just don’t know what to make of it. It really seems like after all the work i did over the last 3 years, it just didn’t get me very far.
For reference, I got into 17/18 out of state schools, with lots of merit scholarships, with no rejections etc.
Nothing makes sense anymore – I know college admissions aren’t necessarily correlative, but I got into both UIUC Computer Engineering and Purdue engineering and not into a single mid-tier UC.
UC Berkeley and UCSB are probably my last chances to stay in state, otherwise I’ll probably just go to UIUC. I’m hoping for the best, but expecting the worst.
UC GPA: 3.92 UW, 4.27 Capped Weighted, 4.55 weighted uncapped. Good ECs, president positions, international robotics awards, etc.
You are not alone and in good company but unfortunately that does make things always better. Sounds like you have some wonderful college options and you will do well wherever you land. Two more UC’s to go and as you can tell from your results so far, it is very unpredictable.
Just know it is not you and your accomplishments are no way diminished since you did not get into several UC’s. The issue is that there are way too many qualified students applying to the same UC schools and only room for so many wonderful, accomplished students.
I always like to point out the 6 of the UC’s are in the top 10 of most applied Universities In The Country, so that explains a lot about the quality of the UC’s and the the quality of the students applying.
Admissions are just very strange this year. My daughter is OOS, got rejected at both UCLA and UCSD for Phycology major but got accepted to both UCD and UCI for her first choice major Phycology… good luck to everyone, you all will get into the colleges that are best for you, I firmly believe that!!!
I wish my D22 would understand this. She feels that all her hard work has been a waste as she was waitlisted at UCI & UCSD, and rejected at UCLA. I couldn’t tell her that her expectation to get in at least in one of these 3 schools is wrong when she has worked hard to get great GPA (UW4.0, WC4.27, W4.67), NMF, Multiple leaderships at clubs, volunteering, great essays, and varsity sports. This seems like a lottery and don’t think it is fair for the kids. I feel for the kids coming in the future years as they are going to feel even worse. We (the society) need to find a better solution for this. As a parent of 2 great kids, both not being recognized by top/mid tier UCs, we need to treat UCs as lottery (not reach) as it seems so random (based on anecdotal acceptances by UCs where it seems very unfair to some high performing kids)
I think its a hard lesson for them to accept outwardly even if they have internalized it. They need some time to vent and in a few weeks time she will likely come around to your view.
My S22 is the opposite - he always kept up a pessimistic view of things (don’t know if that’s how he truly felt) but he seems to have taken it better after being initially stunned. FYI - he has near identical stats and identical outcomes at those 3 schools.
We are also likely to go OOS (UIUC) if he doesn’t get into UCSB next week.
@ucbalumnus Concur with it. But it doesn’t help reduce the hurt these kids feel when their hard work is not rewarded appropriately. I am consoling myself that it is life’s lessons she has to learn. It might be hard, but at least we as parents are there to support emotionally and financially.
I hope she turns around to her normal self in a few weeks. My son had a similar situation in 2019 and he ended up going to UIUC (he handled it very well) and he is happy there. My D22 is more emotional. hopefully she hears some good news next week - it is a looong shot for next week, but i am going to stay positive. If not, we will have to decide between SLO, Purdue, UIUC and Univ of Washington(Seattle).
@Gumbymom D22 applied to GMP at Berkeley, if she gets rejected from GMP does that mean she won’t be considered for Cal in general? Just reread the email and it states "If you do not meet the eligibility requirements or submit your Supplemental Application by the deadline, you will not be considered for admission to the GMP, but will be considered for admission to the College of Letters & Sciences - Social Sciences Undeclared major. " Nothing about those who don’t get into the program
You might want to inquire directly to the GMP program. The only information I can offer is what they state on the website which to me reads if you are not admitted into GMP they may consider you for Undeclared Social Sciences. It is not a guarantee but there is a chance to admitted into UCB but not necessarily the GMP program.
It is sad to me if we need to say “Yeah, UC admission is like a lottery” to kids who made huge effort and achievement as a CA resident parent. I hope your daughter will get good news soon.
It is the same in Texas (lottery). There is a 6% auto admit law for UT Austin but it doesn’t guarantee your major. My son has many classmates with perfect GPAs and 1550+ SAT scores that didn’t get their majors and are going OOS. Even Texas A&M has become harder to get into these days.
IMO, the whole system is broken and flawed. I’m thankful I never have to go through this again as a parent. I do feel for kids in 5-10 years that will have to apply to many more schools to help them land their majors. My son applied to 20 and is 50% so far but that percentage will drop on Ivy day for sure.
What you said is so true. My daughter applied to 22 schools and she is at 50% and we expect it to go down in the next 10 days. I heard kids applying applying to 35-41 schools. With so much uncertainty, maybe that’s the way to go. Good luck to your son for Ivy Day and all upcoming decisions…
Gumbymom thanks for all useful stats you post here on UC admissions.May I ask you how many freshman students are admitted to EECS in UC berkeley
and how many to CS in Letters& Science at Berkeley? I understand the acceptance rate is around 5%. But do you have the exact number of students that were offered admission in the above branches? I read somewhere it is around 450 admitted to EECS and 600 to Computer Science in L&S every year. Can you please confirm? Thanks
Ditto everything you’ve said. My S22 with almost exactly the same stats got waitlisted at every UC he applied to (UCLA, UCI, UCSD, UCSC) and even though he is waiting on UCB, we excepted a rejection or a waitlist. I agree that it seems like a lottery. There needs to be a better system for in-state students with strong GPAs and ECs to get in to the UCs.
I do not have the exact numbers for each type of admit. The EECS data shows a 5.2% acceptance rate. Since the College of L&S does not admit by major, the overall acceptance rate for the College is 16%. Since CS in the College of L&S CS majors require a secondary admission to declare, around 50%+ of CS majors are able to officially declare. Again, no numbers but more percentages. Also there are more CS majors (51.2%-1776) upon declaring vs. EECS direct admit majors (48.8-1692) total in the program.
https://eecs.berkeley.edu/about/by-the-numbers
Looking at the enrollment data in the above link, there were 1692 eecs students in 2020. I am assuming this is the total number for all 4 years. The BS degrees awarded in EECS was 516 . This is how I guessed that they admit around 500 every year to EECS and 800 to CS in L&S
It’s much appreciated.