I know we have UCB decisions remained. Good luck to those applied there.
There are applicants who got accepted to multiple schools. On the other hands, there are overwhelming number of kids who were waitlisted or rejected. I feel so much pain for these kids.
I would like to ask those accepted to multiple schools to opt out some acceptances ASAP, if you are sure that you are not attending. This will open up the spots for other kids, and save them from their anxiety and pain.
Lastly please post your opinion about this years Computer Science decision experience in retrospect.
My son applied to many schools for CS including Cal Poly SLO, UCSC, UCSB, UCI, UCSD and UCLA. I did not know how hard it was to get accepted for the CS major. I knew it was not easy, but this was much much harder than expected. I am wondering if the acceptance rate for CS is a single digit. My son only wanted to study CS, and the second alternative was Computer Engineering.
Ultimately he was accepted to UCSC and UCSD, waitlisted to UCI, rejected to SLO, UCSB and UCLA. We almost gave up the hope.
We are from San Diego, so it was so fortunate that he got accepted to UCSD. Today we will take out the waitlist from UCI, and acceptance from UCSC so that other kid can get that spot.
He has three more schools outside California. Tufts, Cornell and Rice. He will be most likely rejected, but knowing that he can lean on UCSD helped him relaxed.
I agree if students commit somewhere, they should decline their other admits, it’s the right (and easy) thing to do.
But…this won’t necessarily turn waitlist slots into offers. UCLA likely planned for a Class of 2025 yield of around 40%, so they already have accounted for 60% of admitted students turning down their offer of admission. UCSC baked in a yield of around 12%, and so on.
With that said, it is likely these schools will be going to their waitlists, we just don’t know what they each will be needing after they account for gender, major, OOS vs in-state, etc.
More likely, a college has assigned each admit an individual yield likelihood based on student characteristics (e.g. stronger students are less likely to matriculate due to having more other attractive admissions or scholarships), which may be influenced by the school by offering scholarships.
A college may keep a running count of the expected frosh class size and update it as admits matriculate or decline (i.e. if a given admit was estimated for a 10% chance of matriculating, counted as 0.1 student, then if they matriculate, they are now counted as 1 student, but if they decline, they are now counted as 0 student). If the running count falls too far below the target class size, the college may start using the waitlist early.
Sure some schools use predictive analytic models at the applicant level, many don’t.
Either way a college would have to be far off its yield projections/tracking to go to the waitlist before May 1…and some schools are concerned that their models might not be too accurate this year. And remember information is far from perfect…historically important yield variables don’t apply this year, such as distance traveled to visit, nor do most students who accept elsewhere decline their spots at their other admits.
I’m sure some colleges will have to go to the waitlist early, same as we saw greater numbers go to waitlists before May 1 last year, but many will wait until after their deposit day.
Back when UC had StatFinder publicly viewable, it showed yield based on various characteristics, like GPA and SAT score. Since UC is recording such information, it is more likely than not that it is giving each admit an individualized yield chance, rather than assuming overall yield applies to each individual admit. Also, individualized yield chance would better inform the awarding of merit scholarships at any college that offers merit scholarships.
Definitely…students with high GPA and high stats with lower predicted yields (UCs are probably doing it by decile) are among the most likely to be the beneficiary of merit awards.
Separately, a friend (OOS) received acceptances from UCLA and UCSD on Friday night, and had previously been admitted to UCSC. Thirty minutes after the UCLA and UCSD acceptances, the student received a $10K per year merit award from UCSC…I have a hard time believing that timing was a coincidence.
Each of the UCs have the ability to know what the others are doing with regard to admissions. The common UC app accumulated at a centralized site is sent to each university as only demarcated by a check mark by the campus(es) to which the student wishes it is sent.
Therefore, there has to be an honor system by each of the UCs not to peek at what colleges some of these students have applied and subsequently been admitted, but I don’t know if that would be reasonable to expect this. I think that social media can also be a conduit to which colleges spy on others with regard to specific students who have been admitted. UCLA and other colleges admittees are certainly out there as seen on Facebook, Instagram, etc. I think therefore that taking off of W/Ls nearer to the commitment deadline is here to stay, and colleges will be trying to steal away committed students from each other.
There’s a blog published today by Georgia Tech Admissions that gives an interesting look at how colleges take people off waitlists and addresses some of the points you raised. The key is to ultimately shape the class based on the individual college’s goal and to use the waitlist to plug the holes where they arise.
LOL … I was thinking of you when I read the part about waitlist ranking and timing of waitlist decisions since I saw how you provided the same consistent answers to those questions across all the UC threads! Absolutely refer posters to this article if there are doubters out there about your advice!
My son did not know which school he wanted to go. He was never passionate on any particular school. He was perfectly OK to attend a community college if he does not get accepted to any schools as long as he can study Computer Science. When the UCSD decision came he was playing the computer game with his brother. Laughing loud and screaming. Not a kind of kid that enthusiastically and impatiently waits for the decision in front of the computer. Though… He was accepted. Very fortunate. My wife and I were so relieved and excited. But he just said “Ok”.
