Remember geographic diversity comes into both in different ways. Cal States favor local students and UC wants geographic diversity.
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Thank you! She’s very excited about UCD. I work in biotech and several of my colleagues (PhD biologists) went to UCD and loved it.
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Agreed. I think the reason could be to geographic diversity beyond ELC. The UCs are under pressure to admit people from all over the state and school district.
Also
I agree with this phrase I’ve read recently: UC breaks a lot of hearts.
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My daughter is a national merit semi-finalist and she listed the honor on her UC app. She was accepted to UCSC. So, I don’t think you made a mistake listing your daughter’s NMSF status. With that said, I so understand how frustrating it is applying to college these days, especially the UCs. It does feel like a lottery. I am sending good thoughts your way, hoping your daughter is admitted into a school that excites her.
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Accepted for Art History
My student is homeschooled so I don’t know how GPA was weighted, received only A’s in classes taken out of the home but not sure how much those valued as I’m not sure they count as “approved”
AP: Physics, Calc A/B, US History, Comp Sci - all 5’s
Dual-enrollment GPA: 4.0
ECs: Piano, dance, volunteer work, runs a small business, professional modeling
Accepted: University of the Pacific, UC Davis, St. Mary’s (Honors), Loyola Marymount, Loyola Chicago, Fordham, The New School - scholarships from all but Davis
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One other thought. It’s clear that you are hurt that your child didn’t receive an offer of admission, but we should be careful when using language like ‘overqualified’ and ‘safety school’. There are many highly qualified students on here who did receive an offer of admission and their success should be celebrated.
UCSC is a great school and has many highly qualified students attend.
We do not know why your child was chosen to be waitlisted, it could be their gpa, it could be their PIQ’s, it could be their choice of major, it could be their ec’s, it could be their geographical location. We will never know. But what we should not do is take anything away from those children that were given admission. Your child will find her fit.
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Interesting accepted into UCD but not UCSC. Different major?
I think this is what waitlists essentially do. My DD has been accepted to three schools so far that are in our budget and that she’d absolutely attend without hesitation: UCSC, UCD, Cal Poly SLO. Two of those (maybe three, depending on other UC etc. decisions) she won’t attend. Someone may be (hopefully will be) offered her spot from the waitlist. And multiply that by thousands. . .to help her decide (we have scheduled formal tours for all three), I may ask her to think: “Which of these spots would I most regret giving up to my fellow senior waiting on the waitlist?” It’s too bad students can’t rank order their preferences when applying to CA public universities. I know years ago they did. And it’s too bad Cal State and UC don’t track “demonstrated interest” (supposedly). I guess opting into a waitlist is the only way they really track demonstrated interest but by then it’s usually more or less too late.
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I like the phrase “likely” school rather than “safety” school. Very few universities seem to be 100% admission.
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Same major, biology.
I will add… Her PIQs were excellent. Completely her own experiences and writing (as they should be!).
I defintely agree that the students who were accepted to UCSC were well qualified and earned their admission. I have to imagine “on paper” most of the applicants are well qualified but what I think really makes the difference with the UC’s is the PIQ’s. Candidates who might have slightly lower stats really get a chance to shine in the PIQ’s.
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Absolutely agree! I have a friend whose son is at CSU Monterey Bay and it’s great! What a beautiful place to live. Much to love about these schools, and easy to find at least one or two “sure bet” schools as long as you meet the minimum requirements. I’m a big fan now.
I don’t think it is 100% true that UCSC rejected high stats kids only because of yield protection. I saw many high stats students got accepted. But for the competitive majors, the high stats went against each others for the same major. So, the PIQs and the determination of “fit” would come in play. We don’t know that the national merit finalist is a better fit than another student who might not be the NMfinalist but had other attributes to compare.
The private universities played with yield protection and we could see the evidence from offering no application fee to tons of mailing urging students to apply to increase the number of the applicants, and using the “demonstrated interest”. Many private universities would not admit students who never visited the campus – This was told to my friend from the AO of the university. Those are the yield protection methods. But it is true that the university knows their yield and has to manage it for practical reasons, from class size management, housing, to budgetting for salary, etc.
UCSC has become much more competitive now as more students who want to stay in NorCal got rejected from UCB. UCSC has a very beautiful campus and close to silicon valley/Bay Area. IMO it’s a toss up between Davis and UCSC for NorCal depending on what campus ambience the students should prefer. So, no one should think that UCSC is a safety, especially in these past few years after the pandemics and test-blind, and if they apply for a competitive major.
CSU including Cal Poly use a different method for admission (point system based on the courses and GPA). It’s more straighforward that the high stats would get admitted, except for the ultra-competitive major like CS/CSE, they may have additional criteria. There are many wonderful CSUs.
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accepted for anthropology
w: 5.20
uw: 4.0
ib full diploma student/ap student
extracurriculars: girl scouts since kindergarten, weekly volunteering at elementary school, work experience, school academic award, campaign manager for school’s election, club vice president
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I understand your point but am confused by your numbers. Here’s what I understand. Out of 66,033 applicants, a total of 31,096 were offered admission. 29,523 were offered admission first round, and 1,573 were offered admission off the waitlist. Their first-cut admit rate is about 45%, with those offered off waitlist 47%. Of all 31,096 that were offered admission, 3,869 enrolled (12.4%). Given their yield is fairly low, I’m sure they admit far more than they anticipate enrolling. However, I think you mention that 1,573 of 3869 “admitted” came off waitlist. The 3,869 number is ENROLLED. The 1,573 number is those offered admittance from waitlist. But of those 1,573, we don’t know how many actually enrolled, but I’m sure it wasn’t 100%. In other words, of the 3,860 enrolled, I don’t think that 1,573 came from waitlist admits.
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I realize that you are the parent and are frustrated. Your student may have had a different tone in their application. Or maybe they didn’t. UCSC strives to promote civility, professionalism, honesty, cooperation, and fairness. They promote mutual respect, trust and support. They strive for an inclusive community. They celebrate the uniqueness of everyone in the community.
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Well my S23’s PIQs were 100% aligned with the UCSC key attributes. I read them yesterday after he got waitlisted on a doc he had and they completely spoke to them. They were extremely good. So I really don’t think it was his PIQs that waitlisted him, nor his ECs. And ucw gpa of 4.13 and uw 3.96 is I think on par with many who got accepted. I think maybe the few AP classes he had might have been an issue, even though he explained why in his additional comments and his school doesn’t provide many, or possibly it was just geographical (compared to other students in his area), not being a first generation student, or just a lot of competitiveness this year within his major. It would be really nice to know, but we will put our focus on the colleges he was accepted to. Whatever is meant to be is meant to be. Congrats to those who got accepted!
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The admitted from waitlist count, at its best, only tell us there is still room available after the SIR deadline.
In the extreme cases, it could be 1 seat open after SIR and it takes 1537 students from the waitlist to fill that single seat, or it could be 1537 seats open and the first 1537 offers from the waitlist ALL accepted the offers.
It lacks information about majors that were filled from the waitlist.
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