Yes it is!!
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If anyone got a First Year Aggie Scholarship, how much did you receive?
Yeup. So true. Something is wrong with this process.
Joining in - D22 admitted for Cognitive Science. 3.9 UW GPA, OOS. Congrats and best wishes everyone!
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What’s the real value of good writing essay or leadership for CS or Engineering major?
I would think it would have value for all applicants regardless of major. Why wouldn’t schools want kids who are self-starters, leaders, industrious and creative regardless of intended path?
I don’t have a STEM kid tho… so I’m not speaking from any first hand knowledge… only what we’ve heard from college counselors and articles we’ve read about what kind of student top colleges are looking for.
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Communication in any form such as writing or leadership are skills that are important for any profession. Here are some specifics for Engineers.
Engineering writing is one of the most important “soft skills” for engineers. The ability to write in a clear and concise manner has a variety of benefits.
- Allows the engineering team to document its work and request further resources to complete a project
- Conveys in non-technical terms the importance of increased funding for the engineering department; enabling non-technical executives to understand concerns and make necessary changes
- Resolves engineering issues that could result in safety hazards and ensures that all safety guidelines and standards are met
- Provides the necessary information to complete their prospective jobs
- Offers the ability to effectively collaborate with other departments.
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We are from LA County and my oldest also selected UCD over SLO. In addition to UCD and SLO, he was admitted to UCI, UCSB, UCSC.
UCD has a Greek life but the actual houses (number of beds for students to sleep in) are smaller than at Berkeley or UCLA. Parties are more social than drunk fests (except for houseboats over Memorial Day). One can attend parties at UCD and not drink without feeling self conscious about it.
Davis is an extremely friendly, collaborative college environment. There is little “one upping” or tearing others down. It is rigorous but not competitive. It has a mindset of “we will succeed together.” The town and the university have a unique symbiotic relationship. The school supports the community and the community supports the school.
As was mentioned, Sacramento (the airport, concerts, etc) is 20 min away. Many clubs and groups of students plan weekend trips to Tahoe (2 hrs away). My student would take the Davis<->Berkeley shuttle to go to concerts in SF or visit friends at Berkeley but the vast majority of his time and social life was in Davis.
Davis is an extremely diverse community which is something that you won’t find at SLO.
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am i in danger of getting my admission revoked if i keep this up? honestly i lost all my motivation for school tbh.
The provisional admission contract for any school should state what is expected Senior year.
In general, maintain your reported GPA with no more than a 1.0 drop, no D’s or F’s.
One C is fine. Just make sure it does not drop any further.
For UCD, it has been a 3.0 weighted GPA Senior year with no D’s or F’s.
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Finally got the code to access financial aid — progress! Should we expect similar numbers for other UCs?
No, unfortunately, it was from a college counseling website, but; it would explain why the acceptance rates of our Super Stat students are often puzzling.
From the UC Davis website:
You’re more than your GPA
After looking at the statistics above, students sometimes wonder: Do I have to achieve that high a GPA to get into UC Davis? Or, if I meet or exceed the GPA shown, is that a guarantee that I’ll be admitted? In both cases, not necessarily. College fit is about more than GPA, and our admission selection process is about more than that, too. We admit well-rounded students who show they are prepared for university life through a combination of academic excellence, leadership, extracurricular activities and a demonstrated ability to overcome challenges and think outside the box.
How Your Application is Reviewed.
Admission decisions are made based upon the qualifications of the applicant pool and the number of available spaces within each academic area:
College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences admits by college
College of Biological Sciences admits by college
College of Letters and Science admits by college
(Humanities, Arts and Cultural Studies; Mathematics and Physical Sciences; Social Sciences)
College of Engineering admits by academic department
Students applying as “undeclared” or “undeclared/exploratory” are considered within the college/division to which they applied.
Be careful about comparing yourself to others. People quote different GPAs and apply to different majors/colleges. It isn’t a tally of the number of activities you participated in, or even what you did during those activities. What matters is how you shared your experiences and interests with UC Davis through the Activities & Awards section and your PIQ.
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random question but is it just one people that read over our application or is there a group of ppl that read and decide our app? thanks!
Notes from the UC Conference 2021:
Internal readers are those individuals within the admissions office such as evaluators, recruitment and outreach specialists, and other admissions team members.
External readers are those individuals outside of the admissions office. These individuals are often high school counselors, teachers, or leadership; campus outreach staff such as EAOP staff; independent counselors, graduate students, department staff, alumni, etc.
All applications are reviewed regardless of whether the student meets all of the minimum admissions requirements.
Multiple reads often occur as part of various quality control measures instituted by the campuses. Each campus may have different requirements on the number of times an application is read.
So writing few essays which we don’t know if it is authentic by author or not gives an edge for getting accepted? At least Standardized Test (ACT/SAT) is authentic.
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Thankfully the UCs don’t believe as you do. A person is so much more than their test scores and they’re looking for kids with leadership, creativity and writing skills which are highlighted through the PIQs.
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So let’s get rid of AP classes for evaluation since it’s not same among all schools. That’s what I am hearing. UC admission needs a standard way of evaluating the students and current process is not.
I am a consulting engineer. Clear communication skills are absolutely critical. We write calculation packages, reports, specs, proposals, emails on a daily basis. I won’t hire anyone who can’t write well because I know I will end up redoing all their work!
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Just because you’re not happy with the results you’ve received doesn’t mean something is wrong with the process. The UC system has decided what kind of students they want. They’ve set up they’re admissions to reflect that. They’ve decided that they DO want kids who are really well-rounded and not just those with high test scores.
I’m sure there are other schools who put a greater emphasis on test scores. If that’s you or your kid’s strength then maybe that’s a better focus for you?
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