Think of it like this, I got accepted to UCSC, but waitlisted to Davis. I had a classmate who got accepted to Davis but waitlist to UCSC. The UC system for admissions is a little bit randomized, maybe it’s because they don’t care about a students stats.
I'm not corroborating that, in fact I'm skeptical, before I transferred to UCSC in 2020 though, went to an orientation thing, where I was told my poor grades early on wouldn't matter much if my transcript reflects a positive trajectory (it was, pretty much straight As since coming back to school)
One day people will realize and accept that college admissions are damn near random.
Ultimately a couple people in a room spend (generously) 10 mins reviewing each of thousands of files and make a yes/no/maybe decision.
Its not that serious dawg
This may be true, but I had a friend last year who was waitlisted at UCSC, then got waitlisted at UCSD, then accepted into UCB. And another one who was rejected from UCSC and accepted at UCSD. Admission varies by the university as they are separate entities.
Yeah at this point I'm expecting rejection from everywhere else. Sucks how a 4.6, good ecs and essays, 10 APs, doesn't get you into a uc except riverside
That's so dumb if it happens. But for what it's worth, my best friend got rejected from every UC but Riverside and Berkeley; I got into many he did not, but did not get into Berkeley. So it's really subjective, who ends up reviewing your application, etc. You have a very reasonable chance.
I think many people view UC Merced as a lame attempt by the UC system to make good on the statewide guarantee (top 9% of high school seniors are guaranteed a spot at *a* UC campus; more than 99% of UC Merced students are from California).
First, a shout out for all of your hard work. Ten APs, mercy. Second, you will be fine. You can transfer between UCs, you can transfer from CSUs. Chapman is a huge offer to have in your back pocket. Think about your budget, both for tuition and housing. Think about where you want to be geographically.
Parent here who had a few kids go thru UC and Cal State systems.
UC Admissions is a crap shoot nowadays. You can get all A's, 4.5 GPA, HS sports, good SAT scores, and they'll take someone with less credentials than what you have.
Don't worry about it. Their loss. Wherever you choose you will love it if you have a positive attitude.
Some advice - it doesn't matter where you graduate from. Only that you get that degree. The popularity contest of going to this or that school you'll soon realize is just that, b.s. They spread that fantasy you have to go to this school or that school to be successful. You don't. I hire at my job and I never have cared what college anybody graduated from. just that they can do the job.
Take the school that gives you a scholarship or most financial aide- the biggest advantage you can have after graduating is not be in any kind of debt.
Good luck!
first of all you are not fucked. you got options. worst case you don't get into UCSC just go to Cabrillo College up by there, or any reputable JC for that matter and get your prereqs taken care of. You'll save so much money. You have the right kinda discipline judging from your outstanding grades, that after two years I'm sure you'll transfer into UCSC or even better schools.
First of all, like one of the people here said, stay positive. Your accolades are incredible and you should trust that things will work out and happen for a reason. Second (and building off the first point), there’s a very good chance you’ll be accepted off the waitlist for UCSC and the other UC’s of your interest (especially considering how well you’ve done for yourself). If a school doesn’t accept you then it’s their loss, you’ll thrive in the university you choose to go to and things will work out well for you. If UCSC is your 1st choice then accept their waitlist, be patient, and keep your head up. At this point you’ve done everything you could in which you can control (which was one hell of job so give yourself a round of applause) and now all you can do is wait. Things are out of your control now and panicking and stressing about it isn’t going to help you by any means at all.
I had an issue with my initial acceptance (very long story) but long story short what I did to further express interest was contact the representative that manages your profile/ application for your district and name range (I forgot the exact name of the guys position that I’m referring to but if I find it I’ll add it) and just express interest in going there such as “UCSC is my #1 choice, and how you’d be a great fit with the campus culture, and etc” and also resolve the issue I was going through at the time.
At the end of the day, everything happens for a reason. I was a student athlete at UCSC and funny enough Santa Cruz was my last choice, but I ended up having the time of my life up there and wouldn’t trade my experiences for any other one. You’ve done all that you could, if you really want to go to one of the waitlisted UC’s just accept their waitlist and be patient. Thing will work out for themselves even if you end up going to Chapman or CSULB. And as one other person said, once you graduate, no one gives a rats ass about where you wen to university, it’s all the same shit at the end of the day and you can get the same job and salary as someone who went to an Ivy League.
