Terrible dysfunction at UC administration

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The UCs are overcrowded and chaotic. Hope you are ready to pay for more than 8 semesters because kids have to stay longer since they can’t get the necessary classes to graduate

California schools are always a target, but the fact is they provide an affordable accessible higher education, and are a critical tool for social mobility while also being top research institutes.

They are not, and never have been, plush, roll out the red carpet institutions.
However you will graduate with little debt and receive a pretty outstanding education. If you need to be hand held, they’re probably not the right school.

In fact it’s very against the culture to want to be hand held. Try telling the Berkeley subreddit that you want to have something timely done, and they’ll mock you for being entitled. It’s a culture that embraces being independent and challenged to defend for yourself.

exactly. I attended a SLAC at the same time my sister and brother were at CAL. I’ll always remember watching my sister go through the insane process of trying to register for classes. Meanwhile, I got sick on the day of registration and was unable to complete my forms. The next day I got a call from the Registrar telling me she had signed me up for everything I wanted, even contacting professors to get approval as needed!

Yes. My DD described registering for classes at UCLA as Game of Thrones. But she wanted a big school with spirit and academic chops.

[Anonymous]

If you want a UC education, without doubt if OOS is to move, enroll in community college, in 2 years almost guaranteed transfer to UCLA or Berkeley, or guaranteed transfer to school like UCI. No EC NONSENSE, SVE MONEY

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The UCs are overcrowded and chaotic. Hope you are ready to pay for more than 8 semesters because kids have to stay longer since they can’t get the necessary classes to graduate

California schools are always a target, but the fact is they provide an affordable accessible higher education, and are a critical tool for social mobility while also being top research institutes.

They are not, and never have been, plush, roll out the red carpet institutions.
However you will graduate with little debt and receive a pretty outstanding education. If you need to be hand held, they’re probably not the right school.

In fact it’s very against the culture to want to be hand held. Try telling the Berkeley subreddit that you want to have something timely done, and they’ll mock you for being entitled. It’s a culture that embraces being independent and challenged to defend for yourself.

exactly. I attended a SLAC at the same time my sister and brother were at CAL. I’ll always remember watching my sister go through the insane process of trying to register for classes. Meanwhile, I got sick on the day of registration and was unable to complete my forms. The next day I got a call from the Registrar telling me she had signed me up for everything I wanted, even contacting professors to get approval as needed!

This is a reminder that many LAC are $90k and UCLA is about $38k. In fact, many students attend for far less thanks to generous need-based grants and scholarships.

It’s a public university. It’s messy but it works. UCLA is a gorgeous vibrant campus with guaranteed housing all four years, a feat in a city with a housing crisis.

The food is amazing, the weather is perfect and students have access to events, arts, world-renowned speakers, sports and culture. There is something for everyone. Most students get into classes they need, eventually. I give you that customer service sucks and it’s an area that needs improvement.

But it’s a pretty special place to be otherwise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our DD is going to a top-tier UC school, out of state, and every step of dealing with the administration has been a total fiasco. They didn't update the estimated prices on their website (or on the student portal) until a month or so ago, after the acceptance deadline, so we basically accepted based off the 2023 cost of attendance data. Last week they sent out invoices to some people who are receiving financial aid, but all the numbers were wrong so they told the parents that new letters would be going out this week. (We are not getting aid since we're OOS.) Today finally our portal got updated with the amount we owe, but there is no invoice - so we don't know what the figure is composed of (doesn't break out tuition, room and board, taxes, anything - there is just one single very expensive number.) The housing allocation was totally botched, they gave the kids the option of forming roommate groups and booking a room together -- which my DD and her friends did -- but in the end they broke up the group for no obvious reason and none of the roommates are together. We are going to be paying $75k+ annually for this school, and I have a terrible sinking feeling in my gut that these are all warning signs for the caliber of the education my DD will be getting. Should I be concerned?

I'm sorry to hear this. We celebrated when our own DD was accepted into two top-tier UC schools. Then we went to their admitted students days. So much of what you describe in terms of disorganization, lack of attention to details, and what seems like little focus on undergrad experience and a lot of focus on their research and rankings. It was an easy no for our kiddo who is happily ensconced in a T25 school on the east coast.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The UCs are overcrowded and chaotic. Hope you are ready to pay for more than 8 semesters because kids have to stay longer since they can’t get the necessary classes to graduate

California schools are always a target, but the fact is they provide an affordable accessible higher education, and are a critical tool for social mobility while also being top research institutes.

