If you scroll up thread, the issue of CA vs. OOS students at the UCs has been discussed ad nauseum, and I think @ucla_cs_god had one of the best takes I have read.
Their points align with what my own son’s experience thus far has been at UCLA. It would not be the same school without those outside experiences. He loves having the diversity of perspectives from those who live in other states and countries, and the reality is that the UCs will no longer be top targets if they become more parochial. I personally think it’s reasonable to have an 18% cap, and it seems clear from this year’s admissions as well as last year’s that they are holding down the % of admits from OOS.
I don’t agree with the notion that “UC’s are not meeting the expectations of providing education to California students.”
*from full-pay families who can afford it. As opposed to lower-income students from CA that would provide more socioeconomic diversity.
The UC system loves the cold, hard cash of those who live in other states and countries. (Again: not blaming them—it’s been a rational response to declining funding from the State).
“Provisional language”. That is from the Governor’s proposed budget from February 2023. We’ll see what actually passes the Leg in June.
Some commitments made a few months ago have already slipped. From 4 days ago:
To save costs in other areas, Newsom did propose shifting state funding for several projects, including student housing, to UC- and CSU-issued bonds. The state would cover the debt payment for those bonds.
Funding for the state’s 116 community colleges would also be less than Newsom had initially proposed five months ago…
…Under a $2.2 billion student housing grant program originally unveiled in 2021, Newsom previously planned to give UC and CSU dollars from the state’s general fund to construct affordable housing. But he now wants the two systems to borrow a combined $1.1 billion to do so.
How is UT Austin able to maintain diversity of perspectives and is a top tier school (in same tier as Cal and UCLA) while limiting OOS/international students to only 10%?
This is a really good and important point. But I feel like the 80%+ of CA kids are admitted specifically with an eye towards opportunity/social mobility. So they are getting that down pretty well already.
I’m not a big fan of US News rankings, but just as a datapoint, UT Austin is currently tied with UC Davis (and UW Madison) at #38 in the National universities ranking. UCSD, UCI, UCSB, UCLA and Cal are all higher ranked.
You seem to be upset about certain kids not getting admitted to Cal and UCLA, but I would guess that most of the kids that you are thinking about (“with stellar HS resumes and 4.0 GPAs”) are getting admitted to at least one of the UCs ranked equal or higher than UT Austin.
This is not to say anything negative about UT Austin, by a longshot. It is a fine school, but I think your posts suggest that you are underestimating the depth of quality in the UC system. Top-tier education doesn’t stop at Cal and UCLA.
One thing that schools like UT Austin and UW Madison have over those UC campuses not named UC Berkeley and UCLA is big-time college sports (and all that goes along with that). Davis / Irvine / San Diego / Santa Barbara all have world-class research and academics, but for really strong students who also want that big football / school spirit / social weekend scene, there’s really nothing that unites those UC campuses like a big-time football game does in Austin or Madison or Ann Arbor, etc. In addition, college sports brings alumni back to campus and creates brand awareness and other networking opportunities. When I see Texas’s distinctive burnt orange color, I instantly know that T-shirt is going to say “Texas” or have a Longhorn logo on it. Same with Michigan’s maize and block ‘M’.
I have often wondered if the UC system prohibits the rest of its campuses from having a major college athletics department headlined by football.
Not the same, but UC Davis does have a Div 1 football team (Big West Conference)
UCSB students love their soccer team. According to Wikipedia,
Each season from 2007 to 2015, the Gauchos were recognized by the NCAA as the men’s attendance champions by average attendance (men’s and women’s inclusive across Division I, II, and III) – the longest such recorded streak in the NCAA record books.The program holds the top six all-time NCAA soccer records for largest regular season attendances at on-campus venues (men’s and women’s inclusive across Division I, II, and III). This is highlighted by the top all-time mark of 15,896 fans packed into Harder Stadium on September 24, 2010, when UC Santa Barbara hosted UCLA for their regular season match, despite the Santa Barbara County Fire Marshal turning fans away at the gates for fear of filling the stadium over capacity.
And UCSB has been to the NCAA March Madness tournament a couple of times these past few years. UCSD is also now Division 1. But yeah, if you want to get a big rah rah college sports experience, you are hoping to go to UCLA, maybe Cal. That said, I bet there aren’t a whole lot of people who are mainly upset they didn’t get into those two schools because of wanting to cheer for their teams.
And again, to agree with @tamagotchi, there are fantastic UCs beyond the two that everyone seems to care about. And students are getting into them!
That is an interesting point… not being a sports fan, I did not think about that
(as it happens, we live in Berkeley and have had both Cal grads and profs in the family, but I have never been to a game… )
I would guess that Division 1 sports wouldn’t be a critical factor in a school being considered “top-tier” for @Michelle_Li3 in particular, considering that they are also active on the CMU and Georgetown waitlist threads. But you never know.
You’re absolutely right that for many kids and families, the presence of division 1 sports wouldn’t factor at all into a college decision. For my kid, the interest in the social life that revolves around college sports was there, and that influenced the decision to only apply to UCLA and UC Berkeley. I don’t want to say any more about UC Berkeley athletics, however, as I’m still chuckling over @mtmind’s stellar observation above!
)
go Bears!!! 