UC college admits from the Big3

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:if your kid or any you know were admitted to Cal, UCLA, etc from a Big3, what do you think put them over the edge?
I know these are hard admits under the private school paradigm of few APs, etc,

I don’t know any students at my children’s school (Sidwell) who talk about attending a UC. I’m sure there are some, it just hasn’t reached my ears. Generally speaking, I don’t think state schools are popular among Sidwell kids.

My son applied from Sidwell a couple of cycles ago. Denied. The problem is that a Sidwell GPA will never cut it in a sea of 4.8888888s, and GPA is literally the only thing UCs screen for now. That, and I think poverty.

Michigan, Virginia and Wisconsin "get" the Sidwell situation. UCs and Texas do not. So, Ann Arbor is a more reliable admit than UC Santa Barbara, oddly.

UCs are not highly sought after by Sidwell students. That said, there are 5 c/o ‘24 students going to UCs (1 each to Cal, UCSD, and UCSC). The two students who are going to UCLA are recruited athletes.

Sidwell seems to send a handful of students (including non recruited athletes) to UCs every year. It’s not an impossible admit.

And yet Sidwell seniors send in close to 30 applications per year with only a few acceptances to Berkeley/UCLA.

There are 125 students per grade at Sidwell. Those 30 applications are most likely coming from the same 5-10 students. Are you actually trying to convince us that UCs are some of the most sought after colleges by Sidwell students? Please stop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:if your kid or any you know were admitted to Cal, UCLA, etc from a Big3, what do you think put them over the edge?
I know these are hard admits under the private school paradigm of few APs, etc,

I don’t know any students at my children’s school (Sidwell) who talk about attending a UC. I’m sure there are some, it just hasn’t reached my ears. Generally speaking, I don’t think state schools are popular among Sidwell kids.

My son applied from Sidwell a couple of cycles ago. Denied. The problem is that a Sidwell GPA will never cut it in a sea of 4.8888888s, and GPA is literally the only thing UCs screen for now. That, and I think poverty.

Michigan, Virginia and Wisconsin "get" the Sidwell situation. UCs and Texas do not. So, Ann Arbor is a more reliable admit than UC Santa Barbara, oddly.

UCs are not highly sought after by Sidwell students. That said, there are 5 c/o ‘24 students going to UCs (1 each to Cal, UCSD, and UCSC). The two students who are going to UCLA are recruited athletes.

Sidwell seems to send a handful of students (including non recruited athletes) to UCs every year. It’s not an impossible admit.

And yet Sidwell seniors send in close to 30 applications per year with only a few acceptances to Berkeley/UCLA.

There are 125 students per grade at Sidwell. Those 30 applications are most likely coming from the same 5-10 students. Are you actually trying to convince us that UCs are some of the most sought after colleges by Sidwell students? Please stop.

Big 3 (SFS,BIM, GDS) students are applying to the UCs. Berkeley and UCLA are sought after admissions. More sought after in the surrounding area but they absolutely apply.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:if your kid or any you know were admitted to Cal, UCLA, etc from a Big3, what do you think put them over the edge?
I know these are hard admits under the private school paradigm of few APs, etc,

I don’t know any students at my children’s school (Sidwell) who talk about attending a UC. I’m sure there are some, it just hasn’t reached my ears. Generally speaking, I don’t think state schools are popular among Sidwell kids.

My son applied from Sidwell a couple of cycles ago. Denied. The problem is that a Sidwell GPA will never cut it in a sea of 4.8888888s, and GPA is literally the only thing UCs screen for now. That, and I think poverty.

Michigan, Virginia and Wisconsin "get" the Sidwell situation. UCs and Texas do not. So, Ann Arbor is a more reliable admit than UC Santa Barbara, oddly.

UCs are not highly sought after by Sidwell students. That said, there are 5 c/o ‘24 students going to UCs (1 each to Cal, UCSD, and UCSC). The two students who are going to UCLA are recruited athletes.