They are not, and never have been, plush, roll out the red carpet institutions.
However you will graduate with little debt and receive a pretty outstanding education. If you need to be hand held, they’re probably not the right school.

In fact it’s very against the culture to want to be hand held. Try telling the Berkeley subreddit that you want to have something timely done, and they’ll mock you for being entitled. It’s a culture that embraces being independent and challenged to defend for yourself.

exactly. I attended a SLAC at the same time my sister and brother were at CAL. I’ll always remember watching my sister go through the insane process of trying to register for classes. Meanwhile, I got sick on the day of registration and was unable to complete my forms. The next day I got a call from the Registrar telling me she had signed me up for everything I wanted, even contacting professors to get approval as needed!

Yes. My DD described registering for classes at UCLA as Game of Thrones. But she wanted a big school with spirit and academic chops.

Ha, good for her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The UCs are overcrowded and chaotic. Hope you are ready to pay for more than 8 semesters because kids have to stay longer since they can’t get the necessary classes to graduate

California schools are always a target, but the fact is they provide an affordable accessible higher education, and are a critical tool for social mobility while also being top research institutes.

They are not, and never have been, plush, roll out the red carpet institutions.
However you will graduate with little debt and receive a pretty outstanding education. If you need to be hand held, they’re probably not the right school.

In fact it’s very against the culture to want to be hand held. Try telling the Berkeley subreddit that you want to have something timely done, and they’ll mock you for being entitled. It’s a culture that embraces being independent and challenged to defend for yourself.

exactly. I attended a SLAC at the same time my sister and brother were at CAL. I’ll always remember watching my sister go through the insane process of trying to register for classes. Meanwhile, I got sick on the day of registration and was unable to complete my forms. The next day I got a call from the Registrar telling me she had signed me up for everything I wanted, even contacting professors to get approval as needed!

This is a reminder that many LAC are $90k and UCLA is about $38k. In fact, many students attend for far less thanks to generous need-based grants and scholarships.

It’s a public university. It’s messy but it works. UCLA is a gorgeous vibrant campus with guaranteed housing all four years, a feat in a city with a housing crisis.

The food is amazing, the weather is perfect and students have access to events, arts, world-renowned speakers, sports and culture. There is something for everyone. Most students get into classes they need, eventually. I give you that customer service sucks and it’s an area that needs improvement.

But it’s a pretty special place to be otherwise.

It’s over $70,000 for oos students which op’’s child is. Also housing is guaranteed but kids are doubled up in rooms because they still don’t have enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The UCs are overcrowded and chaotic. Hope you are ready to pay for more than 8 semesters because kids have to stay longer since they can’t get the necessary classes to graduate

California schools are always a target, but the fact is they provide an affordable accessible higher education, and are a critical tool for social mobility while also being top research institutes.

They are not, and never have been, plush, roll out the red carpet institutions.
However you will graduate with little debt and receive a pretty outstanding education. If you need to be hand held, they’re probably not the right school.

In fact it’s very against the culture to want to be hand held. Try telling the Berkeley subreddit that you want to have something timely done, and they’ll mock you for being entitled. It’s a culture that embraces being independent and challenged to defend for yourself.

exactly. I attended a SLAC at the same time my sister and brother were at CAL. I’ll always remember watching my sister go through the insane process of trying to register for classes. Meanwhile, I got sick on the day of registration and was unable to complete my forms. The next day I got a call from the Registrar telling me she had signed me up for everything I wanted, even contacting professors to get approval as needed!

This is a reminder that many LAC are $90k and UCLA is about $38k. In fact, many students attend for far less thanks to generous need-based grants and scholarships.

It’s a public university. It’s messy but it works. UCLA is a gorgeous vibrant campus with guaranteed housing all four years, a feat in a city with a housing crisis.

The food is amazing, the weather is perfect and students have access to events, arts, world-renowned speakers, sports and culture. There is something for everyone. Most students get into classes they need, eventually. I give you that customer service sucks and it’s an area that needs improvement.

But it’s a pretty special place to be otherwise.

Visiting UCLA made me want to go back and redo college if I could do it there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The UCs are overcrowded and chaotic. Hope you are ready to pay for more than 8 semesters because kids have to stay longer since they can’t get the necessary classes to graduate

California schools are always a target, but the fact is they provide an affordable accessible higher education, and are a critical tool for social mobility while also being top research institutes.

They are not, and never have been, plush, roll out the red carpet institutions.
However you will graduate with little debt and receive a pretty outstanding education. If you need to be hand held, they’re probably not the right school.

