@socalmom007 i dont see why you had to say “i dont mind my kid losing a spot to an instate asian student.” Im just another American/Californian. Yea being asian means there’s a different cultural background, nut it doesnt seem right to just say your kid is losing a spot to an instate Asian. Theyre just losing it to another American/Californian. Now if these were non US citizens were talking about, then thats a different story, but for the most part we are just another american/californian.
@justanamerican I can see your point. My comment wasn’t intended to be offensive. I guess my point was, because California doesn’t descriminate based on race, our state is attracting a much higher percentage of Asian students who are being penalized for being over represented minors at schools in the rest of the country. The population of Asians nationwide is 5%, yet we have UC campuses that are over 40% Asian, that’s no accident. I have no problem with Asian students whatsoever, what I do have a problem with in the number of out of state and international students being accepted in the UC’s when we as a state can’t accommodate our own excellent students of all races. Asian students are coming here in droves because they are competing on an equal playing field and not penalized for their race. I’d like to see a UC system with under 10% out of state and international applicants truthfully. Berkeley and UCLA are about 25% out of state and international, but a full 40% of the acceptances that just went out were to out of state and international applicants.
If your from California, you really need to look into going to a community college and transferring after a year or two. Friend of mine graduated from UCB that way, and saved a ton of money.
Well, I would like to take a turn now.
Applied to 5 UCs: UCSC, UCD, UCSD, UCLA, UCB, and UCSB; Other than UCSC, I declared my major as undecided.
Accepted: UCSC and UCSB
Waitlisted: UCD
Rejected: UCSD, UCLA, and UCB
Am I disappointed just because I got rejected more than accepted? No, not at all; I never expected at UCLA, UCSD, and UCB, and UCD has never been on my priority list for some reason, so I am satisfied with my first choice, UCSB (For UCSC, I got accepted in as bioengineering somehow…I thought I applied as an undeclared engineering major, but I found out after I checked my major, that I put bioengineering…lol, biology has never never been my subject at all.)
My stats
4.08 UC GPA with 5 AP classes and 1 approved honors class, including three AP classes in Senior year
SAT 1410, Act 30.
Almost none EC
Poor Essay (English is not my first language.)
@Kayakingmama Regarding your statement about having a college advisor, I applied with no aid (including from my parents or teachers… I applied in secret) and was accepted to all UC’s except Berkley. Attending UCLA in the fall. Also had a 3.4 UC GPA and 33 ACT. I think that the issue is so many kids are programmed to apply a certain way, and often restrict themselves in the hope of “looking like the best candidate.” I remember reading an article on an Ivy admissions blog, stating that the worst thing a student can do is look at other college application essays or read books that talk about application essays. It’s like if you’re trying to write a song, the worst thing you can do is listen to other songs for inspiration. You’ll just end up repeating what has already been done. Overall though, I think that college admissions are so tricky nowadays since there is a big cap on success without a degree. Going to college is almost forced on a lot of people, and this puts college admissions in a tough spot by having to play god with kid’s lives. I don’t think we can blame the schools or the students, but instead work to create a society where there is not such a heavy requirement on going to college. 
It would certainly lessen the pressure placed on both ends.
**edit: might as well add, I’m not Asian and I’m not out of state.
Son was rejected from UCLA, UCB, UCSD, UCSB, UCI, UCD, CPSLO and now CPP. Wait-listed at UCR. Accepted to CSULB (pre-major).
Computer Science is a nightmare to try to get in anywhere in California for fall 2017. Ditto several other impacted majors. Not that UC admissions were ever a walk in the park. Still, this is crazy.
Learnings:
- Apply even more broadly than you think you should. I hate to say this, because it will only exacerbate the arms race that is overwhelming all the adcoms everywhere. Yet "safety" has suddenly become "reach" for many impacted majors. Plenty of kids with great stats were denied at the UCs (and CSUs) this year.
- Consider applying OOS via WUE (look it up, great deal). They want you and it's not expensive!
- Look up the detailed stats from the preceding year for each school to understand where the opportunities and roadblocks lie for the intended major(s).
- Think carefully about your first and second choice majors and be strategic. UCSB finally told my son, after the fact, that their College of Engineering considers admission to only one major. So if you don't get in to your preferred major and your alternate major is also in the CoE, you are rejected from the university with no recourse. We kind of wish they had thought to mention this before. This may also be the case at other campuses.
- CCCs sound good in principle, however, they are so overrun with students that many struggle to get needed classes to transfer. And UCLA, UCB and UCSD no longer participate in TAG. Articulation agreements may not provide a path. Still a decent option, with some caveats.
- GPA seems to override everything including SAT/ACT, ECs, URM status and essays. Most unfortunate, as plenty of actual geniuses have 3.5s or worse in high school.
- The strategy of getting in undeclared to a top school and then trying to slide into an impacted major is not likely to work. Don't go there. (UCSD admitted their CSE majors to pre-major status this year and will do a lottery later for everyone with 3.3 or higher GPA--the vast majority will be left high and dry. Ouch.)