Sidwell seems to send a handful of students (including non recruited athletes) to UCs every year. It’s not an impossible admit.

And yet Sidwell seniors send in close to 30 applications per year with only a few acceptances to Berkeley/UCLA.

There are 125 students per grade at Sidwell. Those 30 applications are most likely coming from the same 5-10 students. Are you actually trying to convince us that UCs are some of the most sought after colleges by Sidwell students? Please stop.

Big 3 (SFS,BIM, GDS) students are applying to the UCs. Berkeley and UCLA are sought after admissions. More sought after in the surrounding area but they absolutely apply.

The BIM BAM troll is baaaaack!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm the OP. My kid wants to attend school in California and has grades that seem to be strong for UC admissions (lots of A minuses but no Bs--so a 4.0 under the UC GPA calculation) so in theory will be a stronger applicant under this grading paradigm than for many private universities.

The way the California schools weight and cap, he'll have
a 4.0. The 25th - 75th percentile for weighted and capped GPA at UCLA is 4.37-4.74. He'll be at a huge disadvantage GPA wise.

I think the GPA will be a 4.3 with the APs added in. 10 core classes between Soph and Junior year, 3 are APs.
That gives a GPA of 4.3.

That puts him in the bottom 25 percent where admission is unlikely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm the OP. My kid wants to attend school in California and has grades that seem to be strong for UC admissions (lots of A minuses but no Bs--so a 4.0 under the UC GPA calculation) so in theory will be a stronger applicant under this grading paradigm than for many private universities.

If your child attends a Big 3, they are also a strong candidate for USC with those grades. Stanford is a reach for most, so they may as well try. Pepperdine and Oxy are good safeties.

yes, my kid is at the Big3. Lots of A minus grades, no Bs of any type. Rising senior, high rigor. Thought that UC schools might be good as they don't calculate minuses, etc.

Big 3 with no B’s—as in Sidwell, STA or NCS? If so, go for it! All they can say is no.

One of these that still has some APs. This kid will end up with 5 APs, and a 4.0 (using the UC grade calculations).

Remember the UCs won’t consider any classes taken as a freshman or a senior. It’s only sophomore and junior year grades and classes that count.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:if your kid or any you know were admitted to Cal, UCLA, etc from a Big3, what do you think put them over the edge?
I know these are hard admits under the private school paradigm of few APs, etc,

I don’t know any students at my children’s school (Sidwell) who talk about attending a UC. I’m sure there are some, it just hasn’t reached my ears. Generally speaking, I don’t think state schools are popular among Sidwell kids.

My son applied from Sidwell a couple of cycles ago. Denied. The problem is that a Sidwell GPA will never cut it in a sea of 4.8888888s, and GPA is literally the only thing UCs screen for now. That, and I think poverty.

Michigan, Virginia and Wisconsin "get" the Sidwell situation. UCs and Texas do not. So, Ann Arbor is a more reliable admit than UC Santa Barbara, oddly.

UCs are not highly sought after by Sidwell students. That said, there are 5 c/o ‘24 students going to UCs (1 each to Cal, UCSD, and UCSC). The two students who are going to UCLA are recruited athletes.

Sidwell seems to send a handful of students (including non recruited athletes) to UCs every year. It’s not an impossible admit.

And yet Sidwell seniors send in close to 30 applications per year with only a few acceptances to Berkeley/UCLA.

Well, I think that’s been explained. They don’t understand the rigor of these schools, and since they are test blind, are looking for kids with extremely high gpas.

It's not that they don't understand. They are public schools whose mission is to educate kids from California, and particularly kids who might not have other resources. The system is intentionally designed to benefit the students who deserve their California tax dollars.