He never appeared sad when he was rejected to many schools. He only knew that wherever he decided to go, he will major in CS, and in his mind there was no other alternative. He put Computer Engineering as his alternative major, but he knew that was not his passion.
He is very smart but not a confident kid. I know that he never gives up. He had some motor development deficiency when he was little, he was physically weak and couldn’t speak until four years old, so he had to work twice as hard as normal kids. I now appreciate all supports my son received from his teachers and therapists who encouraged and focused on his academics, physical skill and his mental growth. So for him, working hard became his norm. I wonder if he even thinks colleges matter much or not. As long as he works hard, I think he thinks he can still survive and things will be just fine. If he goes to a community college, I can still see him doing well.
I agree with you that getting directly admitted to CS has been harder than I expect. My son is like yours in that he takes his waitlist and reject in stride and goes back to his video game while I’m more nervous and anxious.
He wants to double major in CS and Music but applying direct to Music is not easy either due to audition and portfolio requirements more suited to a performance major than a music tech specialty (my son’s interest), so we researched places that offer both in a combined major and found a bunch of CS/Music combo programs out-of-state. UCSD is the only UC that offers something similar with their ICAM major so for all other UC’s, Cal Poly and SJSU, he applied CS only.
He was accepted CS to UCSB, UCSC, Cal Poly and SJSU and waitlisted by all the other UCs so far except Riverside & Merced (he didn’t apply there). My surprise is that he has been admitted to all CS/Music combo programs so far but they are all OOS, even from reach schools like UT Austin and UIUC, so while I have been told that UC results are very hard to predict and seem almost random when just looking at stats, I do think in my son’s case, applying to CS is a key reason why he is on so many UC waitlists but accepted elsewhere OOS.
I think there will be movement in the CS waitlists since there are so many really accomplished kids who have received multiple offers and they can only attend one college, but it will take time to cascade down. I suspect yield predictions may be a bit off this year with the explosion in apps from a slightly declining pool of total applicants. We are still waiting for a few more that will all roll in before April 1. I really want him to stay in California, so I’m planning to drive down with him over Spring Break to visit Cal Poly, UCSC and UCSB, even if we can’t enter buildings, so that we can just get a feel of the campus and the neighborhood. We will decline offers as soon as he can narrow down more choices. He already declined CU Boulder, UT Austin and Northeastern and will most likely decline UW in the next day or so.
It’s great that your son knows exactly what he wants to do and it sounds like his work ethic will carry him far. Kids are more resilient than we parents sometimes give them credit for and I have a feeling that he will get into a place where he will thrive and succeed. Sending you best wishes for his remaining decisions!
It’s nice that your son has many schools to select from. Strange enough, for my son’s case there are not many waitlists, only UCI gave him waitlist. The rest is either accepts or rejects. I guess my son’s essay and stats are easy to recognize which type of schools he belongs.
He concentrated on STEM so much that his APs are all Science and Math except US History. He never cared about colleges, and he did not strategized what AP classes to take based on what colleges want to see. He just took AP classes that he liked.
Understandingly, the most small LAC might have thought he was not the good fit. He is too lopsided. Interestingly, one LAC invited him for the fly-in program, and he attended their virtual fly-in, ultimately he was rejected. I heard that kids who were invited most likely get accepted. I was shocked that he did not get even waitlisted, but my son did not care.
Other UC school he was accepted was UCSC.
(He did not apply to UCB nor UCD). Actually both UCSD and UCSC implement the liberal arts education even for the School of Engineering. This is different from other UC schools.
We live in San Diego, so that’s another reason he was accepted to UCSD. They just started another robotic team in 2019, and my son has been in the robotic team since he was in the 4th grade, and now a president of his high school robotic club. I am encouraging him to join the club if he decides to attend UCSD.
My son is also waiting for three more colleges all outside of California. Tufts, Rice and Cornell.
All are reach. But even if he gets accepted to any one of them, I started to think he should go to UCSD. Some mom kept telling me that Tuft’s Computer Science is mediocre. I did not believe it at first, but after researching, she was right. Their CS is not strong. Rice and UCSD CS are pretty much neck to neck. Cornell’s CS is very strong, but their name also helps the ranking. My son is interested in robotics and I read good article on the UCSD CS, Southern CA will be next Silicon Valley, and there started many robotic Tech companies participated to UCSD Robotics Contextual Institute.
Good luck to your son on the final decision. UCSD is a great choice–if my son gets off the UCSD waitlist for CS, I’d take that in a heartbeat, but ultimately it’s his decision.
I hope your son will be off the waiting list soon. This year is very strange. The UC system admission criteria of each school is unpredictable. My son got rejected to both UCSB and Cal Poly SLO, but got accepted to UCSD.
Good luck!!
