College Spotlight is a very short introduction to a college/university or university system, with some fun and interesting highlights I've gathered during tours, meetings with admission staff, webinars, and research.
Hopefully these College Spotlight posts will help you determine whether a school could be a good fit and warrants additional research.
The University of California system is very popular with in-state and out-of state students alike. While there are some uniform features across the UC system, each university is unique and some will be a better fit for individual students than others. Interested students will benefit from knowing the following introductory information:
The UC system is quite expansive, supporting almost 300,000 undergraduate and graduate students across its 10 campuses.
All campuses except UC San Francisco provide undergraduate education.
Over 80% of UC students are from the state of California.
Transfer students comprise about 30% of the undergraduate population, mostly from California community colleges.
UC Berkeley and UC Merced operate under a semester system. All other campuses utilize a quarter system.
Some campuses in the University of California system have "impacted majors", meaning some majors have high demand and limited seats. Impacted majors vary across campuses.
The UC system does not participate in the Common App. They have their own UC Application that includes four essays called Personal Insight Questions (PIQs). Also of note: the application's A-G course
requirements are familiar to in-state students, but out-of-state students will need to do a little research to be sure they meet minimum academic requirements.
All of the UCs are test-free, meaning ACT/SAT scores are not considered in admissions.
While grades for 9th grade are reviewed during the admissions process, they are not factored into the GPA calculation. Grades from the summer after 9th grade through 11th grade are part of the GPA calculation.
UCLA and UC Berkeley have the lowest acceptance rates, and UC Merced and UC Riverside have the highest. Given the UC system's commitment to in-state students and the popularity of many of the campuses, acceptance rates for out-of-state students are generally a bit lower.
Each university in the University of California system has unique strengths and challenges, so it is important to research each for academic fit, social fit, geographic fit, and financial fit. The websites for each of the UC system campuses are below:
Want to learn more about the schools in the University of California system and which one(s) may be the best fit? At Growing2College, all families who select our College Search and Selection package receive expert guidance and full access to CustomCollegePlan, an interactive portal with extensive college information and research resources, task management, and application tracking features.
If you'd like to learn more, request a free 20-min consultation.
Kate Pedigo, M.Ed., CEP, NCC is a Certified Educational Planner and founder of Growing2College.
Join us on social media for college planning updates, tips, and resources: Facebook Instagram LinkedIn
Comments