Well, yes, but they also take around 15 to 20 percent oos.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Gds is sending I think 5 or so to UCLA + cal this year so somehow they are getting past the weighted thing

GDS grades more leniently than Sidwell and NCS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm the OP. My kid wants to attend school in California and has grades that seem to be strong for UC admissions (lots of A minuses but no Bs--so a 4.0 under the UC GPA calculation) so in theory will be a stronger applicant under this grading paradigm than for many private universities.

The way the California schools weight and cap, he'll have
a 4.0. The 25th - 75th percentile for weighted and capped GPA at UCLA is 4.37-4.74. He'll be at a huge disadvantage GPA wise.

I think the GPA will be a 4.3 with the APs added in. 10 core classes between Soph and Junior year, 3 are APs.
That gives a GPA of 4.3.

That puts him in the bottom 25 percent where admission is unlikely.

yes, but it's basically as good at it gets (4.0UW, 4.3 weighted) from a Big3 and each year a few get in from those schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Gds is sending I think 5 or so to UCLA + cal this year so somehow they are getting past the weighted thing

GDS grades more leniently than Sidwell and NCS.

Grading leniency doesn't matter since I imagine we can assume that they all have 4.0s when UC calculates their GPAs (in that they have all "A" grades sophomore and Junior year)---
That aside, GDS doesn't have ANY APs. So these kids have a MAX GPA of 4.0 unweighted/weighted which according to the previous poster would put them miles below a typical public applicant with a weighted >4.5.
And yet they're getting in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Gds is sending I think 5 or so to UCLA + cal this year so somehow they are getting past the weighted thing

GDS grades more leniently than Sidwell and NCS.

Grading leniency doesn't matter since I imagine we can assume that they all have 4.0s when UC calculates their GPAs (in that they have all "A" grades sophomore and Junior year)---
That aside, GDS doesn't have ANY APs. So these kids have a MAX GPA of 4.0 unweighted/weighted which according to the previous poster would put them miles below a typical public applicant with a weighted >4.5.
And yet they're getting in.

Did you just make my point? Grading leniency _does_ matter if we are talking about the top DC privates. Almost no one, literally, comes out of Sidwell with a 4.0uw. In contrast, you just said "we can assume" that a GDS student will "have all "A" grades sophomore and junior year."

You would never assume that a Sidwell student, or NCS student, will have all As for two years straight. Essentially no one does at these schools. Unlike GDS, according to you

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Gds is sending I think 5 or so to UCLA + cal this year so somehow they are getting past the weighted thing

GDS grades more leniently than Sidwell and NCS.

Grading leniency doesn't matter since I imagine we can assume that they all have 4.0s when UC calculates their GPAs (in that they have all "A" grades sophomore and Junior year)---
That aside, GDS doesn't have ANY APs. So these kids have a MAX GPA of 4.0 unweighted/weighted which according to the previous poster would put them miles below a typical public applicant with a weighted >4.5.
And yet they're getting in.

Did you just make my point? Grading leniency _does_ matter if we are talking about the top DC privates. Almost no one, literally, comes out of Sidwell with a 4.0uw. In contrast, you just said "we can assume" that a GDS student will "have all "A" grades sophomore and junior year."

You would never assume that a Sidwell student, or NCS student, will have all As for two years straight. Essentially no one does at these schools. Unlike GDS, according to you

You are missing my point.
UC schools view all forms of an A as an A. So all the kids with a mix of A and A minus grades in sophomore and junior years are viewed as having a 4.0 UW.
A "REAL" 4.0 is exceedingly rare at these high schools. But a UC 4.0 is far more common at GDS/NCS/Sidwell.

So competitive applicants to UC schools from the Big3 are probably within this pool of kids. They have a 4.0. However, they do not have APs or they have limited APs so their UW and weighted GPA is the same. Which according to a previous poster puts them at the bottom of the UC applicant pool. And yet some of them get in so clearly UC is analyzing them in the context of their high schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Gds is sending I think 5 or so to UCLA + cal this year so somehow they are getting past the weighted thing

GDS grades more leniently than Sidwell and NCS.

