B/c if there was a choice between UCSD and UCSB, he would pick UCSB over UCSD. Looking back he probably should have checked the UCSD box, but he probably would have gotten a rejection anyway, so no real consequences there.
His real goal is UCLA and UCB. UCD was a “safety” and my sister went there (no offense to anyone). He checked UCD box to please his aunt lol.
Well, wait and see about UCB. Time will tell. . .and UC Davis is no longer a “safety” as it has less than a 50% acceptance rate (for CA students anyway). Less than 50% means the odds are the majority of applicants (and almost all of them are high stats!) will be rejected or waitlisted. I prefer the term “likely” instead of “safety” anyway, even for schools with >80% acceptance rate. No one is “safe” 
Agreed, i was hoping the quotation in the word safety would be enough. No one is safe for sure.
UCB is impossible, we are focusing on the current schools to visit. He had only been to Stevens.
Only 1 month away from decision and we really have no time in April.
Funny about the ranking - we are so not care about ranking. As i said before we hoped he picks Stevens. It has amazing CS program, phenomenal internship and coops programs. The opportunity is abundant. Yet…we don’t see it much in any ranking, and we don’t care. I talked to a co-worker who lives in Florida and she said “what is that? i have never heard of Stevens”. I guess most in the west coast haven’t heard of it either?
Agree that UCD is not a Safety/Likely with a 37.5% admit rate last year. Safeties/Likelies need to be more in the 70% range for the students specific major not just overall campus.
Probably significantly lower this year.
Similar results - son is OOS, applying in CS. Got in at UCI, waitlisted at UCSD and UCLA. Last year CS @ UCI had a 5.38% acceptance - so we feel lucky he got a spot in CS. He is also considering some private schools (Santa Clara and UofSD).
The other term I think is not used well is “target” school - since our son only got one of his! Also - we didn’t realize until decisions starting rolling out, that most chancing calculators don’t take the CS major into account - which changes things dramatically.
In the end - I think good students will make the most of where they end up and we are thankful that the process seems to be harder for us as parents, than for our kiddo. We see it as the culmination of child raising…where as he sees it as step one on a big adventure!
@Leafmom is UCI one of his top choices at the moment?
yes I think so. He opted into waitlists at UCSD and UCLA but understands that it’s a lotto! He likes Santa Clara too due to location in Silicon Valley, smaller school. Will go to all the admit days and see if that clarifies things.
Same with UCR too. Overall campus might have a higher acceptance rate but CS is much lower.
CS is heavily impacted at just about every UC. IIRC, the CS acceptance rate at UCLA is ~3.8%… and ~all applicants are high stats. So, when you think ‘rejection from UCLA CS’ (and some engineering), think ‘rejection from MIT’, as your odds of getting in are about the same (next to none). Pretty much ignore the overall acceptance rates at UCs as well… major matters a lot, and most UCs do not publish acceptance rates by major. Congrats on the UCD acceptance, that is a nice option to have (as are the others). UC applications can be demoralizing, but it really is just a case of too many applications w/ test-blind admissions and strong support for 1st gen. Literally every student with great grades believes they have a good shot at attending a UC regardless of income, high school attended , etc. That is how it should be for public schools, but that means an absurd amount of applicants (~150k freshman applicants to UCLA, IIRC). Best of luck!
My child was accepted to UCD and waitlisted to UCSB and UCLA.
4.9W
13 AP’s of the most rigorous AP’s offered at school
33 ACT (not used)
extensive EC and received national award for it.
Varsity sport 4 years
Gets waitlisted at UCSB. Another student at the same school that did not accomplish anywhere close to those those stats ( regular math, regular chem) got in piece of cake to UCSB. The system no longer focuses on Meritocracy.
The amount of sub par candidates that the UC allow in is reason enough to send your child to another school that will honor and respect the work they put in.
Leopard1, I hear u. Congrats on your son getting to UCD.
It’s disheartening when someone with lower academic achievement gets into the UC that your kid worked so hard for and still didn’t happen.
i wouldn’t be surprised if next year the schools will use ChatGPT to evaluate applications. And potentially eliminate the essays.
You did not read this student’s application, I assume. So how do you know what they wrote about in their PIQs? How can you possibly know everything that they do, if it is not your own kid?
Seriously, can we stop sh+++ting on other people’s kids? I get the disappointment, but there is no need to call another kid “subpar.”
I fully support venting when your kid didn’t get the answer they had hoped for, and which you feel they deserve, but there is no reason to make assumptions or disparaging remarks about those who did get accepted. They almost certainly worked their butts off, too.
The major chosen is an extremely important bit of information. If it’s engineering or CS, then you have your answer. So many people rejected with these stats for these highly competitive majors.
@worriedmomucb , I’m getting confused.
I thought that UC takes the highest Wgpa/uwgpa? And then Moves down to lower Gpa’s is this not the case ?
The Ec,volunteering, work, awards, etc adds some weight to students who don’t have the highest gpa’s. Maybe I’m wrong.
Essays-I could think a million thinks about this. If we assume the students provided what UC wanted then who is selected and who is not?
My kid didn’t apply for CS.
Not as far as I am aware. @Gumbymom is the expert, but I do not think this is the case. There are 13 criteria, as I recall, and each campus weights those criteria differently. But it is almost never just GPA-based - that is more typical of CSUs than UCs. But again I will defer to @Gumbymom’s knowledge on the matter.