After participating as a parent in all this craziness, I was motivated to write a long post (link below). In it, I propose a matching system for UC and CSU admissions, based on the way we assign medical residency slots. Several forum members suggested I submit it to the L.A. Times as a guest editorial, so I did. Haven’t heard anything yet from the Times–guess it’s waitlisted! 
@PadreDeTres, thank you for this post. As a parent of a son who applied to CS/SE majors, I agree that the bar is raised for these impacted majors. Good advice to apply widely. The only disagreement I have is about UCSB. My son applied for CS (CoE) and alternate MechE. He was accepted into UCSB as undeclared.
@tasmom, congrats to your son and thanks for your post. Interesting. What happened with your son sounds appropriate and just, but the option of being admitted Undeclared is not what my son was told by the CCS student affairs office when he requested an explanation for his rejection. Please see this post for more details:
@PadreDeTres, I didn’t see that your son applied for CCS. That’s a whole other hurdle to jump. Make sense now. Thanks for the clarification. 
My daughter’s friend applied to UCSB CS CoE and was flat out denied, 4.3 GPA, 34 act, top 5% of graduating class, no offer as undeclared.
@socalmom007, that is utterly shocking to me. So unjust for a student who has obviously worked so hard to be kicked to the curb.
He was admitted to only one of the six UC’s he applied to.
Actually kind of disappointed that I got rejected from UCB. Didn’t apply out of state or private because it’s way too much money and I was pretty confident that my stats would get me into the UCs and honestly that was all I wanted. Guess the competition just gets tougher and tougher every year.
Stats
ACT: 35 (single try sophomore year)
UW GPA: 4.0
of AP/College classes => by the end of senior year will have taken 7 APs(all 5s) and 13 community college classes
American Mathematics Invitational Examination(AIME) Qualification
Extracurriculars
Water polo team captain sophomore year
Starting varsity volleyball since sophomore year
FRC Robotics Software VP Junior year, President Senior year
Plus a bunch of less important stuff like 200+ service hours, founded a programming club but quickly decided the time wasn’t worth it, and a bunch of other clubs and events that I tried out.
@socalmom007 So your daughter’s friend was admitted to one of the UCs as a CS major? That in itself is a reasonable result, this year. Was that GPA “weighted/capped” or “fully weighted”? The stats are very good, but there are so many applicants with even better stats, that it is very hard to get in to the CS programs on stats alone.
@mafi4rmy, bummer. Did you get in to some other good schools that you can afford?
Yes @rocket88 that is weighted gpa. One would expect to get into more than one UC with those stats, but not with a CS major.
Regarding UCSB’s admissions, they have been pretty upfront with the fact that they weigh extracurriculars and non academic factors heavily. We know a female engineering student with top scores who was denied. She had some (but not a lot) of activities outside of school. For engineering, they also chant “Math, Math, Math!” in that they want to see top grades in top math courses. They want to see top SAT/ACT math scores, top Math II subject test scores, etc.
It may be that the high GPA and high overall SAT/ACT students didn’t show top scores in enough math assessments or have enough extracurricular activities.
I was rejected from UCLA
1600 SAT I
36 ACT
800 Math 2
800 Chem
800 Biology
800 Physics
790 Literature
780 US History
780 World History
10 AP classes taken
6.7 Weighted GPA
5.0 Unweighted GPA (My school is on a 5.0 scale)
E.Cs: Jury of the Judge intern, Executive instructor of Badminton club, President of the United Scholar’s club, Vice President of theory club, President of ACT preparation club, Executive assistant of volleyball middle school coaching, Varsity captain of school soccer team (placed third in the state)
What else do they want? I am so frustrated by this experience and it has made me lose all hope for future college endeavors.
Reading through this post really interests me because my worries match @PadreDeTres rant pretty much exactly. I have a freshman in high school, and I’m already worried that the money we have put away won’t be enough. Watching her work SO HARD and studying so much…and knowing I can’t tell her it’ll all pay off in terms of college admissions…is so sad. Of course, it’ll pay off in terms of her learning, but there is the reality. SO, I’m wondering if any of the original posters from this thread can share any positive news or advice for this years crop of applicants, and for the terrified parents of California’s middle class.
@ccprofandmomof2 I’d say if your daughter is a freshman that it’s way too early to start worrying. Save that for spring of her senior year when acceptances start coming in. I think the vast majority of kids will end up with an acceptance that fits them very well, it just may not be at the school that you think is the “right” one right now. I have one kid who got into 1 of 4 UCs he applied to - it was not one he considered when he was a freshman in HS. But he has the top scholarship there, really enjoys it, works hard, and is the right fit for him. My other kid got into all the UCs he applied to and is very happy in LA. I will agree with another poster that you need to apply broadly because some decisions can seem quite random (e.g getting the top scholarship at UCSB but not getting accepted to Davis). Just try not to get into the mindset that one school or school system is the only worthwhile one…