|
What might appear random in acceptances for UC schools has to do with that the application includes what other schools are you applying to and what specific programs are desired.
From this data, UCLA has the most total applications and would appear to be the most competitive school although Berkeley has the higher average test and GPA scores and most competitive of incoming students. Some of that has to do with the desirability of the location, some might also have to do with what programs the student states an interest in. I know that students that declare an interest early on in pre-med might be encouraged to go to Davis, for example. Likewise, the computer can take data about a student qualified for UCLA and accepted and can statisically determine the probability that if they were also accepted to UCSB and turn it down. It makes sense then not to offer acceptance to both - thus, leaving someone else well qualified for UCSB but not UCLA on the waiting list.
Sounds to me like it works about the same as RMF - you might get lots of acceptances but you can only take one?
Orignally when they went to this system, there was concern about student "fit." It happened that statistically more Asian students were ending up at Berkeley and more A-A students going to Riverside. At first this was thought a diversity problem or a location problem. It was later found to be a benefit because retention rates and 4-6year graduatation rates for minority students went up so they left it.
People just aren't applying to UC system schools from out of state because they are so expensive. It costs more to go to Cal than Stanford, for an out of stater it might make a lot more sense to go to Stanford.
|