Waiting

Waitlisted students at UC seem to face long odds at some campuses. From the San Francisco Chronicle:

As college-bound high school seniors spend the month of April deciding where the next four years will take them, many hoping to attend a University of California school in the fall are left in limbo — on the waiting list. It’s a tense waiting game with unpredictable odds, and for many students it may be months before they know where they’ll be attending in the fall. Data from the past three UC admissions cycle show just how much the odds of success can vary from year to year and from campus to campus. 

For example, in fall 2022, the more selective campuses, like UC Berkeley, UCLA and UC San Diego, also tended to be selective about their waiting lists. UC Berkeley accepted only 1% of students from the 2022 waiting list: 48 of the 4,650 students who opted in. UCLA’s rate was nearly as low, with 3.3% of waiting list applicants accepted, though the actual numbers were higher: 372 of 11,169 students who opted in. UC San Diego accepted 6.7% of waiting list applicants: 2,401 of 36,137 opt-ins.

Other campuses had higher percentages of wait-listed students admitted: UC Santa Cruz accepted 13%, UC Davis accepted 19%, UC Santa Barbara accepted 27% and UC Riverside accepted 40%.

But it’s important to remember that one year’s numbers do not have any bearing on what happens in the next year, according to Ariel Mazel-Gee, a college admissions consultant based in San Francisco, and Dale Leaman, executive director of undergraduate admissions at UC Irvine.

In fall 2020, for example, waiting list admissions were very high across the board as students grappled with new challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic, choosing to defer admission rather than have a remote first year of college, or changing plans for financial reasons. The next year, the numbers were much lower at most schools.

How the waiting list works

Most colleges and universities, public and private, have waiting lists where admissions officers place students who didn’t quite make the first cut in admissions, but could still get in if room opens up in the enrolling class. 

That means that during March, when students were receiving admissions decisions from UC campuses, some, rather than getting a yes or a no, got offered a place on the waiting list. 

It is common for students to apply to more than one UC, and thousands of students are placed on the waiting list for each UC campus every year.

While they can accept only one offer of admission, students can accept multiple waiting list offers — and many do both, taking a guaranteed spot at a less preferred campus while hoping to still get into their dream school. UC Berkeley had the lowest rate of the UCs for waiting list admissions in 2022: It accepted only 1% of applicants.

Students offered a waiting list spot had an opt-in deadline of April 15. “Statements of intent to register” by those accepted in the first round are due May 1. Wait-listed students won’t find out whether they made the second cut until after that deadline — anytime between May and July — as colleges calculate the number of spots available after admitted students accept their spots.

That means wait-listed students may have chosen a college by May 1, only to have those plans upended if they get off the waiting list for another school they prefer...

Full story at https://www.sfchronicle.com/california/article/uc-admission-waitlist-data-17908732.php.