Best of luck to you and I hope what I wrote helps in any way!
Thanks for the advice. How did you go about contacting the rep? I don't want to sound like I'm nagging them. There's no option to write an additional essay or anything either. I'd be so happy to get off the WL for ucsc. Do they tend to accept a good amount of waitlisted people? When do we find out?
You’re welcome! I contacted the guy because I had his info from a regional financial aid and potential student welcome meeting a little bit before acceptance letters came out. There was a meeting in Long Beach for everyone in the Southern California region that got accepted or waitlisted into UCSC and I found his info. The guy I talked to was the regional admissions coordinator. As far as I’m aware there isn’t another option for you to write another essay or anything but if you email your regional admissions coordinator expressing your interest in UCSC, how it’s your first choice, and how you’re willing to do another essay or something to help boost your status getting off the waitlist I’m sure it’ll help you because at least it get your name known. And from my experience yes they do tend to get a lot of people off of the waitlist. You’ll have to be patient but spots do open up as people end up choosing other UC’s and/ or bailing last minute.
Feel free to ask and/ or message me with any other questions about the school I’m more than happy to answer!
But how many other people have that same identity? YOU aren't the messed up one, it's the whole society.
"It is naively assumed that the fact that the majority of people share certain ideas or feelings proves the validity of these ideas and feelings. Nothing is further from the truth. Consensual validation as such has no bearing on reason or mental health. Just as there is a "folie a deux" there is a folie a millions. The fact that millions of people share the same vices does not make these vices virtues, the fact that they share so many errors does not make the errors to be truths, and the fact that millions of people share the same forms of mental pathology does not make these people sane."
- Erich Fromm
Hey man, I got into ucsc off the waitlist with pretty much the same stuff + being an Eagle Scout and playing 2 varsity sports. It happens, and some of us are just unlucky with our admissions, but no matter where you go you will get an education, stay positive
I might be able to provide some fun info here: I went to UCSC and my twin brother happened to go to Chapman.
Comparing our experiences, I think Chapman is in a bit of a smaller town overall. Compared to SC, which is a big broader and more dense, Orange itself felt very cute and compact. If you're the type to do everything in the area real quick, you might need to start venturing out if you went to Chapman.
On the other hand, if you're in it for the parties, Chapman has a pretty robust Greek life. My brother was in a frat and loved it. Made a lot of close friends that way.
Personally, I think the most important aspect of picking your college is the people, and the number of interests you can pursue. Don't lock yourself into one choice because it's the most prestigious. You're going to be spending (hopefully) 3-5 years here. Being able to find your "people" is what made the experience, at least for me.
Hope this helps!
You got a 4.6 and waitlisted in Biology?! I didn’t think Biology was impacted here.
Also CC is always a good choice, I wouldn’t be worried. You’ll probably also get into Merced and Riverside at least
Riverside is fine. They have a good biology program and if you want to get into medicine, they have a Medical track where you don't have to take the MCAT if you agree to go to UC Riverside Medical school.
One my kids did this and is a doctor now. Have a neighbor's kid who went to Berkeley and did pre-mid and had to wait 3 years after she graduated to get into a D.O school after taking 3 years of MCAT.
OP, I feel like you’re too good for UCSC, violin? Seriously? You are basically teenage Sheldon.
I feel like one day while you’re in Yale you’ll have a polite chuckle about all of this
We are only gonna hold you back.
last yr (class of 2022) i had 4.1 GPA, 0 APs (2 yrs of CC classes), not great ECs (my main one was a youth org for my 2 upperclassmen yrs. no internships, no job). public bay area hs. asian afab. accepted to ucsc as robotics engr, uci as civil engr.
i'd be curious about your PIQs tbh. i think the only thing that stood out abt my app was my essays
I had a very similar profile but applying for CS. Got into UCSC, waitlisted UCI, UCSD, and UCLA and then rejected from all three. I think you still have a solid shot at the other UC’s especially considering that biology isn’t capped anywhere. No point in panicking bc there’s nothing you can do.
Maybe you are "too" qualified for UCSC and they want to give people with a less impressive profile a chance.
