In our work with students all over the country a very large portion of our students at every high school grade level mention an interest in the colleges in the University of California system, known as “The UCs” for short.
If California dreams are on your mind, here are three key things to know about what admissions looks like at these colleges:
1. Record Breaking Applicant Numbers
The UC system is comprised of 9 undergraduate campuses:
UC Berkeley
UC Davis
UC Irvine
UCLA
UC Merced
UC Riverside
UC Santa Barbara
UC Santa Cruz
UC San Diego
Each of these campuses has its own admission review process, and acceptance rate, but they all use the same application system-wide. The UCs are one of a handful of systems in the country where a student cannot apply with the Common App. Because the application is demanding, it makes sense for applicants to apply to at least a few of the campuses if they are committed to the application.
The UCs have recently been making news for smashing their prior records for the number of students who have applied as first year applicants. This has made the campuses with strong name-recognition outside of the state (looking at you, Berkeley & UCLA) extremely competitive with acceptance rates on par with the most highly selective colleges in the country. UCLA claims to be “the most sought after college in the country” based on its applicant numbers, and boasts a 32% increase this year in “students ranking in the top 9%” of their graduating class.
Remember that these are public universities of the state of California, and recently the state has been moving to require the most competitive campuses to increase their proportion of CA residents over out of state students. Berkeley is even facing a lawsuit that looks like it will require the campus to reduce offers and enrollment in the coming years.
2. Yes, the UCs have gone test blind.
The UCs have recently adopted a fully test blind policy, meaning that testing is not evaluated, and it is not an option to provide your SAT or ACT scores as a part of your application to the UCs. With this shift, the rigor of a student’s program, grades earned, and excellence, depth, and impact of activities are even more important. The test blind policy has made it more competitive for students to gain admission as this policy is contributing to the higher application numbers and lower acceptance rates. Oh, and they also will not read your letters of recommendation. The good news is, the UCs are transparent about the 13 criteria they use in evaluating applications. If you plan to apply, read these carefully and consider how you can bring these to light in the required application essays, known as “Personal Information Questions.”
3. Check the requirements, and plan ahead.
The UCs also have specific high school course requirements, aligned to the California state requirements. They refer to these as the “A-G” requirements and you’ll want to make sure that you are planning ahead throughout high school to meet these to be considered as an applicant. Most students who are taking a rigorous program in high school are on track to meet these. The one that we find most catches students off guard is the arts requirement. The UCs require that an applicant has completed two semesters in the same artistic discipline – dance, music, theater, visual or interdisciplinary arts. The courses can be taken in different years and on different topics (think ceramics and painting) but must be within the same discipline.
Students who are considering University of California schools should also consider the California State system; though many of these schools are also quite competitive, several offer higher acceptance rates for out of state students than their UC counterparts. Those who are truly invested in applying to the UC colleges will benefit from in-depth exploration of the offerings at each campus, good long-range planning, and realistic expectations about how competitive their applicant pools are.