Did you receive that information from someone at UCSB? It is true that UCSB doesn’t know how may students they will be able to offer housing to but that doesn’t mean that it is first come, first served.
This page states "After completing their Statement of Intent to Register (SIR), we are asking freshmen students to complete an application for 2021-22 housing. Once we receive guidance on how many students we can accommodate, we will send out contract offers using a weighted lottery for available spaces. "
UCSB is currently on spring break. If UCSB Housing doesn’t respond, you might try calling or emailing next week.
As a tax payer in this state for many years, I feel ripped off by the court system and think there should have been a reverse lawsuit over moving the goal posts on the admissions process after the application process had already begun. I have a daughter who had a 3.7 unweighted GPA/4.2 wtd/33 ACT./1400 SAT. Participates at a national level in club ice skating. She was rejected from 4 out of 5 UCs and waitlisted at one. In prior years her stats would have put here above 70-75% of accepted applicants at Santa Barbara, UC-Irvine and UCSD. It’s absurd that she has shown me Tik Tons of accepted students now waving around their sub-1000 SAT scores. She studied her tail off to do well and has been accepted at just about every non UC school she has applied to. I could understand test optional but to suddenly go test biind disadvantaged every student who studied and did well on those tests. Besides the point, an A at one school may not be the same as an A at another School. Nevertheless, a 1600 SAT or 36 puts everyone on a more level playing field (I’m not disputing the standardized tests are not perfect), To add insult to injury we are also aware of out of state applicants getting in over in-state with lesser grades, etc. Our state is off its rocker and frankly I believe there should be a legal case over this. Just par for the course for California…
Thank you for your opinion and I am not sure why I was tagged? Probably since I am UC Champion for this website and it becomes par for the course. I understand your frustration about the situation and going test blind has put UC admissions into a difficult position with little warning and trying to figure out how best to approach the situation.
All our students are hard working and deserve a chance to shine at one of the many California universities but the plain fact is there are too many high achieving students for the number of spots that are available and do not think just going test blind can be blamed. My niece whom I mentored through the process 3 years ago, had similar results with a 4.33 weighted GPA and 32 ACT so a lack of test scores was not a deciding factor, although she got into 1 UC but had no interest in attending.
There are many things wrong with all college admissions, no system is perfect and I am not defending the UC system in any way. I am just a parent volunteer, not affilated with the UC system in any way so a neutral party whom has observed UC and Cal state admissions for many years. I am here trying to help students navigate the flawed system we have and try to encourage to them to look beyond the “dream” or the name and look for the great opportunities so many of the schools offer.
My niece was also devastated, my sister spouting similar remarks about the state of college admissions in California and guess what, she went to not any of her top schools but is currently thriving since I twisted her arm to include a few non-UC schools (ie. Safeties) to her list.
Unfortunately for California students and the UC’s, the test blind policy stays at least until 2024 admissions. I will not go into the issues associated with OOS or International admits since this is a Catch 22 situation and the UC’s have addressed several of the issues involved by setting up enrollment caps and no longer funding financial aid for these applicants but I agree our priority should be CA students.
My final closing comment is about social media since you referenced Tik Tok. There is a discussion on CC about Reditt and CC and the differences. Several posters have noted that if they want to truth, they come to CC over other social media sites so I would also take anything posted else where with a grain of salt.
Wishing your daughter the best and since all UC decisions are posted, hopefully we will see movement on the waitlists and students will have a 2nd chance at their top schools.
Be careful when comparing yourself (or your child) to others. There are many ways to calculate a GPA and people who are discouraged often post their highest grades and test scores while people who are looking for “likes” and “views” post their lowest. It would be nice if everyone used the same numbers for comparison but calculating a UC GPA can be tricky and people often have multiple test scores. It is also very difficult to compare depth of commitment, drive and passion in extracurriculars and know how one person conveyed that in their application compared to another.
Hello. Thanks for this information. My son was accepted to UCSB (OOS) and is very interested in attending. But how can any freshman accept a spot at UCSB if they don’t know until mid-summer if they will have housing, need to leave it up to chance, and don’t know what the “weights” are that will be the basis for the “lottery”? Is the assumption that kids who do not get housing have to find an apartment or take classes remotely? How easy is it to get an apartment? Am I missing something about the logic of actually accepting a spot under these uncertain circumstances (which I understand are driven by COVID)? I am not being “snarky” – I am genuinely wondering – for those who have accepted spots at UCSB already, how concerned are you about housing and what will you do if you do not get a dorm? Thanks for any insights.
I understand your frustration. A school may state an expectation for fall housing but, as we learned last year, it can all change before September.
California is the most populous state with approximately 12% of the US population. For better or worse, decisions are not made quickly. Add the fact that the UC system reviews state guidance before issuing their own guidance. That said, cases are decreasing in California and, right now, things are beginning to open up.
Apparently there is someone on the UCSB Parent FB group who works for UCSB housing and is answering questions. I don’t work for the university but my guess for the lottery is that athletes and extenuating circumstances (foster youth, homeless, disabilities, etc) will go first.
