Anonymous
01/05/2026 17:38
Subject: Re:Reviews of colleges in or near big cities for great (but not outstanding student)?
UCs are trying to mirror the state. They can’t match it exactly but there is a crazy gap between what achievement is required from a Latino student vs what achievement is required for an Asian or white student. The top six UCs have substantially increased their % of Latino students while reducing the % of white students despite state testing showing a wide gap with Asian/white students scoring higher. It’s clearly a goal as every year each of the top six schools immediately releases a PR statement on how many more Hispanic and FGLI students they admitted.
A white or asian 4.0 kid WTH 1500+ SAT who took actual rigorous courses in a difficult school, scored 5s on APs, had great ECs ends up with UC Merced or Riverside as their choices . A Latino kid from Watsonville, Modesto or Stockton who is handed a 4.0 from their high school while not even achieving middle or elementary school math proficiency and is unable to write a term paper gets a free full ride to Cal, UCSD and the rest.
As California has a two tiered in state college system, this is just ridiculous. The unqualified and unprepared students could easily go to their regional or other Cal states or go to community college to address their remedial skills and then transfer.
As a voting group Latinos voted against reinstating affirmative action. This is solely the UC regents and a minority of people in the state and UC system orchestrating this.
A white or asian 4.0 kid WTH 1500+ SAT who took actual rigorous courses in a difficult school, scored 5s on APs, had great ECs ends up with UC Merced or Riverside as their choices . A Latino kid from Watsonville, Modesto or Stockton who is handed a 4.0 from their high school while not even achieving middle or elementary school math proficiency and is unable to write a term paper gets a free full ride to Cal, UCSD and the rest.
As California has a two tiered in state college system, this is just ridiculous. The unqualified and unprepared students could easily go to their regional or other Cal states or go to community college to address their remedial skills and then transfer.
As a voting group Latinos voted against reinstating affirmative action. This is solely the UC regents and a minority of people in the state and UC system orchestrating this.
Anonymous
01/05/2026 16:17
Subject: Re:Reviews of colleges in or near big cities for great (but not outstanding student)?
Anonymous wrote:UC wants to mirror CA demographics. The problem is that the Latino students are the largest growing group but most don’t even score for basic proficiency on the English and math tests. The Asian students score the highest and are concentrated in several areas. The coastal white students score high but other white students are spread across the state. AA students are concentrated in several areas and score low. Public schools in CA are extremely segregated more so than the DMV due to many smaller school systems and housing costs create stark difference in socioeconomic make ups in schools.
UC was counting on CA voters repealing the prohibition on using race and deeply upset when voters rejected the repeal measure. There is simply no way to raise the amount of Latino admits to 30% and grow the Asian admits to avoid more lawsuits without reducing the white kids. UC has made statements that the decline of white students is due to wealthy white students choosing private universities. This is BS as the high stat Asian and white students don’t want to be bussed to UC Merced so a Latino student who needs remedial math and English can attend Cal or a mid tier UC.
After the UCSD study, CA should audit the UCs and compare math placement scores at all schools as well as state testing scores against admit and reject applications.
If the state of California wants to engage in social engineering then fine. However, based on past votes it doesn’t. It’s wrong for the UC regents to decide on their own how best to serve California while hiding what they are doing.
There is some misinformation in the comment above. UCs are not mirroring their state demographics with UC admissions. This is backed up by data.
For example, Asians comprise roughly 18% of CA state population. However, they overpower and overperform in UC admissions and enrollment by nearly double. Asians comprise 33% of UC students. Whites underperform and do not mirror their state demographics. Blacks underperform too.
The only group that is close to mirroring their state demographics are Latinos (40% of the state and around 36% of UC students) BUT if you break it out by campus this representation varies wildly by campus. Latinos comprise the majority of UC Merced and UC Riverside which have lower admission GPAs. They are often passed over by many white/asian students in favor of the more competitive campuses.
