I think Santa Cruz just dropped recently for a variety of factors, housing being one, TA strikes before the pandemic is another, fires etc. it’s really a beautiful campus but has had its share of issues the last few years thus the drop IMO. Overall, I believe UCSC is more competitive than UCR. GPAs and test scores (I know not relevant this year) have been historically higher. also I believe with the addition of a medical school (and law school too I believe) UCR is climbing in the rankings. This is not,however, due to its being more competitive than UCSC. My s19 attends UCSC so we know a little bit about the situation there.
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May simply be that they don’t know how to play the ranking game or that they don’t pay the ranking agency enough money. 
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Those factors definitely were a big cause for their drop, but it doesn’t make sense to rank UCSB at #30 and UCSC at #97 when they have a near identical curriculum and present the same amount of rigor. It makes no sense at all, and is the reason why I will never look at a ranking website again.
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And dropped below Merced for no particular reason? I’m sorry I don’t mean that Merced is not good, But that just doesn’t make sense!
You’re right. While there’s absolutely nothing wrong with Merced, UCSC has had 45 more years to establish the school as a whole. US News ranks schools based off of pretty ridiculous criteria that has nothing to do with the quality of undergraduate education. For example, US News uses faculty compensation and average alumni giving rate as criteria for their rankings. They also state that 20% of their methodology is based off of a peer assessment survey and gave zero context to what this is and how they collected their data. US News is simply just a marketing website, and are unfortunately considered to be “the ranking website that is most reliable.” This is pretty sad because I’d say most competitive applicants look at US News to determine which schools to apply to, and when they see UCSC at #97 compared to UCSB at #30, they immediately cross UCSC off the list. I hope that UCSC gets the recognition they deserve one day.
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i love u. needed this. thank you. u too kind stranger.
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i just got accepted into the proposed art program 
at ucsc
@TwoforT what ever happened with the TAs? Did that get settled? We happened to go look at campus while they were protesting.
I think he has to put a deposit down at another school that he got into, and if he gets off the waitlist at UCSC you will have to eat the deposit money and then put a new deposit down at UCSC instead.
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@pbcparent: @ctirj123 is correct that you need to enroll in another school by May 1 until you hear from the waitlist. Yes, you will lose your enrollment deposit at the other school if you decline and take the waitlist offer.
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same here. kinda disappointing cuz it was my dream school and my birthday, but hey! it doesn’t mean no!!! i’m glad your daughter and i are in a similar boat rn, so i wish her the best of luck with the rest of her college decisions journey!
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Thanks. Well, I suppose it’s worth it. How common (or does it ever happen) is it to be waitlisted at UCSC and accepted at UC Davis? When I was in grad school over 25 years ago, I used to meet computer scientists from UC Riverside and it seemed like a perfectly fine research university, and now I’m still disappointed after being excited for a few hours that he had any UC acceptance. (And anyway, my son does not want to study computer science.) For reference, his SAT which they weren’t supposed to look at was 1380 (split evenly). His weighted GPA was over 4.0 as his HS calculates it, but probably 3.85-3.95 capped. He took his SAT early junior year and was going to retake, but didn’t because of the pandemic–and that none of the schools were going to look at it anyway. His counselor said it was consistent with his grades, though I felt it would help. He took a lot of AP courses and got 4s, one 5 in US history, and a 3 in Computer Science A (which looks like it counts for credit most places but not UCR). (Also, I was surprised that was his worst AP exam since he did well in the class.)
Happy belated birthday!
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Each UC campus will review applicants based on their criteria and fit so it is really difficult to determine what the decisions will be at another campus. It is possible and not unheard of to be waitlisted at UCSC and get accepted at UCD or another UC.
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i think the prediction that the UCs will make more use of waitlists this year is coming true. I have one twin accepted and one twin waitlisted. Waitlisted guy has a 3.94 unweighted and 4.22 weighted UCGPAs with good extracurriculars. Perhaps not Ivy, UCLA or Berkeley extracurriculars but I did not think UCSC would be a reach. (Undeclared not a Stem major) He got a 35 on the ACT which can not be used. They go to a high performing high school and everyone they have heard from has been waitlisted which I am sure is not everyone but still. Some of these kids are waiting to hear from ivies.
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My “sushiritto college ranking” system has UCSC ranked above UCR just based purely on location. 
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Location is a big one. UCSC is closer than some commutes I’ve had. UCR is a long drive south. I also don’t have much of a feel for what campus life is like in Riverside. We at least had a chance to tour Davis last year.
I have UCSC ranked above UCI based on location.
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I’ve driven by Davis on the freeway about 100,000,000 times over the years, but I/we never have actually toured the campus. If D does get in there, then we’re going to have to do a tour for sure.
As for UCSC, the one major item I worry about, and I don’t think we’ll opt into the WL, is the housing issue. That is an aggravation that I prefer not to have as a parent.
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I am not familiar with the housing situation, can you enlighten me please.
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