UCs Reduce Freshman Enrollment--Help me understand

Parents Forum
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<p>Agree with mikemac that this is already happening. It used to be that just Berkeley did holistic reviews. I think that most, if not all, UCs now do the holistic review.</p>

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I think the real motivation is more insidious.

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<p>I don't agree that the UC is being 'insidious'; indeed, just the opposite. The Chairperson of BOARS (the UC committee pushing the changes) is quite clear on their intent of expanding the eligible applicant pool. :D</p>

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<p>mikemac,
Thanks for posting that. As I said, mine are already doing the private school route but I highly recommend the SBCC then UC route. Particularly in these economic times where kids should NOT borrow money to get an undergraduate degree.</p>

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<p>A couple of other great alternative routes is Santa Monica College (a great feeder to UCLA) and Diablo Valley College (great feeder to Cal).</p>

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<p>Actually, UCB is supposed to enroll 80 more students.</p>

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<p>There are no officially-designated "feeders" to UCLA or Cal (or any other UCs.) You gain no advantage from going to DVC rather than Merritt CC or Miramar CC.</p>

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<p>I'd just throw out the Visual and Performing Arts requirement, if I were the regents.</p>

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<p>They do not have any offical designation, but they are schools with strong reputations and a proven track record of tranferring lots of their kids into good UCs.</p>

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<p>^^Absolutely true, particularly if the juco has an honors program. Of course, part of it is geographic preference, but some jucos do much better at transfer placement than others, even in the same geographic locale. Ignore that fact at your peril.</p>

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<p>I teach at a community college in Southern California, and we are facing huge cuts in our spring semester course offerings- about 250 classes have been cancelled. Even your local community college is no longer a safety. Oh yes, we'll take your application, but just try to get classes! It's gotten to the point here in California where I may not even get a paycheck starting in March. So even though I spent the last 17 years talking up UCs to my daughter (my father and I are both UCLA grads) I advised her back in the fall to take this chance to get out of California before the whole state sinks back into the Pacific Ocean. Even if she gets into her top choice UC, it will probably take her five years to graduate, so an OOS school may be cheaper despite the extra fees. I saw this coming, but every day t gets worse than I imagined. I think the University of Hawaii takes applications until May, and they are part of the western Undergraduate exchange. Aloha!</p>

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Even if she gets into her top choice UC, it will probably take her five years to graduate

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Actually odds are she'll be out in 4, for better or worse. I don't know which campus is her top choice, but if it is UCLA (since you and your dad are UCLA grads according to your post) then they've really tightened down on minimum progress since the day. The old rules were 36 units/year, so 12 units a quarter and you were good. Now they've set the bar higher, and you have to have 180 in 4 years. There are 6 required checks along the way, too. See Expected</a> Progress It's part of how they're getting the echo-boom kids thru; get them out on time instead of letting them take 5+ years. It's really worked, too; UCLA reports that after the plan was put in place in 2001, by 2005 70% had finished in 4 years compared to only 44% a decade earlier. See <a href="http://www.aim.ucla.edu/Publications/update05-1gradrates.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.aim.ucla.edu/Publications/update05-1gradrates.pdf&lt;/a> Of course this doesn't mean she'll get the classes she wants those 4 years, but for your budgeting 4 years is a reasonable assumption.</p>

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<p>^^and of course, the UCs are extremely generous with AP/IB credit so it's not uncommon to matriculate as a Frosh with 10+ course credits already completed.</p>

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if she gets into her top choice UC, it will probably take her five years to graduate

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Neither my just graduated UCSD kid or my 3rd year UCLA kid have seen graduating in a normal timeframe as a general issue. Some students will take longer of course, but it seems to be more because they've changed their major a few times or they're taking a rigorous major like engineering plus certain minors that pushes them out due to the sheer number of courses required. If anything, it seems that some students stay longer than they could by taking a more minimal load and having more free time. This doesn't mean all courses are always available of course but neither had any issue getting into classes in their major but they would sometimes need to choose GE class A over GE class B because of one being full in the quarter and timeslot they wanted it. They're both engineering so it's possible that experience is different than some other majors.</p>

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<p>I know kids right now can graduate in a 4-year scenario. I was exaggerating to make a point. My point is things have changed in the last few months. I work in the California higher education system, and I wouldn't take anything for granted right now. At my college the administration is going through the budget with a machete, not a scalpel. Many of our adjunct professors have lost their teaching assignments. I work as an evening administrator, and my student assistant (who earned $8 an hour) was laid off before the winter break, so now I am alone in the office at night (a little scary since anyone can walk in off the street). All conference travel has been cancelled. I can't imagine the situation is any better at the CSUs and UCs. I think it is going to be a very lean and mean few years until the economy recovers- no new hires, cut classes, bigger classes, fewer grants, etc. I just wonder if other states are as bad off?</p>