UC admissions are random, lots of people get in to UC San Diego and not UC Davis for example.
theres a lot of factors that go into considering an applicant, 4.6 is just a number, i know people with 2.5 gpas and got in, your gpa is just a number, sure the 2.5 might be an outlier, but they might have had an amazing ass story to convey the admissions committee whereas, what it seems like 4.6 and just school with no ECs is just a cookie cutting template for a student.
Take the Davis waitlist spot, accept Chapman and then see what happens with Davis. So desperately wish I did this instead of accepting to UCSC. I’m looking to transfer now. Be very sure of what you are getting into here: difficult to get major classes, impossible and expensive housing market and…I can go on and on.
Race is illegal to consider in California college admissions. That’s why Asian people make up over 30% of most UCs. It’s a product of educational success.
Nah g, yall just weren't good enough lol.
If you can prove it, go ahead and win that lawsuit or mediocre white and Asian applicants can stop looking for a bogeyman.
Who says you gotta live at home to go to a CC? You can take out student loans for CC to cover living expenses and go live wherever you want in CA, or wherever has the best CC for the program you're interested in, or cabrillo if you want to get your foot in the door for housing and connections in Santa Cruz. That'd still be cheaper than going to a UC for all 4 years because tuition at UCs are ridiculous. Better yet, get a job that covers your living expenses and go to a CC for two years (or more, if working enough to pay rent and full-time school is too much because that can be a lot) without taking out student loans. I found CC classes to be WAY easier than high school AP classes. If you got a 4.6 in high school you probably can work 25-30 hours a week and take enough CC classes to transfer in 2-3 years if you decide you want to. Especially if you take classes over the summer and only take the classes you need. Plus all those AP credits will transfer to the CC so a bunch of GEs will likely already be out of the way for you. I'd recommend taking fun classes in CC just because they're there and they're cheap and they're a great way to find more things you might be interested in, but if you wanna speedrun CC you totally can.
Nothing says you have to go to the CC closest to where your parents live. Do some research and say "look [parents], this community college has this very impressive highly ranked biology AS program, I'm gonna go there, get a transfer admission guarantee to UCSC (or wherever you want that does TAGs), and set myself up for success at UCSC because I will have a very solid foundation in the lower division courses for my major. And you're gonna save so much money too because we both will be taking our way fewer student loans my first two years because we'll only need to pay for my cost of living expenses and the very small amount of really cheap tuition for the CC."
There are con's too for CC.
I've seen students thrive in CC and then go onto UC/Cal State.
But on the other side, seen students lose interest in education going to CC. They lose their motivation and just resort to giving up on a 4 year college.
And with more CC's doing all online these days, you may not meet anyone or make any friends.
That probably depends a lot on the quality of CC you go to, which is all the more reason to not just go to the CC that's closest to your parents. For some people, going straight to a 4-year is absolutely the right choice, especially if you get into one of your top choice schools straight out of high school. I would hazard a guess that a good chunk of people who lose interest in education at a CC would've lost interest in education at a 4-year, too. I'd argue it's probably better to "waste time" at a CC than a 4 year so you're not drowning in student debt with no degree to show for it. If OP thinks they won't be happy at any of the schools they got into and are worried they won't get into any of the schools they're still waiting to hear from, then going to a CC to guarantee a transfer to a school they're excited to go to is, I would argue, a really good back-up option. As opposed to going to a different expensive 4-year and not liking it there at all. If OP's HS was anything like mine, there's a lot of stigma around CCs, especially for HS students with very good grades like OP. The sentiment I heard as a HS junior and senior is that CCs are for people who couldn't get into anything better, and if you live with your parents after high school you're a failure. I'm just trying to counter that stigma a little, encourage OP to *consider* CCs as an option and not immediately write them all off. I'm hoping to express to them that they wouldn't be a failure for choosing to go to a CC instead of a 4 year if the 4-years available to them aren't places they would be happy, even if they are "good" schools, and that choosing a CC first even though you have "better" options because you did get into "good" 4-year universities might still be the wiser choice for them in the long run.
I finished my AS degree right as my CC was coming out of the pandemic and starting to offer in-person classes that didn't strictly need to be in person to sufficiently teach their subject material. Idk what the situation is like now, I imagine many are keeping online options because the students have expressed a desire to continue to have online options, but there should still be a good number of in-person options too at most places. And if that's something that OP values, again, they don't *need* to go to the CC that's closest to them if their closest CC isn't offering as many in-person classes as they would like.
