<p>I’ve been reading about how crowded some of the UCs (Davis, Cal, SC) are this year because of much higher than expected freshman yields. It strains everything: dorm room doubles turning into triples, bathrooms accomodating 10 instead of half a dozen kids, waiting lists for waiting lists to get into already huge intro/pre-req classes, advisors’ time, lab space, etc. Crowding has been increasing over the last decade, but it sounds like some of the campuses were taken by surprise this year by an especially large jump in enrollment.</p>
<p>So, as a parent of someone applying for 2007 admission to mostly first tier UCs, I gotta wonder:
Are they still a good value? Probably so, but less so. Housing, class registration etc will be more of a headache.
Since we’re in the middle of guessing my son’s chances based on each campus’ history, will next year be harder? Will they accept fewer students this go around because they are so impacted in general? Ugh.</p>
<p>At UCD the dorms that were tripled are new and were built to accomodate more students. (designed to be tripled if needed) Students in triples were not forced into them, they chose them for a less expensive rate. I do not know anyone forced into a triple room who did not want to be in one. I went to summer advising and had no problem getting classes. UCD formed CDG classes for freshman that really helped with the registration process, as they guaranteed three classes. (one each quarter) UCD also added classes to meet the increased demand. Move in was completely organized and I have to say thus far I have no major complaints. I am not sure about other UC campuses, but here it has been fine.</p>
<p>Good to hear that your experience has been that Davis has been able to absorb this big freshman class without too much trouble. Maybe the acceptance rate for 2011'ers won't be affected...</p>
<p>Apparently, Davis last year,came up short, enrolling about 350 fewer students than it wanted. So it did a major marketing blitz.</p>
<p>In general, I think that these three schools will have a lower acceptance rate for next year's incoming freshmen class and possibly 1-2 more years after that. Good luck.</p>
<p>Thanks. Yes similar article. Good luck to your son.</p>
<p>As a recent graduate of a UC school, I would recommend that your son take some classes during the summer. I did an internship in DC for some credits as well as taking a course at a JC. It really helps and relieves some of the pressure during the year. Personally, I prefer the year-round calendar.</p>
<p>Interesting too about the "boomlet" crush. Things might get a bit better in a few years, although some of the campuses like UCLA, UCB and UCSC are fairly limited on how much larger they can get, so the UC system will always be fairly impacted.</p>