With the 2024 college decisions finished, University of California campuses have seen a significant increase in applications meaning a lower acceptance rate for this year’s applicants.
In 2023, the UC school system received a record-breaking 295,573 undergraduate students enrolled across all schools. Although this year’s statistics have not yet been announced, it is safe to assume that even more students are admitted compared to last year.
Some UC campuses are looking at a lower admission rate estimated by previous years’ statistics. For example, UCLA’s acceptance rate in the Fall of 2020 was around 14%, last year, the acceptance rate dropped to around 8.8%. Although it is unknown whether the admission rate of top UC schools will change drastically in the next year, the students who will be applying in the near future can expect a similar percentage of acceptance rates.
“My sister was in high school way before me and back then the competition wasn’t this high but now I hear from my friends on how intense the admissions process is,” said Kaila Kelly (12).
The UC application process and the stress of receiving the admission notice can be overwhelming for Seniors but there are some things that students can keep in mind when applying for the next round of admissions.
“They are really looking at a student’s extracurriculars, what you wanna do and what you want to major in and how that would impact the student. They are looking for what you would bring to the campuses and what else a student can offer adding on to having good grades,” said Laura Leigler, a guidance counselor at Aliso Niguel High School.
With the removal of the SAT and ACT in the UC school system, the admission teams are focusing more on what a student does outside the classroom and how they would survive in the real world. Of course, academics are still important but extracurriculars are being focused on more compared to previous years.
“They are looking for more California residents and giving them priority where in the past they accepted a lot of out-of-state students and international students because they want to provide California students more opportunities,” said Laura Leigler.
Students who are applying to colleges in 2025 can utilize this year’s data and compare it to 2023 to see the trend of the UC admission process to get a better understanding of what they need to emphasize on their application and what they might need to improve on before turning in their application.
