It depends on your family’s financial situation. If your parents can pay for it easily, it is a different situation than if they would have to make sacrifices and take out loans. It also depends on whether you have plans for med school, law school, etc. It will probably be easier to make the decision when you have all your acceptances in hand with the financial aid spelled out.
@almostthere2021 , as an in-state person, it’s hard for me to see why OOS students would pay “sticker price” for UC schools and deal with the inherent competition for resources at a crowded, public institution, when they could go to a private U for the same money… but I know that there’s an element of “familiarity breeds contempt” in that reaction, and that UCLA and Berkeley are premier institutions that are “dream schools” for many.
You really need to consider it with eyes wide open, though. Recognize that if you are not a recruited athlete or a Regents scholar, you will have lower registration priority than both of those groups and will not necessarily be able to get the classes you want. Recognize that housing will be crowded. Consider whether you can be directly admitted to your major of choice or whether you will have to compete for departmental admissions once there. (I personally know very bright, motivated kids who did not get into their intended major at UCLA after two years of hard work.) Recognize that in many/most programs, you will be in huge classes with a minimum of individual attention, for at least the first two years; and you will reap the benefits of being at UCLA only if you take very proactive and assertive initiative to connect with faculty, get involved in research, etc. I know in-state kids who scraped and struggled to make UCLA work financially and ended up feeling it wasn’t worth it. Conversely, I know people who found fantastic opportunities there and had the time of their lives… but IMHO it’s not the kind of school to go to just “because it’s UCLA.” Programs vary, and the student experience varies widely depending on what niche you find on such a huge campus. If you have a clear vision for what you want to do there, and a clear/realistic path to realize that vision, then it may be worth the money, but it’s a LOT of money, so definitely weigh your alternatives from the perspective of an adult whose quality of life could be significantly affected by student debt, not from the perspective of the middle schooler who fell in love with UCLA. No college on earth is as idyllic as that middle schooler imagined!
Also keep in mind, if you hope to go to grad school, that UCLA will still be there in four years, and in all reality these top-tier research institutions exist more for their grad programs than to serve undergrads. Getting your undergrad someplace more affordable and shooting for UCLA for grad school is definitely a path to consider.
Can someone chance me?
SAT I: 1430 (750 M, 680 E) - Converts to 2040
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
UC GPA ~ 4.25
Rank/Percentile: 1 (small school)
AP (place score in parentheses): APUSH (4) & AP English Language (4)
Senior Year Course Load: AP Biology, AP Economics and Government, AP Biology, AP statistics
Intended Major: Biology
Gender: Female
Extracurriculars: Volleyball (JV and Varsity Captain and Club Secretary), Fellowship of Christian athletes, Parliamentary Procedure (part of the FFA), Best Informed Greenhand (FFA)
Job/Work Experience: Summer Job at Pizza Place
Volunteer/Community Service: Volleyball Coach (100+ hours), UNICEF (Treasurer), Watched children in church nursery (4 years) , ASB (Athletic Representative)
Awards: Minarets Exemplar (school character award), Miss Minarets (school distinguished achievement award), Chapter FFA Degree, Volleyball (MVP and Best Defensive Player), Parli Pro won 2nd in state.
Personal Statements: Okay, not fabulous. (I am very hard on my own writing) worked long and edited multiple times.
I received a supplemental application and wrote about how life in a small town with little academic opportunities. Not my best work.
I’ve been accepted to Cal Poly SLO, SDSU, and UCI w/ CHP
@aquapt @almostthere2021 I agree with you. If I had a choice between attending Rice at full-pay and UCLA/UC Berkeley as a OOS undergrad, I would go to Rice in a heartbeat. Maybe weather would be a consideration though but not for a difference of $30K per year.
I know that we still don’t know whether decisions will be posted on the 17th or the 24th (with more data pointing to the 24th), but I want it to be the 17th so badly. I can’t wait any longer 
@websensation , as it turns out, Rice is the school my older D chose over UCLA and UCSD. Of course, there’s no telling how the “road not taken” would have been, but she has been in close touch with her friends who went to UCLA and has visited them there several times, nothing she’s seen or heard has made her regret her decision. (Also, weather in Houston really isn’t bad - summer is the worst, and that’s optional 
)
@websensation are you a current UCLA student?
In terms of OOS, some states do not have many good options or simply students do not want to attend a college that many kids from their school go to. In my case, I am from PA so I have Penn State and Pitt, but neither of these schools is anywhere close to UCLA. Plus many kids from my school go there and I do not want to get caught in this situation where I never change from the high school me. In terms of going to a private school, it is still extremely expensive to go to a private school even with aid. I know UCLA won’t give me aid if I get in, but my other options are nearly just as expensive or the education is not nearly as good.
Also really hoping that UCLA will be kind and notify us on the 17th! 8->
@Jp6250 Well said!
have UC admissions officers already completed the selection process or are they still reviewing applications for admission??
@gigi888 I’m pretty sure if you didn’t get the supplemental questionnaire they already decided your acceptance a couple months ago
Is everyone’s portal showing “in review” or something else? Ours changed to in review sometime last week.
@gigi888 what supplemental questionnaire?
Ours says:
Application Status: Application Under Review
Not sure if this is different from earlier.
@aquapt I attended a presentation where Rice and Brown reps did their spiels on their schools in CA. I would put Rice on par with Brown and was impressed with levels of education, campus and their students. One girl in my kid’s high school who is pretty smart in Humanities visited them from CA and was so impressed that she chose Rice as her number 1 choice and is going there. IMO financial situation of UC system will lead to the decline of UC system regardless of how high they are ranked. Rice is one of those schools like Pomona which does not get a lot of attention nationally but is a very good college.
@10s4life No, I am a parent of a Stanford-bound kid in Southern CA who visited many UCs and attended many presentations from various colleges. I myself attended an Ivy college long time ago and my friends attended MIT, Cal Tech (my friends’ kids went to Cornell, Brown, Harvard, UCB, UCLA, UCSD, UCSC etc.) where I visited and heard about their schools. Therefore, I feel like I sort of know how to ignore the hypes and pick good schools for a variety of students. Campus wise, I prefer UCLA campus over UCB. IMO if you like to surf or scuba dive, UCSD is the best college to go. UCSD is also a college where many students who for some reason have been rejected from competitive majors (comp sci and engineering) at UCLA and UC Berkeley for various reasons end up. I know several students with excellent stats who mistakenly viewed UCLA/UC Berkeley as their back-up schools after MIT/Stanford but who were denied at all of them and was accepted at UCSD where they usually end up doing very well academically because academic wise they would have been able to do decently at MIT. My nephew graduated from UCLA so I walked around the campus twice in addition to doing an official visit.
@websensation I felt the same way too about Cal vs UCLA.
@Banker1 Mine said “Application Received” for a good amount of time, changed to “Application Under Review” in either late January or early February.
@coffee1999 not sure where you heard that if you don’t get a supplemental questionnaire that it’s a bad thing. My counselor told me that UCLA and UCB (and others) send out supplemental questionnaires because something in the the application triggered it. Admissions wants to know more about the applicant beyond stats. Typically the applicant either has a disability, a special talent or a hardship.