Yes, I have the same concern. My son was accepted to UCSB and UC Berkeley. He just submitted intent to register to UCSB. It wasn’t until we submitted the housing request that we noted it’s not guaranteed for freshman. I thought maybe they were being overly cautious based on this current academic year but then came to this thread. We’re from NJ and I will certainly think twice about sending my 18-year old 3,000 miles away without on campus housing. I’m not sure if Berkeley housing is the same, but plan to check that discussion page also. I told my son not to decline yet.
Berkeley had a housing crises long before the pandemic. I don’t want to derail a UCSB discussion but, if you have concerns about housing, please do your research before committing to Berkeley.
Yes I’m aware. We have many friends @ Berkeley. But their website specifically states that they give priority to new students. In your speculation above re: priority for UCSB housing (athletes, homeless, differently-abled) did you mean for new students only, or for sophomores and others too.
Each UC handles housing differently. Are you referring to UCSB’s website or Berkeley’s website?
My speculation above was because foxmom111 commented that she doesn’t know what “weights” will be the basis of the lottery. This year, colleges that were not able to open their dorms to the general population, were allowed to provide housing to students with extenuating circumstances.
Understood there are many high achieving students seeking admission to UC schools each year. Reiterate I think the Test Blind change turned admissions upside down. The public high school in my town has a huge decline in UC acceptances this year. (I’ve previously posted on this site that my daughter was rejected from three UCs that should have been slam dunks based on prior year stats (prior year avg admitted GPA along with avg admitted SAT/ACT). Meanwhile I am aware of quite a few people with low test scores (that they of course didn’t have to submit) and marginally higher grades than my daughter who were accepted, It was absolutely unfair to change the rules after senior year had already commenced. Many students like my daughter spent months and many hours studying for this tests. She will end up going to a very strong school, but I feel ripped off as a CA state tax payer. I have paid into this system for years and seeing it’s no longer based on merit to get into these schools. Sorry, but an A is not the same at different schools and the only way to level the playing field, is to have a standardized test requirement. Fine, if CA wants to change the test at some future date. I guaranty more people got screwed than disabled students who were disadvantaged. They should have stuck with test optional. I personally think there should be a class action lawsuit over this. That is how strong my opinion is on it (recognizing that will never happen unless many others feel the same way - one reason I’;m posting here to see if there are others who feel the same way.). .
I know it’s frustrating for your daughter but even before students with above average scores and grades get denied from UCs because they are holistic. Also CA students in the top 9s through ELC are only guaranteed admission to the UC system at a campus that has open space which is UCM. So no one is entitled to a UC spot of their choosing. It’s easy to compare kids to each other as a parent and think his or hers son or daughter is better. But the UC apps are read twice and if there is a major discrepancy a specially trained third reader will read it.
Not saying the process is fair or good but it’s the reality that will be there until 2024. I’m sure your daughter has plenty of good choices outside of the UC system and in the end it doesn’t really matter what school we go to.
Also yes Californians pay high taxes but very few of our tax dollars actually go to the UC system. So do we really pay for it? To some extent we do but most of our tax dollars go other places. And that’s a whole other can of worms.
Like @Gumbymom the UC forum champion team would like to keep the talk of test blind off of these threads since that rhetoric does lead the conversation to devalue the incredible accomplishment of the admits. If you’d like to continue this topic please make a new thread in the general UC forum.
It will definitely hurt for those parents and kids who put a lot of effort into testing and seeing that factor taken away by the court system. It’s unfortunate. However, its only one out of 13 factors that UCs take into account. UCs also have the historical GPA data for each school as well as the course rigor etc. They are well aware of the grading system and the differences from school to school. A lot of kids did not put enough effort into testing because of first test optional policy, lack of availability of centers, and then test blind. Many had to fly or drive 6-9 hours to neighboring states taking huge risks with health to submit to the test optional policy in other states. I know of kids where they lost a month to two months traveling back and forth month so they can get a 1500+ score or a 34+ score out of 3 test sittings between Aug and Dec of fall 2020. Time they could have spent on solidifying other areas of their application. It sucks for everyone. Hopefully she is an excellent student to put her best where she goes.
This is important to understand. The UCs have access to an extensive database about average GPAs, course rigor, and courses offered from every school in California (and some outside).
Also, UCSB in particular has historically put more weight on essays and ECs vs. GPA/scores than other UCs.
I know it’s hard, but try not to get too frustrated with a the UC’s admitting OOS students. The truth is that even at fantastic schools like UCSB or especially Davis, the yield rate for OOS kids is just extremely, extremely low. They may accept thousands, but they do that only to get a few hundred to actually attend. You can look up these numbers to see for yourself. That’s the only reason the OOS admit rates are higher. Most don’t come because for $65k these schools - while fantastic - really aren’t a good value for OOS students. So most say no. Rest assured it’s not taking a spot away from a CA student.