How your high school affects your chances of UC Admission: The better the school, the worse your chances.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:College isn’t the right path for everyone, and earning a degree doesn’t always guarantee meaningful results. For many, it consumes resources without providing real value, and schools often end up exploiting taxpayer funding. When will we hold the public sector accountable for this?

High school isn’t for everyone but we still try to ensure we have an educated society by graduating as many students as possible.

I don’t understand how you’ve decided that college isn’t for everyone and are wasting resources. Education is never wasted even if a student doesn’t end up graduating. BU has a general education program for students who need extra support. I know more than a few learning disabled girls who went there because the parents wanted them educated. Even though they had no intention of working outside of the home the degrees had plenty of value.

+1000000

Everyone should get a PhD. Why stop at an undergraduate degree? Education is never wasted even if a student doesn’t end up graduating.

[Anonymous]

I would really wish if my house cleaners have a PhD. A mere mop is outdated. Really, it’s not “tidying,” it’s “applied domestic research,” and the tenure track starts at the broom closet.

[Anonymous]

BS all of my kids has great college acceptances for
Their W school so did their peers

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s sad that in California, high-achieving students often have to leave the state to find fair educational equity.

Despite the claims in this thread, the vast majority of California teens stay in state. We even have data on this. https://www.cde.ca.gov/ds/ad/cgr.asp

According to this, only 14.2% of CA students who completed HS in 2023 attended a college in another state.

Please don’t believe everything you hear on Fox News or Facebook groups. At my child’s affluent public school, about 2/3rds of the students stay in California.

The majority, almost 60%, of high school kids are Latino. Only 25% of them meet even basic proficiency on state math tests and only 38% meet basic proficiency on the English state test. This is the real challenge for CA. There are tons of kids who should be repeating high school and then doing a year or two at community college before going to college. They fail out of the UCs or get shuffled into an easy major scraping by with a 2.0. It’s extremely expensive as these kids rely on full rides or loans to cover housing which is expensive at all UCs.

UCs are research and scholarly institutions. They don’t really teach undergraduates let alone provide remedial education. It’s a terrible environment for these kids and no they don’t blossom. They do stay in California.

Affluent white and asian students are more apt to go out of state as they know UC doesn’t want them and they can afford it. UM
C and MC white and Asian students will do community college and TAG or TAP to get into as transfers to the top 5.

White and Asian students stay in-state too. UCs are highly desirable and very popular in California, as are a few of the Cal States.

Some do, many don’t, far more than one would expect given the interest in the UC system. Was discussing this with my D today while sitting a beautiful small city in New England as we visit her on the long weekend. She’s an Asian kid from one of those Bay Area privates and of the white kids at her school with top stats she could only think of 1 who went to UCB and one who went to UCLA. The others all went to top privates. A far larger number of her Asian friends went to the UC system but not the white kids. We understand how the system works, it is what it is, and it isn’t appealing to many.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nothing is wrong how the UC's choose their students. UCSD shows us that while mistakes can happen, the primary driver of the UC should be to help marginalized groups succeed in college. The UC's do need more funding as they are navigating a large shortfall and California's budget deficit is unsustainable.

I disagree that the mission of UC should be to help marginalized groups succeed in college. UCs are meant to be the flagship research based universities in the California system. The community colleges are there to help students who need to learn the study skills and get
the foundation if high school did not prepare them, and then they can apply to transfer if they succeed in the community college setting. Right now, in the name of rampant social engineering, UCs are denying many of the kids that can actually make full use of UCs renowned faculty and
resources, and instead
admitting students that need extra hand holding. Remember, the professors at UC are not there because they are good teachers. You’ll likely get better quality of classroom instruction at the Calstates.

[Anonymous]

We are a full pay california family from a top private and do not like the UCs. We’d rather our kids go private for college.

[Anonymous]

I don’t think the UCs are worth it even at in-state tuition, except for maybe Berkeley and UCLA.

I can’t fathom why anyone would want to pay OOS tuition for UCs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s sad that in California, high-achieving students often have to leave the state to find fair educational equity.

Despite the claims in this thread, the vast majority of California teens stay in state. We even have data on this. https://www.cde.ca.gov/ds/ad/cgr.asp

According to this, only 14.2% of CA students who completed HS in 2023 attended a college in another state.

