<p>I'm just curious...and wondering if anyone knows what happens to the spaces at UC's and Cal State schools for the kids who just never show up or don't pay the admissions fees.</p>
<p>We were just at a restaurant and the kid in front of us said that "my parents decided at the last minute they can't afford to send me to UCI." I wanted SO bad to ask him what happens to his space - I just figured he wouldn't know.</p>
<p>This must happen quite often - kids who hope to find the money somehow, but don't end up going. After all, they are teenagers!</p>
<p>What was the absolute cut off dates for UC's? I know they don't start until Sept. 20th...so I assume the deadline has not passed.</p>
<p>Some of the kids who apply for fall admission are accepted, but they are accepted for the Spring semester. They sit out Fall semester and then take the spot of someone who dropped out or a no show.</p>
<p>You see several kids here on CC every year getting these Spring admits. Some of them are grateful for the chance to attend their dream school, but others are insulted that they didn't get in for Fall semester, a sort of left handed acceptance, and choose to go elsewhere.</p>
<p>I'm not sure that all UCs do this, but I know that Berkeley and San Diego do.</p>
<p>I think they build the no show into their numbers. But the above poster is correct, last year there were a bunch of spring admits and kids redirected to CCs that were accepted at about this time.</p>
<p>Most colleges have target numbers they would like to enroll each year often broken down according to particular college (A&S, engineering, etc.) and major. They then project, based on historical figures, number they believe they need to admit to meet that goal and that number is based on the expectation that many admitted will not accept and that a number that accept will not enroll. In other words, if their statistical model bears fruit, they will actually end up close to where they wanted to be partly because some who accept don't enroll, which they anticipated would happen in the first place. Of course, it does not always work out that target enrollments are met -- particularly at many public universities in the last couple of years which have tended to end up having more enroll than they originally planned for, i.e., that space at a UC left by someone who does not enroll is not really an empty space but just one less person not trying to occupy the already overcrowded space.</p>
<p>Note that those spring admits are actually based on a somewhat different model which uses historical figures of students who drop out after the first semester.</p>