Anonymous
01/05/2026 15:48
Subject: Re:Reviews of colleges in or near big cities for great (but not outstanding student)?
UC wants to mirror CA demographics. The problem is that the Latino students are the largest growing group but most don’t even score for basic proficiency on the English and math tests. The Asian students score the highest and are concentrated in several areas. The coastal white students score high but other white students are spread across the state. AA students are concentrated in several areas and score low. Public schools in CA are extremely segregated more so than the DMV due to many smaller school systems and housing costs create stark difference in socioeconomic make ups in schools.
UC was counting on CA voters repealing the prohibition on using race and deeply upset when voters rejected the repeal measure. There is simply no way to raise the amount of Latino admits to 30% and grow the Asian admits to avoid more lawsuits without reducing the white kids. UC has made statements that the decline of white students is due to wealthy white students choosing private universities. This is BS as the high stat Asian and white students don’t want to be bussed to UC Merced so a Latino student who needs remedial math and English can attend Cal or a mid tier UC.
After the UCSD study, CA should audit the UCs and compare math placement scores at all schools as well as state testing scores against admit and reject applications.
If the state of California wants to engage in social engineering then fine. However, based on past votes it doesn’t. It’s wrong for the UC regents to decide on their own how best to serve California while hiding what they are doing.
UC was counting on CA voters repealing the prohibition on using race and deeply upset when voters rejected the repeal measure. There is simply no way to raise the amount of Latino admits to 30% and grow the Asian admits to avoid more lawsuits without reducing the white kids. UC has made statements that the decline of white students is due to wealthy white students choosing private universities. This is BS as the high stat Asian and white students don’t want to be bussed to UC Merced so a Latino student who needs remedial math and English can attend Cal or a mid tier UC.
After the UCSD study, CA should audit the UCs and compare math placement scores at all schools as well as state testing scores against admit and reject applications.
If the state of California wants to engage in social engineering then fine. However, based on past votes it doesn’t. It’s wrong for the UC regents to decide on their own how best to serve California while hiding what they are doing.
Anonymous
01/05/2026 15:33
Subject: Reviews of colleges in or near big cities for great (but not outstanding student)?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Michigan is a maybe. 1500+ SAT is good.
There is a home for kids who are not Ivy shoo-ins.
ED is new this year. Make sure the price is not a barrier. If so, don't bother with ED or EA.
Do not apply as an Econ major. It's too popular. Pick another social science.
If applying EA, apply as early as possible. Show interest by attending webinars, trying to meet an AO at a college fair or at school, and signing up for any junk mail.
ED OOS at Michigan was a nightmare this year. It was a wasted ED because they deferred basically everyone just like they have been doing for years in EA. Did not improve chances of getting in at all. What a joke.
Deferred to EA (decisions should be out by late Jan) or deferred to the RD pool?
Anonymous
01/05/2026 15:31
Subject: Re:Reviews of colleges in or near big cities for great (but not outstanding student)?
Anonymous wrote:OP if you are white and your son is not a recruited athlete then apply to private universities. The UCs really do not want white males.
My in state white male DS applied to 3 UCs and got admitted to 2 of them (Davis and Santa Cruz).
High performing white male students at his HS got into Cal and UCLA, and 2 of them got into both.
Anonymous
01/05/2026 15:26
Subject: Re:Reviews of colleges in or near big cities for great (but not outstanding student)?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:OP are you in the DMV or CA? If CA, what area?
UC admission stats are a very wide swing depending on where you located. You really can’t look at the general acceptance rate. The good and bad about all UCs with the exception of UCLA is that there are really good students and students who don’t even meet the basic proficiency bar on state math and English tests. UCSD is not alone in having kids who can’t write a basic essay or do middle school math.
The plus in this is that your kid will be exposed to a greater range of people with varying academic and intellectual capabilities which mirrors workplaces. The negative is that if your kid is influenced by peers..ie slacks off if they think they are smarter or doesn’t work as hard if others are not as good or better they will need to learn to not do that and become self driven. Some private school kids struggle with this.
