FYI, There is a great sushi burrito place in Davis.
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Davis resident here - I canāt answer many questions about the campus because my kids have chose to leave Davis, but I might be able to answer questions about the town.
OK now youāre just being mean. 
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Santa Cruz does offer guaranteed housing for two years and for some groups such as EOP and Regents 3 years, after that you are in your own. Housing in Santa Cruz itself is pricey and scarce Iām told. We havenāt gotten that far since my son is second year and spent it living at home online. The fall will be a challenge if he doesnāt get a guarantee based off not being able to have his two year guarantee. Weāll see, but it is also a reason Iām hopeful he can graduate in 3 years.
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On their guaranteed housing page a few weeks ago I noticed they replaced it with a big Covid message.
I apologize if this has already been answered, but when has UCSC admitted applicants from the waitlist in previous years? It only says on the portal that I will be notified by July 1st at the latest, which is not a ton of help tbh.
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Well if some of those accepted to UCSC opt for Berkeley instead, it sounds like a win-win. Itās a thin thread to hang on though. (I will be trying to wrap my head around UC Riverside, which was always just sort of a random fallback that my son and I had no opinion about at all.)
I think the outcome from UCSC may be a predictor of things to come.
Ahh. Ok Iām not sure then. My son is still waiting for housing to contact him about the fall. Heās assuming heās going back and has some roomates lined up, but where he will live is anyoneās guess. As far as the TAs go Iām not sure. The pandemic closure turned everything upside down with parents rushing up at spring break to take their kids home the campus was in flux and I think the whole TA thing just got forgotten. My son said he received an email regarding the situation that upset taās even more. I didnāt see the email. Needless to say I donāt think anything was done. Iām sorry you toured during that time. Not a good time to see the campus for sure. I remember my son saying it was hard for them to get on and off campus to go into town at the time. Some of the strikers were bullying anyone who tried to break the line. There were even students joining into the fray.
Hi, both UC Santa Cruz and U of U have great programs. I think she is leaning towards Utah for the seasons, new dorms (Kahlert Village), WUE tuition will make it equivalent to the UCSC tuition but room and board cheaper there. My daughter is an artist and loves digital art too. Looking for a degree blending art and computer science. She may minor in CS. She will compare the programs more before she decides. All these decisions are overwhelming. Iāll email you after talking with my daughter. I hope it all works out for her!
I agree, I am also kind of not so thrilled about UCSCās housing situation specially hearing horror stories of kids living in cars on their FB pageā¦We might not opt in waitlist also.
I would rather have my daughter go to Merced with brand new, clean, hotel like dorms. I am sure the curriculum is pretty much same all across UC system regardless of the campus.
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Although housing is not ideal I donāt think you should panic either. Lots of UCās have housing issues. Berkeley is another example. I read about kids living in cars before s19 attended too. We did not see that. If it does exist perhaps it was grad students (thus the need for raises amongst taās?). Ucsc is a wonderful school and job prospects post graduation especially for jobs in the Silicon Valley are tremendous. Iām not sure I can say the same for Merced. I think itās important to be forward thinking when weighing the options. While curriculum may be the same UC to UC, college is also about the connections we make.
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My brother is a current junior at UCSC and housing has never been a problem for him. He told me that those who struggle to get housing are those who look 2 weeks in advance before a quarter starts. The problem isnāt much different than UCSB. Isla Vista and Down Town Santa Cruz are both limited and expensive, but for some reason people make UCSC seem much worse when theyāre both in the same situation. I strongly urge you to not let the housing situation affect your daughter, or your, decision. And, as TwoforT mentioned, Silicon Valley is your neighbor. This is extremely valuable to have as internships and job opportunities are far easier to obtain than say a place like Merced. Both are great schools, but you must look at the entire picture.
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Hope is not lost for wait listed UC Santa Cruz applicants.
After @sushiritto pointed out some of the UCSC wait list statistics above, I went through all the common data sets found on this page: Common Data Set (CDS)
UCSC does seem to heavily utilize the wait list to manage their enrollment (see question C2 in CDS).
Data is listed in this order:
Common Data Set year (CDS 20XX-XX)
Number of qualified applicants offered a place on the waiting list (Off)
Number accepting a place on the waiting list (Acc)
Number of wait-listed students admitted (Adm)
Calculated % of students admitted off waiting list (% Adm)
CDS 2020-21
Off: 16,484
Acc: 10,370
Adm: 8,870
% Adm: 86% (Highest admit rate off wait list.)
CDS 2019-20
Off: 12,859
Acc: 7,576
Adm: 4,676
% Adm: 62%
CDS 2018-19
Off: 12,504
Acc: 7,453
Adm: 149
% Adm: 2%
CDS 2017-18
Off: 10,378
Acc: 6,038
Adm: 2,236
% Adm: 37%
CDS 2016-17
Off: 9,983
Acc: 5,707
Adm: 4,097
% Adm: 72%
CDS 2015-16
Off: N/A
Acc: N/A
Adm: N/A
% Adm: N/A
CDS 2014-15
Off: 3,655
Acc: 1,320
Adm: 0
% Adm: 0% (Quote from report: āwe didnāt need to utilize the waitlistā)
CDS 2013-14
Off: 2,573
Acc: N/A
Adm: 1,205
% Adm: Note that the number of students accepting a spot on the wait list is not listed, so the % admitted out of the students who accepted a spot is not calculable. However, 47% of the students offered a spot on the waiting list were eventually admitted.
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I believe last year waitlisted applicants heard back in May.
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Thanks @TwoforT and @RyanBball432.
I hope its really not as bad as it seems to be at UCSC. We are in silicon valley so I understand that the housing can be pretty expensive in this area but thatās not much of my concern rather than not being able to find the housing. Berkeley is not even in the radar for us for the same reason as my kids have grown up around and hate it already. Also, have few friends on campus and for that reason she wonāt even consider it.
Again, I do know that it really doesnāt matter where you go to school but what you end up doing there and how you network with ppl there. I hire lots of interns in the industry and sometimes they amaze me how well rounded they are even coming from smaller CSUs rather than big UCs.
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Honestly, I think we have to treat waitlists as noās when it comes to making decisions. If you get off the waitlist, you can always drop the other one.
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Does anyone know when invitations to the UCSC College Scholars Program will be sent out?
We are kind of in the same boat. Rejected at UCI and waitlisted at UCSC which was supposedly a safety pick based on GPA stats. DD didnāt apply to Berkley and Riverside. She chose Merced over Riverside due to proximity. We are not counting on other UCs at this time. She has some good choices so far - SDSU, CSULB, CSUF, Chapman etc. She is seriously considering accepting Merced because of the smaller community, new dorms and access to facilities/resources. Itās been a stressful process for sure.
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Same thing here for my son - rejected at UCI and waitlisted at UCSC. Had fancied chances at UCSC based on the GPA and several other UCs based on last yearās stats. Had applied to Riverside but have not heard from them. So overall not counting on UCs at this time as it looks like the total applications & lack of SAT seems to have a big effect. He does have choices (some good) - Florida, Purdue, SJSU, SDSU, Cal Poly Pomona, ASU, Merced - all for CS except Purdue which is for Physics. While Florida & Purdue (and ASU) are out of state - they are not much costlier than UC. So seriously thinking about Florida (highest rank) - only downside being it is too far. Other one probably is SJSU - as it is local for us & the CS program has good employment opportunities.