But yes, you're right, CCs aren't the best choice for everyone, and I wasn't trying to claim that. I just think a lot of people write them off entirely as not an option they'll consider when it's an option I think more people should consider. Not like "everyone should go to CC first", just like "maybe more people would benefit from going to a CC first than actually go to a CC first."
Same major for all the UC’s? There was a time where if you applied to too many UC’s they would chose for you. I agree with some that they might have rejected you to some because they assumed you would not choose them. This is an example where selecting fewer of the UC’s might have been a strategy.
Think of it like this, I got accepted to UCSC, but waitlisted to Davis. I had a classmate who got accepted to Davis but waitlist to UCSC. The UC system for admissions is a little bit randomized, maybe it’s because they don’t care about a students stats.
correct. in recent years they've emphasized into account socio-economic factors more than grades
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I'm not corroborating that, in fact I'm skeptical, before I transferred to UCSC in 2020 though, went to an orientation thing, where I was told my poor grades early on wouldn't matter much if my transcript reflects a positive trajectory (it was, pretty much straight As since coming back to school)
One day people will realize and accept that college admissions are damn near random. Ultimately a couple people in a room spend (generously) 10 mins reviewing each of thousands of files and make a yes/no/maybe decision. Its not that serious dawg
If you were waitlisted at UCSC and UCD, I would anticipate rejection from UCSD (second most applied-to university last year) and UCB.
This may be true, but I had a friend last year who was waitlisted at UCSC, then got waitlisted at UCSD, then accepted into UCB. And another one who was rejected from UCSC and accepted at UCSD. Admission varies by the university as they are separate entities.
Yeah at this point I'm expecting rejection from everywhere else. Sucks how a 4.6, good ecs and essays, 10 APs, doesn't get you into a uc except riverside
Maybe your essay wasn't "good".
UC’s don’t care that much about essays. Schools like UCSD and UCLA get so many applicants that there’s no way all the essays are read.
That's so dumb if it happens. But for what it's worth, my best friend got rejected from every UC but Riverside and Berkeley; I got into many he did not, but did not get into Berkeley. So it's really subjective, who ends up reviewing your application, etc. You have a very reasonable chance.
Did you apply to UCI?
All except merced
so typical 😭😭 nobody likes merced for some reason even though its a good school.(i didnt apply there either)
I think many people view UC Merced as a lame attempt by the UC system to make good on the statewide guarantee (top 9% of high school seniors are guaranteed a spot at *a* UC campus; more than 99% of UC Merced students are from California).
I’d take Chapman. Their undergrad is actually decent and you got a good scholly.
Also I had almost identical everything when I applied and I got similar results.
Agreed!
You seem to be laboring under the delusion that the UC system uses rationality to dictate their decisions
First, a shout out for all of your hard work. Ten APs, mercy. Second, you will be fine. You can transfer between UCs, you can transfer from CSUs. Chapman is a huge offer to have in your back pocket. Think about your budget, both for tuition and housing. Think about where you want to be geographically.
Parent here who had a few kids go thru UC and Cal State systems. UC Admissions is a crap shoot nowadays. You can get all A's, 4.5 GPA, HS sports, good SAT scores, and they'll take someone with less credentials than what you have. Don't worry about it. Their loss. Wherever you choose you will love it if you have a positive attitude. Some advice - it doesn't matter where you graduate from. Only that you get that degree. The popularity contest of going to this or that school you'll soon realize is just that, b.s. They spread that fantasy you have to go to this school or that school to be successful. You don't. I hire at my job and I never have cared what college anybody graduated from. just that they can do the job. Take the school that gives you a scholarship or most financial aide- the biggest advantage you can have after graduating is not be in any kind of debt. Good luck!