OP here - we are an ex-DMV family, but are now based in the Bay area in CA.
Oh I’m so sorry. Put UC Davis and UCSB on your high reach list, don’t waste money applying to UCLA. If you are FGLI, URM then apply to Cal if not forget Cal. UCSC is a possibility since he wouldn’t be choosing STEM. Look at the admit demographic data by race and gender for your school. Pull out the athletes and $$$$$ donor targets.
UC has admission and enrollment data for each California high school for each UC campus. Combined with knowledge about the types of kids at your school who apply to UCs, it can be helpful. While the broad conclusions here may be correct, you can get some confirmation by the data provided by UC.
Anonymous
01/05/2026 15:24
Subject: Re:Reviews of colleges in or near big cities for great (but not outstanding student)?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:OP if you are white and your son is not a recruited athlete then apply to private universities. The UCs really do not want white males.
Because of CA state law for public universities, UCs have been race-blind since before the Supreme Ct ruled against affirmative action for URM in the rest of the US. By law, UCs and Cal States can not consider race in admissions decisions. They are race-blind and the info is hidden from your profile, it's only collected later for mandatory demographic surveying.
That said, I do agree they can make assumptions about race based on last name or affinity group activities listed on EC list.
No one believes UC is race blind. Their admit data and the state testing scores are wildly out of proportion. They magically achieve the demographic balance they desire despite performance being extremely different by using proxy markers.
Anonymous
01/05/2026 15:10
Subject: Re:Reviews of colleges in or near big cities for great (but not outstanding student)?
Anonymous wrote:OP if you are white and your son is not a recruited athlete then apply to private universities. The UCs really do not want white males.
Because of CA state law for public universities, UCs have been race-blind since before the Supreme Ct ruled against affirmative action for URM in the rest of the US. By law, UCs and Cal States can not consider race in admissions decisions. They are race-blind and the info is hidden from your profile, it's only collected later for mandatory demographic surveying.
That said, I do agree they can make assumptions about race based on last name or affinity group activities listed on EC list.
Anonymous
01/05/2026 15:07
Subject: Re:Reviews of colleges in or near big cities for great (but not outstanding student)?
OP if you are white and your son is not a recruited athlete then apply to private universities. The UCs really do not want white males.
Anonymous
01/05/2026 14:45
Subject: Re:Reviews of colleges in or near big cities for great (but not outstanding student)?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:OP are you in the DMV or CA? If CA, what area?
UC admission stats are a very wide swing depending on where you located. You really can’t look at the general acceptance rate. The good and bad about all UCs with the exception of UCLA is that there are really good students and students who don’t even meet the basic proficiency bar on state math and English tests. UCSD is not alone in having kids who can’t write a basic essay or do middle school math.
The plus in this is that your kid will be exposed to a greater range of people with varying academic and intellectual capabilities which mirrors workplaces. The negative is that if your kid is influenced by peers..ie slacks off if they think they are smarter or doesn’t work as hard if others are not as good or better they will need to learn to not do that and become self driven. Some private school kids struggle with this.
OP here - we are an ex-DMV family, but are now based in the Bay area in CA.
Oh I’m so sorry. Put UC Davis and UCSB on your high reach list, don’t waste money applying to UCLA. If you are FGLI, URM then apply to Cal if not forget Cal. UCSC is a possibility since he wouldn’t be choosing STEM. Look at the admit demographic data by race and gender for your school. Pull out the athletes and $$$$$ donor targets.
Anonymous
01/05/2026 13:13
Subject: Reviews of colleges in or near big cities for great (but not outstanding student)?
Anonymous wrote:So, his GPA is around 3.6-3.7? It's so hard to judge what that means for a particular high school. Where does he fall in the class? Sorry if I missed it.
