How the hell does anyone in California get into college?

[Anonymous]

Our private SF Bay HS does very well with UCs. UCSC is a safe admit for anyone in the top half and it's a great school!

I know that's not true of all public HS in SF Bay, but our private only has a 10% admit rate just to get in. So even being in the top 50% of this HS is a hard feat.

CA also has a wonderful Cal Poly program and a Cal state program, so UCs are not the only public option.

And a lot of our kid's private HS goes to private college in CA, and all over the US as well.

[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.

yeah usually it means they didn't apply to all UC campuses. they usually just hit the very popular ones - UCLA, UCB, UCSD, UCSB and maybe UCSC.

I doubt they were shut out of UCD, UCM and UCR.

[Anonymous]

Arizona and Arizona State if you’re in Southern California, University of Oregon if you’re in Northern California, BYU if you’re Mormon. That’s where.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I went to CSUF and SJSU and ended up working for a FAANG. Your DS will be fine if you they are smart and can hustle.

[Anonymous]

The top 10% of a cali public high school have no problem getting into at least one of the UC's (not including Merced/Riverside)

[Anonymous]

DS is at a competitive public HS in CA. It’s not as bad as OP presents it but it is somewhat arbitrary. Top students generally get into ucla or Berkeley but not necessarily both.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS is at a competitive public HS in CA. It’s not as bad as OP presents it but it is somewhat arbitrary. Top students generally get into ucla or Berkeley but not necessarily both.

I'm originally from CA, with friends still there. Our kids are the same ages. Those kids are now attending UCA and Cal. They went to UMC public schools. Their parents aren't super wealthy and did not play the tutoring game. But they were very involved in the community and/or created a startup on their own, no help from parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

This. CC then transfer path has been going on for decades in CA. Very common and no stigma. Cheaper too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OOS welcomes CA students. Purdue, UIUC, CMU, UM take a lot of CA students.

Yes. My kid's friends from the Bay area are attending UIUC, Purdue, Ohio State, Virginia Tech, UMich, University of Wisconsin, Indiana, NYU, Northeastern and three made it into the UCs. I thought it was strange at first when colleagues at work spoke of their kids attending Drexel and Purdue but we ended up in the same boat even after my kid took and passed college level CS and Math classes at top UCs while in High school. Oh...and the cost of some cheaper out of state colleges is almost the same as in state tuition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OOS welcomes CA students. Purdue, UIUC, CMU, UM take a lot of CA students.

Yes. My kid's friends from the Bay area are attending UIUC, Purdue, Ohio State, Virginia Tech, UMich, University of Wisconsin, Indiana, NYU, Northeastern and three made it into the UCs. I thought it was strange at first when colleagues at work spoke of their kids attending Drexel and Purdue but we ended up in the same boat even after my kid took and passed college level CS and Math classes at top UCs while in High school. Oh...and the cost of some cheaper out of state colleges is almost the same as in state tuition.

? with or without aid?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

yeah usually it means they didn't apply to all UC campuses. they usually just hit the very popular ones - UCLA, UCB, UCSD, UCSB and maybe UCSC.

I doubt they were shut out of UCD, UCM and UCR.

If you don't get into ay of the UCs you applied to originally, you will get automatic admission to Merced whether you applied there or not.
I thought UC Davis was higher ranked than UC Santa Cruz, I definitely don't see it being on the same level as UCM and UCR. I would include UC Irvine in your initial list and move UCSC down to second tier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OOS welcomes CA students. Purdue, UIUC, CMU, UM take a lot of CA students.

Yes. My kid's friends from the Bay area are attending UIUC, Purdue, Ohio State, Virginia Tech, UMich, University of Wisconsin, Indiana, NYU, Northeastern and three made it into the UCs. I thought it was strange at first when colleagues at work spoke of their kids attending Drexel and Purdue but we ended up in the same boat even after my kid took and passed college level CS and Math classes at top UCs while in High school. Oh...and the cost of some cheaper out of state colleges is almost the same as in state tuition.

? with or without aid?

Without Aid
Purdue - Approximately $40,000 per year
Davis - Approximately $37,000 -$40,000

[Anonymous]

This is how most of the kids view the UC schools:
Tier 1. UCLA, UC Berkeley
Tier 2. UCI, UCSD
Tier 3. UCSB, UC Davis, (Cal Poly SLO falls here too)
Tier 4. UCR, UCSC
Tier 5. UCM (Automatic admission)

Minimum GPA for UCs - 3.0
Minimum GPA for CSUs - 2.5

UC GPA - Only includes 10th and 11th grade. 9th grade is ignored.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

So he got into the most popular CSU?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

So he got into the most popular CSU?

Not the original poster but CSULB is down the list for popular CSUs. The most popular are Cal Poly SLO and SDSU.