How the hell does anyone in California get into college?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The UC's admit by high school. So a low performing high school in the ghetto will get as many acceptances as a high performing one.

The trick is to be in one of these school.

University High in Irvine is treated the same as Dominguez High in Compton. University High has 30 plus SAT NMSF, 100 Commended scholars. Dominguez High has zero.

Dominguez High sends the same amount of students to Berkeley and UCLA as does University High.

Honey, you shouldn't say things that are easily proven wrong. Dominguez High had 14 admitted to Berkeley and UCLA. University High had 55.

https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/about-us/information-center/admissions-source-school

LOL

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They have the highest state population with over 50 public university options. Figure it out. Not everyone goes to college. I have little respect for an UMC kid whining about going to UC Davis instead of Stanford or Berkeley.

Yup. I’d also like to see some hard data on all these kids with “amazing” stats that did not get into a single UC.

[Anonymous]

UC Merced is easier than some others.

[Anonymous]

Community college is free in California. Many, many intelligent kids opt there first because it makes sense and has guaranteed transfer programs.

But really, I don't know anyone who's been shut out of all UCs and CSUs they applied to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everyone talks about how competitive the DMV area is, but it's even worse in California. In the Bay Area, every large high school is just as competitive as Langley or McLean in NOVA. Everyone is taking 15+ AP classes and getting 5s on the scores. Teachers refuse to give out As. Sports teams are impossible to join. Extracurriculars are impossible to stand out. Everyone is doing research, starting non-profits, winning chess tournaments, and doing other niche extracurriculars. And it sucks too because high schools in LA, Orange County, and San Diego are also brutally competitive and cutthroat. It's why someone with straight As in California can get denied from UC Riverside.

UC Riverside accepts 75% of in-state applicants.

Of course, yes someone is part of the 25%...seems hard to believe it is a straight A student taking tons of APs.

At my high school, I was not even in the top 40% despite having straight As in 12 APs

That is grade inflation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Zero meritocracy in CA. As some one pointed earlier CC to UC is the popular option, unfortunately.

Kids admitted to USC and rejected from UC Davis.

Not true, they just do not define merit as you do.

[Anonymous]

Hard data on UC admissions. I looked up this University High in Irvine and the admitted GPA for all of the UCs since 2021 for all of the UCs is a 3.98. Then take a school like UC Santa Cruz and you’ll see for 2024 about half of the kids got in and for UC Davis a quarter of them. The applicant GPA at UC Santa Cruz in 2024 was an average 3.89 and admit 4.06; for UC Davis 3.95 and admit 4.18.

https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/about-us/information-center/admissions-source-school


Looks rough to get in to me.

[Anonymous]

https://nypost.com/2025/03/03/us-news/stanley-zhong-had-a-4-4-gpa-but-got-rejected-by-16-colleges-now-hes-suing/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The UC's admit by high school. So a low performing high school in the ghetto will get as many acceptances as a high performing one.

The trick is to be in one of these school.

University High in Irvine is treated the same as Dominguez High in Compton. University High has 30 plus SAT NMSF, 100 Commended scholars. Dominguez High has zero.

Dominguez High sends the same amount of students to Berkeley and UCLA as does University High.

Honey, you shouldn't say things that are easily proven wrong. Dominguez High had 14 admitted to Berkeley and UCLA. University High had 55.

https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/about-us/information-center/admissions-source-school

Dominguez High has 1,600 students Dominguez High has 0 NMSF finalists and 0 Commended.
University High has 2,363 student. University High has 33 NMSF finalists, 102 Commended

Keep dreaming if you think their applications are being treated equally.

Dominguez High
Berkeley
21 Applied
6 Accepted
28% acceptance rate
UCLA
72 Applied
7 Accepted
7 Enrolled


University High
Berkeley
266 Applied
31 Accepted
14 Enrolled
11% acceptance rate

294 Applied
24 Accepted
12 Enrolled

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Everyone talks about how competitive the DMV area is, but it's even worse in California. In the Bay Area, every large high school is just as competitive as Langley or McLean in NOVA. Everyone is taking 15+ AP classes and getting 5s on the scores. Teachers refuse to give out As. Sports teams are impossible to join. Extracurriculars are impossible to stand out. Everyone is doing research, starting non-profits, winning chess tournaments, and doing other niche extracurriculars. And it sucks too because high schools in LA, Orange County, and San Diego are also brutally competitive and cutthroat. It's why someone with straight As in California can get denied from UC Riverside.

The rest of the schools in California are really, really low quality. Like absurdly low quality for a state this wealthy. Their teacher unions are a huge part of it, along with their focus on nonsense.

I taught in southern California at several schools in a "good" school district and had kids in northern California in another "good" district. The school quality was so bad compared to even the low and middling schools in northern Virginia.

[Anonymous]

California treats its citizens with dignity and respect. There are mandatory minimums for in state that's how it works. I wish I could say the same for Virginia but it's not the case unfortunately.

[Anonymous]

Florida's test scores outperform California's. Let that sink in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Florida's test scores outperform California's. Let that sink in.

I think Mississippi outperforms California as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Florida's test scores outperform California's. Let that sink in.

I think Mississippi outperforms California as well.

um, what? Are you being sarcastic? What test scores are you both referring to?

NMSF Cutoff for 2025

California - 221
Florida - 217
Mississippi - 212

MD/VA - 222

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They have the highest state population with over 50 public university options. Figure it out. Not everyone goes to college. I have little respect for an UMC kid whining about going to UC Davis instead of Stanford or Berkeley.

Yup. I’d also like to see some hard data on all these kids with “amazing” stats that did not get into a single UC.

DS rejected from UCLA, UCI, UCSB, UCSD, and UCR with 4.6 GPA, 9 APs, club leadership, and hundreds of hours of volunteer service. Engineering major. Going to CSULB.