College admissions insight

[PunkyBoo]

My friend sent me this article about the admissions decisions at University of California schools this year. Really helpful insights here, but I'm more worried for my HS junior now!! Can someone explain to me the big application drop off that I've seen discussed on this board? Is it just delayed due to the pandemic changing our norms?

https://www.pressdemocrat.com/articl...of-much-heart/


Sent from my Pixel 3a XL using Tapatalk

[gatorsmom]

I didn't read the whole article but it seems in line with what is being reported on other news sources. Many kids delayed going to college this academic year because they didn't want to pay to take online classes in their school dorm room. Now that colleges are opening up again kids are reapplying. Also, because of problems with testing safely in person, many colleges are dropping the ACT/SAT testing requirements for admission. All this means that many more college students are applying than usual. Colleges can be much more selective about who they admit. Also, I suspect because of the cultural shifts and social upheaval we have seen in our country in the last year, colleges may be changing their admission priorities.

We are explaining to our high school junior that he should be ready to go to his last choice school and consider transferring if after a year the school he's in is not a good fit. This might be the path many students are planning so time will tell if I"m wrong about this planning this path but transfer rates were historically better than freshman admission rates.

[3isEnough]

What application dropoff are you referring to, the dropoff in applications at certain Cal State universities and junior colleges? I have a senior in CA right now (currently deciding between Berkeley and UCSB) so I'm very involved in the discussions among friends. Assuming you mean the drop off at Cal States and JCs, the dropoff is due to the fact that UCs are test blind, so many of the students that previously wouldn't have a shot at UCs and typically would have applied at Cal State schools and JCs have instead applied to and received admission at UCs.

I believe applications at all Cal States were down with the exception of Cal Poly SLO, and perhaps Cal Poly Pomona, while applications at UCs were through the roof. I'm so grateful my son has some great UC options as he only applied within CA. He's a surfer kid and was adamant about staying close to the coast (which is the only reason he hasn't yet committed to Berkeley - the 30 min drive to the coast gives him pause ).

[ezcc]

California seems to be slightly different in the college admissions game than the rest of the country. Applications were definitely through the roof this year at the most selective schools nationwide, but ds (who is a senior this year) and his friends all found themselves with some great choices. I think applications were up because of the test optional situation and deferrals from last year. It was a weird year with lots of extra waitlists. We are on the east coast- it seems to me that if you are willing to go to school in New England or the midwest you will have some good options (obviously the ivies are still hard, you need to be fairly incredible and even then have a lot of luck) but the demographics are favorable for those areas, maybe less so in CA. He does have 2 friends who got accepted at UC San Diego, one is an excellent student, the other not really that amazing. Not sure what the stats are like for out of state students at UC schools.

[AnnieW625]

I would also ask specific universities if transfers are going to take more spots because there could be an influx of transfers from community colleges because students could’ve gone that route initially as well due to covid and this years freshman will be ready to transfer when your son is going to be a freshman.

Also they aren’t sexy by any means but UC Riverside and UC Merced have generally had the highest in state acceptance rates for UC schools. UCR is also in the process of developing a medical school program so he might want to look at that.

I agree that kids these days shouldn’t get their hopes up on one specific school and should equally like and should be happy with any of the schools they apply to.

There is always community college as well and 3.00+ grades and both the UC and CSU schools have guaranteed admission for transfers. My husband really valued his time at community college and much preferred the undergrad courses he took there vs. the few remaining major related undergrad courses he had to take at the CSU he transferred to.

Fwiw: a friends niece whose first choice is Cal Poly SLO has been waitlisted there even though she has a 4.50+ gpa because in the past SLO has been a safety school for those who usually apply elsewhere and have really high grades and don’t get in to those schools so apparently according to the niece SLO is super selective about who they initially admit because a lot of those 4.50+ kids never end up attending.