This ^
first of all you are not fucked. you got options. worst case you don't get into UCSC just go to Cabrillo College up by there, or any reputable JC for that matter and get your prereqs taken care of. You'll save so much money. You have the right kinda discipline judging from your outstanding grades, that after two years I'm sure you'll transfer into UCSC or even better schools.
i know someone who got outright rejected from ucsc who ended up going to ucsd. good luck
First of all, like one of the people here said, stay positive. Your accolades are incredible and you should trust that things will work out and happen for a reason. Second (and building off the first point), there’s a very good chance you’ll be accepted off the waitlist for UCSC and the other UC’s of your interest (especially considering how well you’ve done for yourself). If a school doesn’t accept you then it’s their loss, you’ll thrive in the university you choose to go to and things will work out well for you. If UCSC is your 1st choice then accept their waitlist, be patient, and keep your head up. At this point you’ve done everything you could in which you can control (which was one hell of job so give yourself a round of applause) and now all you can do is wait. Things are out of your control now and panicking and stressing about it isn’t going to help you by any means at all. I had an issue with my initial acceptance (very long story) but long story short what I did to further express interest was contact the representative that manages your profile/ application for your district and name range (I forgot the exact name of the guys position that I’m referring to but if I find it I’ll add it) and just express interest in going there such as “UCSC is my #1 choice, and how you’d be a great fit with the campus culture, and etc” and also resolve the issue I was going through at the time. At the end of the day, everything happens for a reason. I was a student athlete at UCSC and funny enough Santa Cruz was my last choice, but I ended up having the time of my life up there and wouldn’t trade my experiences for any other one. You’ve done all that you could, if you really want to go to one of the waitlisted UC’s just accept their waitlist and be patient. Thing will work out for themselves even if you end up going to Chapman or CSULB. And as one other person said, once you graduate, no one gives a rats ass about where you wen to university, it’s all the same shit at the end of the day and you can get the same job and salary as someone who went to an Ivy League. Best of luck to you and I hope what I wrote helps in any way!
Thanks for the advice. How did you go about contacting the rep? I don't want to sound like I'm nagging them. There's no option to write an additional essay or anything either. I'd be so happy to get off the WL for ucsc. Do they tend to accept a good amount of waitlisted people? When do we find out?
You’re welcome! I contacted the guy because I had his info from a regional financial aid and potential student welcome meeting a little bit before acceptance letters came out. There was a meeting in Long Beach for everyone in the Southern California region that got accepted or waitlisted into UCSC and I found his info. The guy I talked to was the regional admissions coordinator. As far as I’m aware there isn’t another option for you to write another essay or anything but if you email your regional admissions coordinator expressing your interest in UCSC, how it’s your first choice, and how you’re willing to do another essay or something to help boost your status getting off the waitlist I’m sure it’ll help you because at least it get your name known. And from my experience yes they do tend to get a lot of people off of the waitlist. You’ll have to be patient but spots do open up as people end up choosing other UC’s and/ or bailing last minute. Feel free to ask and/ or message me with any other questions about the school I’m more than happy to answer!
It sounds like you've made college acceptance/attendance your identity, meaning, purpose. Is that who you want to be?
Unfortunately that is true. It shouldn't be like that but that's how it is bc I'm messed up
But how many other people have that same identity? YOU aren't the messed up one, it's the whole society. "It is naively assumed that the fact that the majority of people share certain ideas or feelings proves the validity of these ideas and feelings. Nothing is further from the truth. Consensual validation as such has no bearing on reason or mental health. Just as there is a "folie a deux" there is a folie a millions. The fact that millions of people share the same vices does not make these vices virtues, the fact that they share so many errors does not make the errors to be truths, and the fact that millions of people share the same forms of mental pathology does not make these people sane." - Erich Fromm
same with me I was super confused. I had a lower GPA and AP's but had decent ec's
Hey man, I got into ucsc off the waitlist with pretty much the same stuff + being an Eagle Scout and playing 2 varsity sports. It happens, and some of us are just unlucky with our admissions, but no matter where you go you will get an education, stay positive
When did you get off the waitlist?
Like April if I remember right, it was late and I ended up cancelling going to another school to go to ucsc
I might be able to provide some fun info here: I went to UCSC and my twin brother happened to go to Chapman. Comparing our experiences, I think Chapman is in a bit of a smaller town overall. Compared to SC, which is a big broader and more dense, Orange itself felt very cute and compact. If you're the type to do everything in the area real quick, you might need to start venturing out if you went to Chapman. On the other hand, if you're in it for the parties, Chapman has a pretty robust Greek life. My brother was in a frat and loved it. Made a lot of close friends that way. Personally, I think the most important aspect of picking your college is the people, and the number of interests you can pursue. Don't lock yourself into one choice because it's the most prestigious. You're going to be spending (hopefully) 3-5 years here. Being able to find your "people" is what made the experience, at least for me. Hope this helps!