In fact it’s very against the culture to want to be hand held. Try telling the Berkeley subreddit that you want to have something timely done, and they’ll mock you for being entitled. It’s a culture that embraces being independent and challenged to defend for yourself.

exactly. I attended a SLAC at the same time my sister and brother were at CAL. I’ll always remember watching my sister go through the insane process of trying to register for classes. Meanwhile, I got sick on the day of registration and was unable to complete my forms. The next day I got a call from the Registrar telling me she had signed me up for everything I wanted, even contacting professors to get approval as needed!

This is a reminder that many LAC are $90k and UCLA is about $38k. In fact, many students attend for far less thanks to generous need-based grants and scholarships.

It’s a public university. It’s messy but it works. UCLA is a gorgeous vibrant campus with guaranteed housing all four years, a feat in a city with a housing crisis.

The food is amazing, the weather is perfect and students have access to events, arts, world-renowned speakers, sports and culture. There is something for everyone. Most students get into classes they need, eventually. I give you that customer service sucks and it’s an area that needs improvement.

But it’s a pretty special place to be otherwise.

LACs are 60k tuition and if you go down a bit in tier you’ll get a lot more financial aid than a UC. (Do UCs even give any significant OOS need based aid or do you just mean pell grants?)

No disagreement about UCLA being great, but the point is, if OP was looking for a boutique environment they should have steered their child to a SLAC.

[Anonymous]

OP's kid must be at Cal because UCLA's bruin bill doesn't reflect anything yet, but anyone bashing the UC system is a wanker anyway.

[Anonymous]

If I didn't know better, I would think this was a private college admissions consultant that sets up multiple scenarios daily to solicit feedback.

[Anonymous]

UC system is fine for residents. Why anyone would pay OOS costs for a hot mess of a student experience is beyond me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:UC system is fine for residents. Why anyone would pay OOS costs for a hot mess of a student experience is beyond me.

I think it’s an offshoot of UMC families desperate for “prestige” and obsessive about rankings and the fact that their kids won’t get into the same tier of school that they did back in the 90s. I mean just witness OP’s misconceptions. Most likely her kid could have gone to own state flagship but they wanted something that seemed more prestigious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:UC system is fine for residents. Why anyone would pay OOS costs for a hot mess of a student experience is beyond me.

Hot mess? Do you people read the rankings that consistently rank UCLA at or very near the top in nearly all areas (based on tens of thousands of actual user experiences), see the nearly 150,000 applications received as the most applied to school in the world, and still persist with this hot mess delusion because your kid was punted into the pile of rejection leaves on 3/15?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UC system is fine for residents. Why anyone would pay OOS costs for a hot mess of a student experience is beyond me.

Hot mess? Do you people read the rankings that consistently rank UCLA at or very near the top in nearly all areas (based on tens of thousands of actual user experiences), see the nearly 150,000 applications received as the most applied to school in the world, and still persist with this hot mess delusion because your kid was punted into the pile of rejection leaves on 3/15?

UCLA, and Cal, Math department is insane. How many colleges have Terrence Tao?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The UCs are overcrowded and chaotic. Hope you are ready to pay for more than 8 semesters because kids have to stay longer since they can’t get the necessary classes to graduate

California schools are always a target, but the fact is they provide an affordable accessible higher education, and are a critical tool for social mobility while also being top research institutes.

They are not, and never have been, plush, roll out the red carpet institutions.
However you will graduate with little debt and receive a pretty outstanding education. If you need to be hand held, they’re probably not the right school.

In fact it’s very against the culture to want to be hand held. Try telling the Berkeley subreddit that you want to have something timely done, and they’ll mock you for being entitled. It’s a culture that embraces being independent and challenged to defend for yourself.

exactly. I attended a SLAC at the same time my sister and brother were at CAL. I’ll always remember watching my sister go through the insane process of trying to register for classes. Meanwhile, I got sick on the day of registration and was unable to complete my forms. The next day I got a call from the Registrar telling me she had signed me up for everything I wanted, even contacting professors to get approval as needed!

This is a reminder that many LAC are $90k and UCLA is about $38k. In fact, many students attend for far less thanks to generous need-based grants and scholarships.

It’s a public university. It’s messy but it works. UCLA is a gorgeous vibrant campus with guaranteed housing all four years, a feat in a city with a housing crisis.

The food is amazing, the weather is perfect and students have access to events, arts, world-renowned speakers, sports and culture. There is something for everyone. Most students get into classes they need, eventually. I give you that customer service sucks and it’s an area that needs improvement.

But it’s a pretty special place to be otherwise.

“Most…eventually.” That’s the best you can do?