Grading leniency doesn't matter since I imagine we can assume that they all have 4.0s when UC calculates their GPAs (in that they have all "A" grades sophomore and Junior year)---
That aside, GDS doesn't have ANY APs. So these kids have a MAX GPA of 4.0 unweighted/weighted which according to the previous poster would put them miles below a typical public applicant with a weighted >4.5.
And yet they're getting in.

Did you just make my point? Grading leniency _does_ matter if we are talking about the top DC privates. Almost no one, literally, comes out of Sidwell with a 4.0uw. In contrast, you just said "we can assume" that a GDS student will "have all "A" grades sophomore and junior year."

You would never assume that a Sidwell student, or NCS student, will have all As for two years straight. Essentially no one does at these schools. Unlike GDS, according to you

You are missing my point.
UC schools view all forms of an A as an A. So all the kids with a mix of A and A minus grades in sophomore and junior years are viewed as having a 4.0 UW.
A "REAL" 4.0 is exceedingly rare at these high schools. But a UC 4.0 is far more common at GDS/NCS/Sidwell.

So competitive applicants to UC schools from the Big3 are probably within this pool of kids. They have a 4.0. However, they do not have APs or they have limited APs so their UW and weighted GPA is the same. Which according to a previous poster puts them at the bottom of the UC applicant pool. And yet some of them get in so clearly UC is analyzing them in the context of their high schools.

UC compares within the historical data of a single high school not the entire applicant pool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm the OP. My kid wants to attend school in California and has grades that seem to be strong for UC admissions (lots of A minuses but no Bs--so a 4.0 under the UC GPA calculation) so in theory will be a stronger applicant under this grading paradigm than for many private universities.

If your child attends a Big 3, they are also a strong candidate for USC with those grades. Stanford is a reach for most, so they may as well try. Pepperdine and Oxy are good safeties.

No Pepperdine is horrible. Nothing like Oxy. UCLA and Cal are much better schools than USC. UCSD is worth looking at too.
OP, apply see what happens. Nothing will put them over the edge in terms of activity outside of grades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:UC publishes this data - you can go look up private schools applications/acceptances by UC school each year.

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

I will say that it doesn't seem up to date on how many enrolled. And Cal says 0 when we know of an attending student from class. Don't know if it's just Cal reporting. Or if there's a snag where WL isn't counted as acceptance. (all speculation)

It's unclear why/how they have race data in this chart (which also doesn't look to reflect admissions we know from our school).

This is helpful, thank you. Remarkable that some local schools have a lot of UC admits but very few enrolls.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:if your kid or any you know were admitted to Cal, UCLA, etc from a Big3, what do you think put them over the edge?
I know these are hard admits under the private school paradigm of few APs, etc,

I don’t know any students at my children’s school (Sidwell) who talk about attending a UC. I’m sure there are some, it just hasn’t reached my ears. Generally speaking, I don’t think state schools are popular among Sidwell kids.

My son applied from Sidwell a couple of cycles ago. Denied. The problem is that a Sidwell GPA will never cut it in a sea of 4.8888888s, and GPA is literally the only thing UCs screen for now. That, and I think poverty.

Michigan, Virginia and Wisconsin "get" the Sidwell situation. UCs and Texas do not. So, Ann Arbor is a more reliable admit than UC Santa Barbara, oddly.

Also, many are looking for something beyond weathly and entitled.



UCs are not highly sought after by Sidwell students. That said, there are 5 c/o ‘24 students going to UCs (1 each to Cal, UCSD, and UCSC). The two students who are going to UCLA are recruited athletes.

Sidwell seems to send a handful of students (including non recruited athletes) to UCs every year. It’s not an impossible admit.

And yet Sidwell seniors send in close to 30 applications per year with only a few acceptances to Berkeley/UCLA.

Well, I think that’s been explained. They don’t understand the rigor of these schools, and since they are test blind, are looking for kids with extremely high gpas.