Please don’t believe everything you hear on Fox News or Facebook groups. At my child’s affluent public school, about 2/3rds of the students stay in California.

The majority, almost 60%, of high school kids are Latino. Only 25% of them meet even basic proficiency on state math tests and only 38% meet basic proficiency on the English state test. This is the real challenge for CA. There are tons of kids who should be repeating high school and then doing a year or two at community college before going to college. They fail out of the UCs or get shuffled into an easy major scraping by with a 2.0. It’s extremely expensive as these kids rely on full rides or loans to cover housing which is expensive at all UCs.

UCs are research and scholarly institutions. They don’t really teach undergraduates let alone provide remedial education. It’s a terrible environment for these kids and no they don’t blossom. They do stay in California.

Affluent white and asian students are more apt to go out of state as they know UC doesn’t want them and they can afford it. UM
C and MC white and Asian students will do community college and TAG or TAP to get into as transfers to the top 5.

White and Asian students stay in-state too. UCs are highly desirable and very popular in California, as are a few of the Cal States.

Some do, many don’t, far more than one would expect given the interest in the UC system. Was discussing this with my D today while sitting a beautiful small city in New England as we visit her on the long weekend. She’s an Asian kid from one of those Bay Area privates and of the white kids at her school with top stats she could only think of 1 who went to UCB and one who went to UCLA. The others all went to top privates. A far larger number of her Asian friends went to the UC system but not the white kids. We understand how the system works, it is what it is, and it isn’t appealing to many.

Are you saying the white students at your private don’t want to attend the UCs because there are too many Asian students? Or..? I don’t understand what you are implying.

For UMC public high schools in California, the UCs are still the top choice for most students - regardless of their race.

They prefer them for the exact same reasons Virginia parents like UVA, VT and W&M. Why spend $95k a year when you can get an excellent education for $40k? Parents would rather save their money for graduate school.

[Anonymous]

We are a low income family at one of the best CA HS districts. The school my DS goes to is a “Yale or jail” school with low income apartments and 5 mil dollar mansions feeding into it. There’s no difference if you are on free lunches or not - you’ll still be treated the same by admissions.
The whole system is stupid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s sad that in California, high-achieving students often have to leave the state to find fair educational equity.

Despite the claims in this thread, the vast majority of California teens stay in state. We even have data on this. https://www.cde.ca.gov/ds/ad/cgr.asp

According to this, only 14.2% of CA students who completed HS in 2023 attended a college in another state.

Please don’t believe everything you hear on Fox News or Facebook groups. At my child’s affluent public school, about 2/3rds of the students stay in California.

The majority, almost 60%, of high school kids are Latino. Only 25% of them meet even basic proficiency on state math tests and only 38% meet basic proficiency on the English state test. This is the real challenge for CA. There are tons of kids who should be repeating high school and then doing a year or two at community college before going to college. They fail out of the UCs or get shuffled into an easy major scraping by with a 2.0. It’s extremely expensive as these kids rely on full rides or loans to cover housing which is expensive at all UCs.

UCs are research and scholarly institutions. They don’t really teach undergraduates let alone provide remedial education. It’s a terrible environment for these kids and no they don’t blossom. They do stay in California.

Affluent white and asian students are more apt to go out of state as they know UC doesn’t want them and they can afford it. UM
C and MC white and Asian students will do community college and TAG or TAP to get into as transfers to the top 5.

White and Asian students stay in-state too. UCs are highly desirable and very popular in California, as are a few of the Cal States.

Some do, many don’t, far more than one would expect given the interest in the UC system. Was discussing this with my D today while sitting a beautiful small city in New England as we visit her on the long weekend. She’s an Asian kid from one of those Bay Area privates and of the white kids at her school with top stats she could only think of 1 who went to UCB and one who went to UCLA. The others all went to top privates. A far larger number of her Asian friends went to the UC system but not the white kids. We understand how the system works, it is what it is, and it isn’t appealing to many.

Are you saying the white students at your private don’t want to attend the UCs because there are too many Asian students? Or..? I don’t understand what you are implying.

For UMC public high schools in California, the UCs are still the top choice for most students - regardless of their race.

