Waitlisted/Rejected everywhere: unlucky or stupid?

Applying to College Admission Stories
1

I thought I worked hard in school. After finishing in the top 10% of my class with a 4.5 W GPA and 3.8 UW GPA, a 33.25 on ACT, 760 and 720 on Math II and Chem I SAT tests, respectively, I thought my academics would get me at least to an in-state university for engineering. I feel as if taking 9 AP’s while scoring 4’s and 5’s and receiving mostly A’s in them would help. I thought that specializing in STEM classes (and doing well in them) would look appealing. On top of academics, I felt like participating in a varsity team for two sports for all four years of high school and winning regionals and state for one of them would create an all-around student-athlete. Yeah, my extracurriculars weren’t insanely special, but I thought I was doing enough, considering that I had sports often, more than three hours a day weekly (excluding Sunday). On top of that, I really put my heart into my essays, and chose teachers that I knew I had a special connection with.

I feel like something went wrong. My UC GPA is 4.10 and my CSU GPA is 4.08. Out of the seven schools I applied to (for engineering-undecided or CompSci), this is what happened:
UCSB - Rejected
UCB - Rejected
UCI - Waitlisted
UCSD - Waitlisted
UCD - Waitlisted
U-Mich - Rejected
Cal. Poly. SLO - Waitlisted

I don’t understand. I really thought my stats were easily at the admissible level for at least UCSB, UCI, or SLO, but of course I just missed it. I know that these schools are somewhat selective, but they are the most financially reasonable choices for me, and they have a somewhat serious study body. If I were an OOS student, then, sure, these schools may’ve been a reach. But seriously? How hard does one have to work just to attend a college of engineering in his own state? I feel insanely unlucky, as my friends, who have very similar stats as me, have been accepted to a majority of these schools and aren’t even attending any of them.

I am applying to some easier, open schools right now, but I don’t see myself at any of them. What should I do? Go to a junior college and “restart” school? Appeal to every school I’ve been rejected from? Write letters to the heads of each school I was waitlisted from? I know that I am eligible to receive admission from UC-Merced (as are all top 12% of CA students), but I doubt I’d want to go there. I am really upset and I feel like my effort in high school has amounted to nothing.

2

Hi, first of all, I am impressed by your stats! I am just a “Mom” here and will admit I am baffled by many acceptances, denials, and waitlist decisions I have read on this board or have seen IRL the last couple of years. I would highly suggest you talk to your high school college counselor ASAP for help and guidance.

FYI, my son applied to many of the same schools you listed as an engineer major too. He will hopefully by next weekend have some clarity of where he should attend and will contact schools accordingly to release spaces. He was also denied at UCB too and waitlisted weirdly at UCI (he opted off the wait list for UCI).

All the best wishes in your endeavors and in finding a great school for your intended studies!

3

I’m sorry, OP. It’s really tough out there with those stats - my son is similarly situated and we’re not feeling so great right now either. Are you willing to go out of state? There are engineering schools all over the country that would love to have you. I’m sure you could get some great merit aid if you take a gap year and re-apply in the Fall.

4

i’m an east-coast person so when I see UCSB, UCB, UCI, UCSD, UCD in one post, my eyes glaze over and I wonder how people in CA keep these straight…so just telling you to accept my comments with a grain of salt…but i think these colleges are NUTS for not taking an applicant of your caliber.

I’ve noted this in the past and I truly believe it…luck comes into play with decisions more than people realize…sometimes a student can do literally everything right and still not have things work out. I see it here at CC over and over again.

So, options:

  1. Absolutely write an appeal letter to every waitlist. Don’t send it to the dean but instead to the address noted on the Waitlist FAQ pages. Make sure this is a great and thoughtful note which details why X remains your first choice.
  2. What’s the transfer scene like at these schools? Could you knock out a few of the tougher courses at a local cc and then transfer sophomore year?
  3. Would a gap year – when you work and save money - be doable for you?
  4. And, finally, when all of the dust has settled, I"d choose one college that outright rejected you and write them a calm and collected note that asks if they could share any details whatsoever on what made you a less desirable candidate for them. Sometimes a guidance counselor will agree to do this for you.

Good luck!

5

So sorry. Do you have a guidance counselor who can help call your top choice among the schools at which you have been waitlisted and advocate for you? It may help if (s)he can say you definitely will attend if admitted.