ETA: TBH the UC admissions have always been super competitive and messed up imho. UC schools like admits from other states because they can charge more for tuition. I am sure that is true for other state’s universities, but it just seems so known in California that an out of stater might take your spot.
https://www.collegekickstart.com/blo...mission-trends

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[carolinamama]

Even though DS1 is only a freshman, I've been following the application/acceptance trends this year and am super curious how it will all play out in the next few years. Deferrals and test optional status seem to have affected everything this year - is it a continued trend or will it revert back? And how many kids applied to a larger number of schools but obviously still only attend one, meaning more kids from waitlists are accepted? The stakes seem greater than when we were applying but I strongly believe there is a place for everyone, even if it takes awhile to get there or isn't where a student first expected. Easier said than felt.

[SnuggleBuggles]

What application dropoff are you referring to.

I think it was re. the survival of some schools (both private and public) around the country. They were seeing steep drops in enrollment even before Covid so it would have made their situations even worse. But, maybe this is just about the UC system...of which I know nothing.

[gatorsmom]

Even though DS1 is only a freshman, I've been following the application/acceptance trends this year and am super curious how it will all play out in the next few years. Deferrals and test optional status seem to have affected everything this year - is it a continued trend or will it revert back? And how many kids applied to a larger number of schools but obviously still only attend one, meaning more kids from waitlists are accepted? The stakes seem greater than when we were applying but I strongly believe there is a place for everyone, even if it takes awhile to get there or isn't where a student first expected. Easier said than felt.

I highly recommend this book originally recommended here by Stantonhyde, https://smile.amazon.com/Who-Gets-Wh...s%2C204&sr=8-2 It's an easy and interesting read and does a deep dive into the college admissions process.

If colleges aren't using the SAT and ACT in the admissions process, then they will have to rely on primarily on grades and essays to determine which kids are a good fit for their school. I suspect they will go back to requiring standardized test scores because it makes their job easier.

[o_mom]

One thing that I think is driving things this year is the inability to visit campuses. Most of the seniors I know applied to 2-4 times as many schools as they may have in the past, which inflates the numbers. They kind of did things in reverse order - apply first, then narrow it down. Many are just now getting to visit their top choice schools in person and have not yet decided. I think the waitlists will dwindle considerably in the next few months as students make final selections. A friend has an older DD who visited 20+ schools and applied to 4-5 in the end. Her sister is planning to apply to 15-ish and then visit next year once she has acceptance letters. This seems to be very common.

Also, the "record shattering" numbers they list are not that much higher - roughly 15% when I checked a few of their numbers against the previous year. How many of those are the same students applying to multiple campuses because they are unsure and casting a wider net than normal? They can only attend one in the end. Kind of like the admission at Ivy League schools, where you have the same group of students applying to all of them, which inflates the denominator and makes them look more selective.

There is probably a bit more activity than previous years, but I think much of it is just a statistical artifact.

[essnce629]

I think people just keep applying to the same top 50 ranked schools on US News (the name brand schools, which includes all the UCs) and that's why they're not getting in. I see parents online posting that their kids applied to 20+ schools that are all ranked in the top 20 (2 separate lists for universities vs LACs) and are now lamenting over multiple rejections and wait lists. There's just way too many kids applying for so little spots at these few schools. There's over 4000 colleges and universities in the US and the majority accept most of their applicants. In fact, for schools not ranked in the top 50, applications are actually way down this year and schools will be scrambling to make their yield on May 1st. DS1 is probably a slightly above average kid (nothing crazy spectacular) and got into 8 of the 9 schools he applied to. He just avoided all reach schools (those in the top 50) since we're full pay for them all, they don't give merit, and no school is worth $70k+ a year in my eyes. It was a pretty stress free process for us and 3 of his final contenders ended up being Colleges That Change Lives schools.


Interest Surges in Top Colleges, While Struggling Ones Scrape for Applicants
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/20/u...pplicants.html

Sent from my SM-A515U1 using Tapatalk