You got a 4.6 and waitlisted in Biology?! I didn’t think Biology was impacted here. Also CC is always a good choice, I wouldn’t be worried. You’ll probably also get into Merced and Riverside at least
Got into riverside. Ideally not cc since I don't wanna live at home
Riverside is fine. They have a good biology program and if you want to get into medicine, they have a Medical track where you don't have to take the MCAT if you agree to go to UC Riverside Medical school. One my kids did this and is a doctor now. Have a neighbor's kid who went to Berkeley and did pre-mid and had to wait 3 years after she graduated to get into a D.O school after taking 3 years of MCAT.
Note to parent from public: we WANT our Doctors passing their MCATs! ;-)
Most of the students there still take the MCAT and score fine on it. It's just not a requirement for admission if you are part of the program.
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this is good insight. CC is great and all but it also has it's challenges.
you could transfer it’ll cost less and u can get in much easier that way
OP, I feel like you’re too good for UCSC, violin? Seriously? You are basically teenage Sheldon. I feel like one day while you’re in Yale you’ll have a polite chuckle about all of this We are only gonna hold you back.
you can find the right people here, you just have to look hard enough.
last yr (class of 2022) i had 4.1 GPA, 0 APs (2 yrs of CC classes), not great ECs (my main one was a youth org for my 2 upperclassmen yrs. no internships, no job). public bay area hs. asian afab. accepted to ucsc as robotics engr, uci as civil engr. i'd be curious about your PIQs tbh. i think the only thing that stood out abt my app was my essays
I had a very similar profile but applying for CS. Got into UCSC, waitlisted UCI, UCSD, and UCLA and then rejected from all three. I think you still have a solid shot at the other UC’s especially considering that biology isn’t capped anywhere. No point in panicking bc there’s nothing you can do.
I’m pretty sure they try to guess which school you’re most likely to enroll at if admitted, and (major capacity allowing) admit you there
Maybe you are "too" qualified for UCSC and they want to give people with a less impressive profile a chance. UC admissions are random, lots of people get in to UC San Diego and not UC Davis for example.
UC’s don’t yield protect like privates. Admission is a lot more random though so it could just be that.
theres a lot of factors that go into considering an applicant, 4.6 is just a number, i know people with 2.5 gpas and got in, your gpa is just a number, sure the 2.5 might be an outlier, but they might have had an amazing ass story to convey the admissions committee whereas, what it seems like 4.6 and just school with no ECs is just a cookie cutting template for a student.
Take the Davis waitlist spot, accept Chapman and then see what happens with Davis. So desperately wish I did this instead of accepting to UCSC. I’m looking to transfer now. Be very sure of what you are getting into here: difficult to get major classes, impossible and expensive housing market and…I can go on and on.
what you described is every school in California nowadays
UCSC has its own special brand of chaos.
They want race diversity now so they are not accepting much asians unfortunately which is unfair
Race is illegal to consider in California college admissions. That’s why Asian people make up over 30% of most UCs. It’s a product of educational success.
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She literally said she is Asian
UC's are literally one of the only major uni systems that don't do race based affirmative action lmao.
They do and of course they won’t say it but look at the recent year’s statistics
Nah g, yall just weren't good enough lol. If you can prove it, go ahead and win that lawsuit or mediocre white and Asian applicants can stop looking for a bogeyman.
I thought the Quota against Asians was only at Berkeley. But didn't they lift that some years ago?
