my portal didnt update - anyone else??
Mine still hasn’t updated. I got into my dream school (USC), but USC hasn’t released their financial aid information yet. Without that, I need to keep my options open and UCI was one of them.
The second wave is either tommorow or Tuesday.
Nothing for me too…
And @edszebra CONGRATS ON USC !!!
I got in too, but I can’t afford it so I’ll go elsewhere. It was my top choice for college so I want to congratulate all of you who got in, as well as wish the ones who will enroll a great year (or bachelors degree overall)!
@SmartGurl17 wave of acceptance? is there still hope? havent gotten anything
@SweetCaliforniaWeather-12 I think there are still two waves/two days of acceptances until waitlists and rejections start!
@ProfessorPlum168 It is a very stressful process. Getting into CA schools is very difficult now and sometimes it feels like luck and not reason is the decider. But your idea of going to community college is a very good one. I have 4-5 friends who went that route and it saved them a LOT of money. 3 of them transferred to Berkeley for their junior year and have done well. Why do we put so much pressure on getting into the school of our dreams as a freshman/18 year old? Life is not over if it doesn’t work out on the first take. I would argue that taking community college for first two years of basic requirements is probably the best choice for many people.
@Mitato congrats on UCB. Both my daughters received the email as well, but they refuse to believe it’s for sure they got in. Big error on UCB, but I’ll take it over waiting a few more days
@ProfessorPlum168,you son’s standardized test score is very close to perfect, may be they look at GPA more? But I would think he has a very legit reason (since his mom passed away at his Sophomore year) for those Bs and C. If the school won’t even take that into consideration, that is so inhuman. 
I feel like there is either low key schools or high key schools in California. I can’t find one average school that is willing to take me like UCI.
do UC’s see what other UC’s/schools you got into, and does it affect their decision?
waitlisted at UCSD
accepted at UCR, CPP, CSUF
still waiting on UCI :((
@glenwads: No, the UC’s/CSU’s do not talk to each other so your acceptances/denials have no bearing on your chances at other schools.
@Mitato @Twinmomhell did you guys try to log into calcentral (there financial aid portal)?
@darnwaitlist yes it won’t let you in. They also haven’t been given their netId yet so you can’t log in that way either
@Twinmomhell @SmartGurl17 Thank you very much! Definitely happy to wrap it all up a few days early. That leaves me 7/7 on the UCs I applied to. It’s been a pretty unbelievable ride for me to say the least.
is it bad that i haven’t gotten anything from uci yet
I have really lost hope in the UC system. I know they claim they care about extra curricular’s but it just isn’t as important to them as your ethnicity. Because I am asian, this has put me at a disadvantage in the admission process. I am frustrated but also desolate about this whole experience.
@ProfessorPlum168: I can’t believe the results for your son. He should have received an offer from Northeastern. My son’s friend, who applied ED, had about a 3.0 and was accepted. My son was waitlisted at UCSD too and he has nowhere close to your son’s stats. Your son’s stats and the results he is receiving don’t line-up. I would hope that his essays discuss his mother’s passing, this is super important for an AdComm to see in order to understand the transcript.
Regarding the waitlist–my son’s counselor said if he was interested (he wasn’t) he should accept the waitlist offer immediately, write an email to the AdComm, and ask her (the counselor) to call the school on his behalf and indicate his strong interest. She also said that spring semester grades are now important. She said that at some schools getting off the waitlist is a bona fide reality; at others, it’s close to impossible. However, more and more universities are making offers from the wait list pool because students are applying to more and more schools, receiving, therefore, more and more offers, and the universities are sometimes having to deal with a lot of rejections.
Re ED: As it turns out, none of my son’s most desirable schools offer ED, so he didn’t apply ED, but still, we were wrongly told (by his counselor) that ED doesn’t increase a student’s chances much. That’s not true–it varies greatly, depending on the school. I think Vanderbilt has a 25% acceptance rate for ED, something like 15% for RD. You can find the stats on the Internet; of course, you have to accept that there may be some misinformation, but, anecdotally, I think applying ED does increase probability of getting an offer–why wouldn’t it? Otherwise, it would be hard to understand why a university would offer it; at the end of the day they are trying to increase their yield rates so that they earn a higher ranking.
That said, Engineering at UCSB is fantastic. I hope you and he understand that–amongst public universities, UCSB is ranked 8! After UCB and UCLA, everyone wants UCSB these days. UCSB receives the third highest number of apps in the UC system and has the third highest admissions standards for the UCs. Further, if your son wants an even more selective UC for engineering, he could try to transfer to UCB or UCSD for engineering as a junior. He has so many opportunities and seems super bright. As an engineer, the world is his oyster. He will be super-employable upon graduation. You should be so proud of him; his SATs and ACTs are fantastic–Ivy league scores. And–he took those horrible tests a total of 5 times! I am so impressed.
It looks like your son has had a tough time in high school and has been under terrific pressure. Maybe he might accept an offer–and then seek a gap year agreement with his selected university and spend the year working and taking a break from academics. The one possible weakness to your son’s apps could be his ECs–if he wants to re-apply, perhaps he could spend next year doing something interesting/character building–Peace Corps?
My son goes to a super-competitive private high school (his choice, not mine!) and, last year, 14 of the 80 seniors took gap years, they were so burnt out from high school. My son was also a bit disengaged from the application process. It was hard for me to witness, but I let go and allowed him to select the schools he was interested in. He is very excited about a number of schools from which he has rec’d offers (and, in fact, is more interested in his “Safety” schools) and I am excited for him.
Another note: I know a lot of students who went to very good but not the “top of the top” universities and, strategically, it was a very good decision: they were very competitive with the other students, did super well, and went onto top grad schools. Eg. UIUC–> Harvard law; Middlebury College–>USC Film School (best in the country, I think); San Jose State–Stanford PhD in Biochem. I also know someone who went to St. Mary’s College and is now a very high up VP at Bechtel.
My point is that, of course, where you son does his undergrad work isn’t the end of his story. And, the cream rises to the top. My best to you and your son. Again, he has worked so hard under tough conditions w/o (it seems) much support from his high school. I am sure he is going to do very well and congratulations on raising such a successful young man.