I already commented on the results thread for this year about this, but I’m curious as to why I didn’t get in for Engineering. I applied for Computer Engineering, but I only got accepted to my alternate major (Mathematical Sciences). I was really surprised, because I thought UCSB Engineering was a match for me. However, I got accepted to UC Irvine for Computer Engineering last week. If all UCs look at the same criteria (as shown on their website), why didn’t I get into engineering here? Also, isn’t UCI more selective than UCSB (based on the rankings of admissions criteria on the Common Data Set)?
My stats (brief summary):
4.0 UC GPA
33 ACT
Most rigorous curriculum given what my school offered
Will have taken 6 APs, 4 Honors, and 2 CC courses by the time I graduate
740 Math II, 720 Math II, 730 US History
Strong Essays, and good ECs
California Resident
Asian Indian Male
Did UCSB get ultra-competitive this year, or did I just get unlucky?
UCSB engineering is much better than that of UCI’s, so it is not a surprise to get in UCI and not into UCSB. But your stats is pretty on par with the people that usually gets into UCSB’s engineering program, so I would say you are a little unlucky.
You looked at the wrong parts of the common data set. If you look at the 25/75 percentile test scores you’ll see that UCSB had stats more in line with UCSD, while Irvine’s are below Davis and closer to UCSC (at least for CR and W). Irvine looks a bit more competitive because they get slightly more applications.
Although the UCs use the same 14 criteria for admissions, they do give different weights to each of them. That’s one reason why so many decisions seem to be random. UCSB seems unique in that they say GPA and test scores are one half of your score, and the other criteria make up the other half. It seems the other schools place more emphasis on stats, with a larger percentage given to GPA.
High stat OOS son rejected for ME. 34ACT, 2100 SAT, 9APs including calc bc, and 9 units college stem (chem 1 and precalc). 700 math 2 a little low, 750 chem, 750 Bio 3.95 unweighted GPA. Great EC/Volunteer etc. just unlucky I think and applied to toughest major with ac rate of like maybe 5% (I read last year in another thread they got more that 1000 apps for mech E with fewer than 50 spots to fill) so there’s that!