They prefer them for the exact same reasons Virginia parents like UVA, VT and W&M. Why spend $95k a year when you can get an excellent education for $40k? Parents would rather save their money for graduate school.

Bay Area CA families live in one of the most diverse areas of the world. Asian kids at the UCs aren’t an issue to them. The issue is the admissions process but these same families are the ones most likely to understand the why behind the process and the wide variety of options in the US education system. They may not like it but they accept that the system isn’t really set up for them. UCB doesn’t hold the allure for them that is does to the immigrant community. They pay more attention to things like class sizes and realize the top privates tend to provide a better experience. So they are just quicker to opt out rather than rant and rage against the system.

[Anonymous]

My child is at a CA public school with a range of lower middle income to upper middle income but no 1 percenters. It has fairly good outcomes at UCB/UCLA with many of the same kids getting into both. A few kids get into Ivies and go there instead, but the limiting factor is often SAT scores. Grade inflation is rampant so one kid with straight As will get an 1100 and another will get 1600. Some kids in the most rigorous courses don’t prep for the SAT at all and just focus on UCs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s sad that in California, high-achieving students often have to leave the state to find fair educational equity.

Despite the claims in this thread, the vast majority of California teens stay in state. We even have data on this. https://www.cde.ca.gov/ds/ad/cgr.asp

According to this, only 14.2% of CA students who completed HS in 2023 attended a college in another state.

Please don’t believe everything you hear on Fox News or Facebook groups. At my child’s affluent public school, about 2/3rds of the students stay in California.

The majority, almost 60%, of high school kids are Latino. Only 25% of them meet even basic proficiency on state math tests and only 38% meet basic proficiency on the English state test. This is the real challenge for CA. There are tons of kids who should be repeating high school and then doing a year or two at community college before going to college. They fail out of the UCs or get shuffled into an easy major scraping by with a 2.0. It’s extremely expensive as these kids rely on full rides or loans to cover housing which is expensive at all UCs.

UCs are research and scholarly institutions. They don’t really teach undergraduates let alone provide remedial education. It’s a terrible environment for these kids and no they don’t blossom. They do stay in California.

Affluent white and asian students are more apt to go out of state as they know UC doesn’t want them and they can afford it. UM
C and MC white and Asian students will do community college and TAG or TAP to get into as transfers to the top 5.

White and Asian students stay in-state too. UCs are highly desirable and very popular in California, as are a few of the Cal States.

Some do, many don’t, far more than one would expect given the interest in the UC system. Was discussing this with my D today while sitting a beautiful small city in New England as we visit her on the long weekend. She’s an Asian kid from one of those Bay Area privates and of the white kids at her school with top stats she could only think of 1 who went to UCB and one who went to UCLA. The others all went to top privates. A far larger number of her Asian friends went to the UC system but not the white kids. We understand how the system works, it is what it is, and it isn’t appealing to many.

Are you saying the white students at your private don’t want to attend the UCs because there are too many Asian students? Or..? I don’t understand what you are implying.

For UMC public high schools in California, the UCs are still the top choice for most students - regardless of their race.

They prefer them for the exact same reasons Virginia parents like UVA, VT and W&M. Why spend $95k a year when you can get an excellent education for $40k? Parents would rather save their money for graduate school.

Bay Area CA families live in one of the most diverse areas of the world. Asian kids at the UCs aren’t an issue to them. The issue is the admissions process but these same families are the ones most likely to understand the why behind the process and the wide variety of options in the US education system. They may not like it but they accept that the system isn’t really set up for them. UCB doesn’t hold the allure for them that is does to the immigrant community. They pay more attention to things like class sizes and realize the top privates tend to provide a better experience. So they are just quicker to opt out rather than rant and rage against the system.

I suspect you are talking about wealthy families who have every choice at their fingertips. For regular UMC California families, whose parents may earn $200-$500k, UC’s are the priority.

It’s no different than any other state, really. UMC kids in Georgia like UGA, Virginia kids like UVA, Florida kids like UF or FSU, etc.

The cost of private universities is prohibitive. It’s truly an easy decision! Plus these public flagships offer enormous opportunities, events, exciting campus life, great college towns.