6

Last year’s UC admission stats by UC-weighted-capped GPA, not major-specific (CS and engineering majors are generally more selective):

http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-general/2127392-faq-uc-historical-frosh-admit-rates-by-hs-gpa-2018.html


Campus  4.20-   3.80-   3.40-   3.00-
        higher  4.19    3.79    3.39
UCB     37%     10%      1%      1%
UCLA    41%      9%      2%      1%
UCSD    70%     34%      7%      1%
UCI     75%     38%      7%      1%
UCSB    80%     41%      8%      1%
UCD     89%     52%     14%      3% 
UCSC    92%     70%     33%     12%
UCR     96%     84%     49%     15%
UCM     98%     95%     82%     45%

Based on last year’s admission rates and your GPA, your UC list included only high matches to reaches (and since CS and engineering are generally more selective, the high match UCD probably was a reach for CS or engineering). Unfortunately, it looks like you did not apply to any match to likely campuses (UCSC, UCR, UCM). Were you ELC? If so, you could get an offer from UCM.

Anyway, you do have another option, which is to start at a community college. Use http://www.assist.org to help you plan course work for junior transfer to UCs and CSUs, and check https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/infocenter/transfers-major to make sure that your transfer application list is realistic.

7

I am so sorry that you had to go through this. Your STATS were strong enough, but to be honest, I feel like you needed to span your horizon of schools. A proper application strategy would get you into many more schools.

8

Iowa State University. Outstanding engineering. Rolling admissions.

PM me if you need further suggestions. You are an outstanding student !

9

The problem is the sheer volume of applications. These top UC schools get anywhere from 85k-110k applications with the majority coming from highly qualified students. There are only about 6,000 slots open at each school. It’s insane.

10

CS/engineering are more selective than lot majors, so that both SLO and Davis were high matches with a 1 in 3 likelihood of admission.
So, now, you have several choices, because your stats are very good:

  • apply quickly to OOS universities that are still taking applications (rolling admissions). I think Iowa State or Montana State still are, but I don’t know whether there’s still space in Engineering/CS.
  • in early May, there’ll be a list of colleges that miscalculated yield. There are always good universities on that list. You could apply there.
  • you’re lucky to be living in California: the CC system is very good.
  • if you’re ELC you can go to UCMerced
  • you can take a gap year, work or study abroad.

Some of these possibilities would be more expensive than others, so you should take into account your parents’ budget.

11

this year there have been over 100K applications for 4 UCs - there are a lot of people who have been waitlisted. Accept the spot on the waitlist - the waitlist acceptance rates can be as high as 50% for UC Davis

12

What was your SAT score?

13

@“suhel d”: UCD’s waitlist acceptance rate, a few years back was fairly high but not recently. The last 2 years, the acceptances have been pretty dismal. Although last year’s is not a good prediction for this year, it still will not be an easy admit but definitely accept all waitlists since you never know your chances.
UCD:
2018 Waitlist stats:

of applicants offered Waitlist: 9213

of applicants accepting Waitlist: 3207

of applicants admitted off Waitlist: 24

UCB Waitlist Data:
2018 No data available
2017
Number of applicants qualified for the waitlist: 7159
Number accepting a place on the waitlist: 3,725
Number of wait-listed students admitted: 2,045
2016
Number of applicants qualified for the waitlist: 7977
Number accepting a place on the waitlist: 3971
Number of waitl-listed students admitted: 2136

UCI Waitlist Data:
2018

of qualified applicants placed on the waitlist: 12422

of applicants accepting the waitlist: 6428

of applicants admitted off the waitlist: 136

2017

of qualified applicants placed on the waitlist: 9235

of applicants accepting the waitlist: 5291

of applicants admitted off the waitlist: 526

UCSB Waitlist Data:
2018
Number of qualified applicants offered a place on waiting list: 7856
Number accepting a place on the waiting list: 4883
Number of wait-listed students admitted: 14
2017
Number of qualified applicants offered a place on waiting list: 6650
Number accepting a place on the waiting list: 4000
Number of wait-listed students admitted: 960

14

Wow I stand corrected…
That means UC Davis waitlist acceptance is under 1%
UCSB is below 0.05%

So the chances are pretty slim…

15

When you go to a popular mall, it’s often tough to find a parking spot near an entrance. So you learn to search the areas of the parking lot where fewer people want to park, or you find a less-popular mall. Many students in California and the Northeast don’t seem understand that the better colleges in their areas are hard to get into. So, every year there is shock when the rejections arrive. Some of us posters from flyover country get hoarse from trying to convince our coastal brethren that there are fine, beautiful, fun, exciting, affordable colleges in the mountains, on the plains, & down south.

16

I guess for CA schools the issues were the unweighted GPA and major. Looks like top 100 level, maybe top 50 level. If you are Asian, that might effect things, but supposedly not with UCs and CSUs. You may be applying to CA state schools because of cost.

I guess go to CC or take a gap year and then apply to lower ranked CA state schools and some top 50 / top 100 schools that may have different admissions criteria.You might also look into schools with late application deadlines.

I understand that you were surprised to get rejected from what you regarded as safeties.

17

@uclaismydream What did you end up doing?

18

@Gregmacd The OP has not been on CC since May 2019

19

Closing thread for the above reason.