Is there a reason to why most admits off the waitlist are from l&s or is that just historically how it is?
My son got rejected at UCLA and UCSD for Bio Medical engineering , but he is accepted at Caltech in REA process and he is a soccer athlete. He is also accepted at UCD, UCI and UCSC. Similar profile of another kid from same school was able to get in UCLA and got rejected at UCSD for bio med engineering. We are proud and very happy to support him in his journey at Caltech.
Question : Given he was just a regular student and not an athlete for UC application, wonder what caused the rejection in UCLA and UCSD. Is it because of yield protection ? I just donât know how this admission process works.
Few days back I had received a note from one of the senator(forgot his name but can check my email) that they do plan to offer more seats to CA students, it will be a long 10-15 year journey to really see a difference.
I am not looking for a UC spot, but wondering if should I appeal or write back to senator to show him some data point to show him the reality. I donât have any more kids, this is my last child but trying to see how do we show some data to our politicians to demand a change for upcoming batches. Would appeal data be visible to any senator who are making decisions ?
No. Itâs simply because there are just way more applicants than there are available spots. Many many qualified students â students who are impressive enough that they, too, could get into Caltech â wonât end up having a seat at UCLA offered to them. Similarly, many students who are impressive enough that they, too, could get into Caltech ⌠wonât get into Caltech. A student being smart, engaged, hard working, etc. etc. ⌠it gets them a ticket to the lottery, but ultimately, for many who would thrive at any given school, the odds just donât break in their favor.
wondering if should I appeal or write back to senator to show him some data point to show him the reality
You certainly can, but the data sources that youâd be pulling from (probably here or here?) are already well-known by those working on higher education policy. Youâve already written to your representative in the state senate and theyâve registered your concern; I doubt thereâs much more that youâd be able to do to have an impact, and itâs something that theyâre already working towards.
Iâd suggest focusing your time right now on enjoying your time with your son at home. Itâll pass sooner than you think!
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Majority of applicants apply to L&S and the college has the most majors. Admissions | UCLA Academic Planning and Budget
Below is the appeal process link. A student cannot appeal while on the waitlist so they would have to decline the waitlist to appeal or wait until they are denied from the waitlist to start the process.
@LionsTigersAndBears explained things well but I will go into detail about the UC selection process and Yield. Management. Also you cannot appeal while on the waitlist, so either the student needs to withdraw from the waitlist to file an appeal or wait until the student is denied from the waitlist to start the appeal process.
Yield protect is a strategy some individuals feel that is used by colleges to increase their yield rate which in basically rejects highly qualified applicants who they believe will not enroll if accepted. Schools that offer EA/ED/EDII/SCEA or REA have been associated with this Yield protection concept but not confirmed. Since UCâs do not consider an applicants interest in their admission criteria, this strategy does not fit the UC model.
Yield management uses a colleges historical yield rate to determine how many students need to be admitted to fill their incoming classes. They use their yield rate to predict revenue, housing availability and the # of course offerings needed each year. One of the ways the UCâs can mange their yield is through their waitlists.
Several factors and variables can influence selection. What is most important to know is that selection looks different at every campus!
⢠Selection can even look different from year to year for the same campus.
⢠Things like enrollment capacity (campus size impacts how many students can enroll) and enrollment targets for each campus are factored into selection.
⢠Campuses use multiple factors when selecting students and the way campuses select students varies.
⢠It is to the studentâs advantage to include as much information as possible on the application.
⢠Every student is considered in the context of their own environment which includes, but is not limited to, school, family and geographic region.
⢠Students are also considered within the context of the applicant pool for each campus.
⢠Each campus will complete their own individual review of the application independently of one another, which means that theyâre going to review the information in the application and select students without asking what the other campuses have decided.
⢠Each campus selects students independently.
With the appeal process, you need to show that your student is a more competitive student than originally presented on the UC application. Obviously since he has gotten into Cal Tech, he is a highly competitive applicant. Senators have no say in the admission process, it is up to the admissions officer and staff to make the decisions.
As demonstrated above and nicely posted by @LionsTigersAndBears, there are just not enough spots for all the very qualified applicants. UCLA could fill their Freshman class 10x over with these applicants. You also cannot compare applicants unless they have the exact same academic profile, same ECâs and same PIQâs.
Your son should be proud on his accomplishments and on the schools that has gotten into especially Cal Tech, UCI, UCD and UCSC so he has 3 UC spots. Why UCLA? I would say move on since he has some wonderful school options. Based on what you had posted previously, I thought Cal Tech was a done deal??? Best of luck.
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My D19 got off the waitlist at ucla 4 years ago. The only thing she added to the additional info was âit would be cool if I got into UCLAâ. She didnât care at the time bc she had gotten into UCSB and was happy! Then to her surprise she actually got into UCLA off the waitlist and ended up committing there. My thinking is they donât really use the additional info!?
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Thank you!
About the UCLA waitlist.
I looked into last yearâs (very few) admits off the waitlist and (last year at least) the slim chance of getting off the waitlist works this way. As international and OOS applicants donât SIR (mainly likely when it dawns on them there is little to no merit or need based aid for them and UCLA will indeed be $70K/yr tuition or whatever OOS tuition is), then a trickle of more international and OOS applicants are let off the waitlist in mid May. UCLA wants to meet their state-determined allotment of OOS and international students for $$ reasons. No or very few in state applicants are admitted from the waitlist at that time (May).
Meanwhile, (even fewer) in state applicants will choose something like an Ivy league school over UCLA, or Stanford, or they themselves will get off Stanfordâs waitlist during the summer, etc, and a (very) few in state students will be let off the waitlist.
