UC Counselors Conference: Day One in the Books!

The UC Counselors Conference kicked off today and sessions will take place over a five-day period ending next Wednesday. I will share my insights at the end of the conference, but in the meantime, here are some overall UC announcements and admissions data from each of the campuses. 

Announcements that apply to all campuses:

• Pass grades will be accepted for classes through Summer 2021 (UC will not have access to original grades and will have no way of knowing if the pass was a D or B. They will look for upwards trajectory of grades and mentioned preferring to see students repeat a class or show improvement in next level)​
• Tuition Stability Plan—Fees and Tuitions are set for students until they graduate (up to 6 years)
• UCs have added in plagiarism detections and cancelled hundreds of applications last year because of academic dishonesty. Academic Integrity continues to be a focus in application. 
• All Campuses are following vaccine mandates and the majority of campuses are starting most  classes in person this Fall.
• The application itself remains relatively unchanged from last year.

Admissions Number/Info by Campus:

UC Berkeley
14.5% admit rate
5,876 accepted on the waitlist, and 1,647 admitted off the waitlist
4.25-4.61 was middle 50% GPA
Students are admitted by Major and cannot apply to an alternate major. However, if student applies to a competitive major, they will still be reviewed and can be admitted to another major.

UC Irvine
29% Admit Rate
CA admit rate was just under 20%
Average middle 50% GPA not posted
Hardly anyone got off the waitlist; UCI was much more popular than they anticipated
Students are admitted by major and can select alternate major; Students are recommended to not apply to an "easier" major because switching majors is challenging.

UC Merced
87% Admit Rate
Average Middle 50% GPA — 3.4-4.0
Average number of Honors courses—11.64
92% of applicants CA residents
Students are admitted by major, but major does not factor into decision. Undeclared is the most popular major. 

UC Santa Barbara
Students are admitted by College. These are the admit rates by college:
Letters and Science—28%
Engineering—17%
Creative Studies—13%

Average Middle 50% GPA — 4.31 

Average Middle GPA by College:
Engineering—4.39
Letters and Sciences-4.22
Creative Studies—4.33

UCSB does NOT admit by major within Letters and Sciences


UC Davis
Admit rate (overall) — 49%
Admit rate in College of Letters and Sciences—52.2%
Average Middle 50% GPA — 3.95-4.25 
Davis admitted more CA residents this year than any other year!
Very few students came off the waitlist

UCLA
Admit Rate — 11%
Crazy increase in apps: 139,489 and 15,084 admits 
Weighted Middle 50% GPA --4.36-4.72
Capped Midde 50% GPA -- 4.17-4.32
Average number of AP/Honors/IB Classes  — 19-30
Not active on the waitlist at all! 

Students admitted by College: No second choice option.
Below are Admit Rate by College:
Letters and Science—13%
Engineering—8%
Theater, Film, TV—4%
Arts and Architecture—5%
Music—20%
Nursing—1%


UC Riverside
 66% Admit Rate
Waitlist Offers: 12,162; Opt Ins: 5997; and number admitted from waitlist: 4992
625 Regent Scholar Offers
Medium GPA: 3.64 to 4.10

Riverside admits by Major, and will consider alternate major choice. Student MUST consider both. 

Average GPA by College:
Engineering: 3.78-4.17
Arts and Social Sciences: 3.57-4.03
Natural and Ag Sciences: 3.7-4.13
Public Police: 3.6-4.0
Graduate School fo Education: 3.58-3.96


UCSD
34% Admit rate
Middle 50% GPA—4.07-4.29
Average honors/AP/IB courses 15.5

San Diego admits by Major.
Students can go in undeclared but probably can't declare a capped major like engineering.

UC Santa Cruz
58% Admit rate
3.99 Average GPA
19,000 waitlist; 12,000 opted; about 36% received an offer off waitlist

Students can apply undeclared but to a cluster so student’s interest is narrowed
Student can and should put down alternate major if applying to a popular major like computer science

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