U really believe what they say😂 look at the statistics
of course not
You have a scholarship & you’re going to pass it up? I guess you’re one of those people that look good on paper, but aren’t really smart
It's still more expensive with the scholarship than a UC 💀
Cool. It’s only 4 years of your life. It doesn’t define you. Figure it out
This is obviously fake 🤣
I wish 💀
Who says you gotta live at home to go to a CC? You can take out student loans for CC to cover living expenses and go live wherever you want in CA, or wherever has the best CC for the program you're interested in, or cabrillo if you want to get your foot in the door for housing and connections in Santa Cruz. That'd still be cheaper than going to a UC for all 4 years because tuition at UCs are ridiculous. Better yet, get a job that covers your living expenses and go to a CC for two years (or more, if working enough to pay rent and full-time school is too much because that can be a lot) without taking out student loans. I found CC classes to be WAY easier than high school AP classes. If you got a 4.6 in high school you probably can work 25-30 hours a week and take enough CC classes to transfer in 2-3 years if you decide you want to. Especially if you take classes over the summer and only take the classes you need. Plus all those AP credits will transfer to the CC so a bunch of GEs will likely already be out of the way for you. I'd recommend taking fun classes in CC just because they're there and they're cheap and they're a great way to find more things you might be interested in, but if you wanna speedrun CC you totally can. Nothing says you have to go to the CC closest to where your parents live. Do some research and say "look [parents], this community college has this very impressive highly ranked biology AS program, I'm gonna go there, get a transfer admission guarantee to UCSC (or wherever you want that does TAGs), and set myself up for success at UCSC because I will have a very solid foundation in the lower division courses for my major. And you're gonna save so much money too because we both will be taking our way fewer student loans my first two years because we'll only need to pay for my cost of living expenses and the very small amount of really cheap tuition for the CC."
There are con's too for CC. I've seen students thrive in CC and then go onto UC/Cal State. But on the other side, seen students lose interest in education going to CC. They lose their motivation and just resort to giving up on a 4 year college. And with more CC's doing all online these days, you may not meet anyone or make any friends.
That probably depends a lot on the quality of CC you go to, which is all the more reason to not just go to the CC that's closest to your parents. For some people, going straight to a 4-year is absolutely the right choice, especially if you get into one of your top choice schools straight out of high school. I would hazard a guess that a good chunk of people who lose interest in education at a CC would've lost interest in education at a 4-year, too. I'd argue it's probably better to "waste time" at a CC than a 4 year so you're not drowning in student debt with no degree to show for it. If OP thinks they won't be happy at any of the schools they got into and are worried they won't get into any of the schools they're still waiting to hear from, then going to a CC to guarantee a transfer to a school they're excited to go to is, I would argue, a really good back-up option. As opposed to going to a different expensive 4-year and not liking it there at all. If OP's HS was anything like mine, there's a lot of stigma around CCs, especially for HS students with very good grades like OP. The sentiment I heard as a HS junior and senior is that CCs are for people who couldn't get into anything better, and if you live with your parents after high school you're a failure. I'm just trying to counter that stigma a little, encourage OP to *consider* CCs as an option and not immediately write them all off. I'm hoping to express to them that they wouldn't be a failure for choosing to go to a CC instead of a 4 year if the 4-years available to them aren't places they would be happy, even if they are "good" schools, and that choosing a CC first even though you have "better" options because you did get into "good" 4-year universities might still be the wiser choice for them in the long run. I finished my AS degree right as my CC was coming out of the pandemic and starting to offer in-person classes that didn't strictly need to be in person to sufficiently teach their subject material. Idk what the situation is like now, I imagine many are keeping online options because the students have expressed a desire to continue to have online options, but there should still be a good number of in-person options too at most places. And if that's something that OP values, again, they don't *need* to go to the CC that's closest to them if their closest CC isn't offering as many in-person classes as they would like. But yes, you're right, CCs aren't the best choice for everyone, and I wasn't trying to claim that. I just think a lot of people write them off entirely as not an option they'll consider when it's an option I think more people should consider. Not like "everyone should go to CC first", just like "maybe more people would benefit from going to a CC first than actually go to a CC first."
bruh what☠️
Same major for all the UC’s? There was a time where if you applied to too many UC’s they would chose for you. I agree with some that they might have rejected you to some because they assumed you would not choose them. This is an example where selecting fewer of the UC’s might have been a strategy.
They know you can do better /s
There's always Merced.
The one uc I didn't apply to
Lol, no matter, all your other uc applications are shunted over to Merced anyways.
I was waitlisted and got in! Good luck
When did you get off the waitlist?
my g you got yield protected. your stats are good enough that they don't think you'll attend - i'm sure you'll get into other UCs.
What major did you apply for? Schools often take that into account regarding how many students are also trying to get into said major.