Small schools are for particular students, definitely not for everyone.

[Anonymous]

I don't understand why this seems to be such a surprise. Plus it is not unique to UCSD, all of the selective colleges, i.e. schools that reject more applicants than they admit are particularly interested in FGLI students who are disproportionately in lower performing schools.
It is why they used College Board's Landscape tool until it went away due to the fact that it was too racially based. It is a feature not a bug of current admissions practices. They could all fill their entire classes with just kids from top private and public high schools from DMV, NYC/NJ and the Bay Area- they don't want to . . .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s sad that in California, high-achieving students often have to leave the state to find fair educational equity.

Despite the claims in this thread, the vast majority of California teens stay in state. We even have data on this. https://www.cde.ca.gov/ds/ad/cgr.asp

According to this, only 14.2% of CA students who completed HS in 2023 attended a college in another state.

Please don’t believe everything you hear on Fox News or Facebook groups. At my child’s affluent public school, about 2/3rds of the students stay in California.

The majority, almost 60%, of high school kids are Latino. Only 25% of them meet even basic proficiency on state math tests and only 38% meet basic proficiency on the English state test. This is the real challenge for CA. There are tons of kids who should be repeating high school and then doing a year or two at community college before going to college. They fail out of the UCs or get shuffled into an easy major scraping by with a 2.0. It’s extremely expensive as these kids rely on full rides or loans to cover housing which is expensive at all UCs.

UCs are research and scholarly institutions. They don’t really teach undergraduates let alone provide remedial education. It’s a terrible environment for these kids and no they don’t blossom. They do stay in California.

Affluent white and asian students are more apt to go out of state as they know UC doesn’t want them and they can afford it. UM
C and MC white and Asian students will do community college and TAG or TAP to get into as transfers to the top 5.

White and Asian students stay in-state too. UCs are highly desirable and very popular in California, as are a few of the Cal States.

Some do, many don’t, far more than one would expect given the interest in the UC system. Was discussing this with my D today while sitting a beautiful small city in New England as we visit her on the long weekend. She’s an Asian kid from one of those Bay Area privates and of the white kids at her school with top stats she could only think of 1 who went to UCB and one who went to UCLA. The others all went to top privates. A far larger number of her Asian friends went to the UC system but not the white kids. We understand how the system works, it is what it is, and it isn’t appealing to many.

Are you saying the white students at your private don’t want to attend the UCs because there are too many Asian students? Or..? I don’t understand what you are implying.

For UMC public high schools in California, the UCs are still the top choice for most students - regardless of their race.

They prefer them for the exact same reasons Virginia parents like UVA, VT and W&M. Why spend $95k a year when you can get an excellent education for $40k? Parents would rather save their money for graduate school.

Bay Area CA families live in one of the most diverse areas of the world. Asian kids at the UCs aren’t an issue to them. The issue is the admissions process but these same families are the ones most likely to understand the why behind the process and the wide variety of options in the US education system. They may not like it but they accept that the system isn’t really set up for them. UCB doesn’t hold the allure for them that is does to the immigrant community. They pay more attention to things like class sizes and realize the top privates tend to provide a better experience. So they are just quicker to opt out rather than rant and rage against the system.

I suspect you are talking about wealthy families who have every choice at their fingertips. For regular UMC California families, whose parents may earn $200-$500k, UC’s are the priority.

It’s no different than any other state, really. UMC kids in Georgia like UGA, Virginia kids like UVA, Florida kids like UF or FSU, etc.

The cost of private universities is prohibitive. It’s truly an easy decision! Plus these public flagships offer enormous opportunities, events, exciting campus life, great college towns.

Small schools are for particular students, definitely not for everyone.

Definitely true for the UMC kids at my son’s HS. UC enrollments outnumber private ones by at more than 5 to 1. Add Cal Poly (very popular for STEM), closer to 10 to 1.

[Anonymous]

When public services are used for social engineering and students who aren’t prepared and spoon fed the mediocre education system from K-12 and colleges, the likely outcomes aren’t good. Many probably end up dropping out or unemployed or burdened with student loans. They can’t repay and ultimately seek loan forgiveness.

No level of charity will be enough if a large portion of the population ends up relying on unemployment benefits.

The system is broken.