I expect that due to the worsening economy this year, that CA students and their parents will be opting for UCLA ($17K/yr) over full price Ivy Leagues, Stanford, MIT, CalTech, etc. I predict the yield rate for UCLA might be at a record high. Nationally there seems to be much more interest in in state public flagships this year for families, and UCLA certainly is that. Moreover, the majority of students pay no tuition at all at UCLA, and this year I think the âmiddle class scholarshipâ for UC expands to make that % even higher. UCLA is more and more a bargain for lower and middle class Californians. And a bargain even for upper class Californians, as the full price of $17K is so much better than the full price of other super-elite OOS and private colleges.
Then, as the summer drags on, all the way until late July and early August, the âsummer meltâ occurs and itâs obvious to UCLA somehow that a trickle donât or wonât show upâmaybe they withdraw their SIR or something or maybe they donât, or they donât send in their final transcript as required, or their acceptances are rescinded for some reason. And then a few more are let off the waitlist. Then in late July or early August the waitlist finally closes and everyone on the waitlist is finally rejected.
I post this so everyone can have realistic expectations here. I donât know if Iâll tell my in state DD all this, and how very low her in state chances are (especially as a femaleâif anything Iâd say UCLA would admit a male from the waitlist as thereâs a gender imbalance at UC) as sheâs happily working on her LOCI or filling out the form or whatever (sheâs so determined and she always wants to be working on something).
Thereâs a chance for in state applicants to be let off the waitlist but it would be like being struck by lightening or like a miracle. Like getting into UCLA to begin with. 
But as I told my daughter: âShoot for the moon, because even if you miss, youâll land amongst the stars.â That said, I think our upcoming tours and admitted student days will help her disappointment about being waitlisted (soft rejection) from her âdream schoolâ fade away and she will turn her attention to her other GREAT options.
I also told her that if she wants the âprestigeâ (the word means âillusionâ) of UCLA so badly and wants to try out living in SoCal so badly that she can always apply to UCLA for grad school, which sheâs certain she wants.
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I think this is spot on. My son accepted the WL from OOS but also committed to Cal Poly knowing the WL is a LONG shot especially for Computer Science. He feels good that it was not a reject and for now is excited about being a Mustang. The college process is not for the weak thatâs for sure. lessons learned and, in the end, we just want our kids to be happy and successful. Hoping everyone finds their happy place and people!
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The challenge is how do we change for next batch of for next generation. This is my last kid and I have enjoyed this journey, it is getting too competitive for CA kids and this is causing mental stress to the families, is there anything we as parents can do, the situation is worst and it is getting worsened. I am trying to see if any data collection will help law makers to put some check and balance in the UC admission process.
Yes it was a done deal for him for Caltech, we already started working on our finances to collect funds for his tuition. We also paused the application process and withdrew all OOS and Private applications, the only thing we left was UC because as a tax payer we wanted to know what we can get from UC Education system. This is my last child and will not have any more opportunities to know how bad the admission scene is. I had to keep my applications in the process to know the outcome.
Looking at mental stress in my neighbor hood among students and families I am trying to see what can you do to avoid such scenarios in the future, why cannot UC implement the admission process similar to TX where top students are assured of getting into top public programs.
You are right Senator has no say in admission process, but they can make policies which in turn will have checks and balances in the process. Honestly I was really surprised to get that email from the senator, I donât know how I got this email, my older child is UC Davis graduate and I am not sure if he got our emails from that mailing list. Nobody among my friend circle got that email. Since I have got the email from his campaign I am wondering what can we do to help him bring a positive change. I will ask him this question but checking with people from admission world what can we do to help upcoming future batches in the admission process.
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It is terribly sad watching so many students really struggle. I hope there can be some change as well.
Looking at mental stress in my neighbor hood among students and families I am trying to see what can you do to avoid such scenarios in the future, why cannot UC implement the admission process similar to TX where top students are assured of getting into top public programs.
The UCâs offer ELC to the top 9% local and statewide students so they are assured a place in the UC system. The issue is that many students feel UC Merced is not a desirable option.
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My son auditioned for the music school and is now waitlisted. We assume his chances are quite slim but put him on the waitlist. That said he is going to visit some other schools over spring break and make some decisions soon.
My son got WL and even though he did not say anything, I could feel his pain. UW GPA 4.0; Weighted GPA more than 4.6. Rank 5/600 in his class. Took a couple CC classes during junior and senior year. Got As on those. 8APs and got 5 on all AP exams. Good ECs with internship and summer college academy. Very well prepared PIQs. Tutoring at Kumon since 10 grade. Got accepted at UCI and UCSD for BioMed engineering. But he wants to go to UCLA for neuroscience. Was choice of major the reason for waitlisted? Or because the top 4 in his class got in so he got cut off?
He got accepted to UCD for neurobiology so if he canât get off UCLA waitlist heâll attend UCD but he worked so hard hoping to get admitted to UCLA.
Heâs taking 4AP courses and 1 college honor class in his senior year. Getting As on all of them so far. Just completed an 8 weeks CC class and got A as well. I wonder if that would help with the WL situation.
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Neuroscience is in the College of Letters and Sciences at UCLA which does not admit by major. The issue is supply and demand, too many qualified applicants and not enough room for all.
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My daughter is eager to get off the waitlist. She took a sociology course at an excellent community college over winter break, but got a B. Should she mention the course in her waitlist statement, or will the B grade look bad? (She has a very high GPA and only got one other B during high school).
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She will have to disclose that grade and send the transcript to any college she enrolls in. CC classes are considered for HS course rigor and 1 B will not make a difference between getting off the waitlist or not.
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Thank you! My understanding is that she doesnât have to disclose the grade or send the transcript unless she wants to receive credit for it. Good to know that the B doesnât look bad, because she wants to mention it.