I think Tufts (ED) and BU are absolutely possibilities. USC is unlikely but apply anyway. UCSB you'd need to check his UC GPA, which is only for 10th and 11th https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/ and https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/about-us/information-center/admissions-source-school
Michigan is hard to say; who Michigan takes can be confusing. Worth a try.
As noted upthread, Santa Clara will need demonstrated interest. Also may not be as urban in vibe as he is hoping. It's nice that EA results for SCU come in December.
GW is a low target; apply RD and expect merit. DU is a safety.
U Rochester would be a target. If U Roch is of interest, also Case Western.
Possible, but not a sure thing. I know a kid who got deferred in ED with a 4.00 UW GPA and a 1530 SAT.
Maybe it depends on the major.
Anonymous
01/05/2026 13:09
Subject: Reviews of colleges in or near big cities for great (but not outstanding student)?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:University of Arizona, if you consider Tucson to be a big enough city
Arizona State University in Phoenix
+1 U of A. We have family in Tucson...great city and U of A is in a cute, college-y neighborhood. Plus, great weather during academic year.
+2 for University of Arizona. It’s really great!
I'm excited for my son to go and visit. He applied and I think he'd really like it there! If you're in the DMV and you sent your kid that far west for college... how did it go? I'm nervous about being so far away, but there are direct flights and it seems great.
Anonymous
01/05/2026 13:07
Subject: Reviews of colleges in or near big cities for great (but not outstanding student)?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:University of Arizona, if you consider Tucson to be a big enough city
Arizona State University in Phoenix
+1 U of A. We have family in Tucson...great city and U of A is in a cute, college-y neighborhood. Plus, great weather during academic year.
+2 for University of Arizona. It’s really great!
Anonymous
01/05/2026 12:52
Subject: Re:Reviews of colleges in or near big cities for great (but not outstanding student)?
Anonymous wrote:OP are you in the DMV or CA? If CA, what area?
UC admission stats are a very wide swing depending on where you located. You really can’t look at the general acceptance rate. The good and bad about all UCs with the exception of UCLA is that there are really good students and students who don’t even meet the basic proficiency bar on state math and English tests. UCSD is not alone in having kids who can’t write a basic essay or do middle school math.
The plus in this is that your kid will be exposed to a greater range of people with varying academic and intellectual capabilities which mirrors workplaces. The negative is that if your kid is influenced by peers..ie slacks off if they think they are smarter or doesn’t work as hard if others are not as good or better they will need to learn to not do that and become self driven. Some private school kids struggle with this.
OP here - we are an ex-DMV family, but are now based in the Bay area in CA.
Anonymous
01/05/2026 12:46
Subject: Re:Reviews of colleges in or near big cities for great (but not outstanding student)?
OP are you in the DMV or CA? If CA, what area?
UC admission stats are a very wide swing depending on where you located. You really can’t look at the general acceptance rate. The good and bad about all UCs with the exception of UCLA is that there are really good students and students who don’t even meet the basic proficiency bar on state math and English tests. UCSD is not alone in having kids who can’t write a basic essay or do middle school math.
The plus in this is that your kid will be exposed to a greater range of people with varying academic and intellectual capabilities which mirrors workplaces. The negative is that if your kid is influenced by peers..ie slacks off if they think they are smarter or doesn’t work as hard if others are not as good or better they will need to learn to not do that and become self driven. Some private school kids struggle with this.
UC admission stats are a very wide swing depending on where you located. You really can’t look at the general acceptance rate. The good and bad about all UCs with the exception of UCLA is that there are really good students and students who don’t even meet the basic proficiency bar on state math and English tests. UCSD is not alone in having kids who can’t write a basic essay or do middle school math.
The plus in this is that your kid will be exposed to a greater range of people with varying academic and intellectual capabilities which mirrors workplaces. The negative is that if your kid is influenced by peers..ie slacks off if they think they are smarter or doesn’t work as hard if others are not as good or better they will need to learn to not do that and become self driven. Some private school kids struggle with this.