![]() ![]() The thing is that he did do volunteer hours, it just didn't shine through. Since my student was more math/science oriented he did not write about that in his UC essays. I called the admission officer at UCSD to find out why he was deferred and they didn't really want to tell me, but finally mentioned that maybe some students don't mention their volunteer experiences or show passion for them. He had very high grades, high SAT (700's) and activities/volunteer hours (but not 100). When he saw that UCSD letter he was very upset. This was about six years ago and it was something new they were doing. When my student applied to UC San Diego, he did not get admission to the fall quarter but was given acceptance to start winter quarter. It sounds like maybe her SAT scores were too low. People need to know that times have changed - it is much harder than it was when we were applying. Then the child feels like a failure because they "only" got into Barnard and not Williams or Brown when in reality they should feel like a success. ![]() There are plenty of kids who just overestimate their odds at competitive schools and plenty of parents who support those misperceptions, only taking their kids to tour colleges that their kids have very little chance of getting into, for example. It is possible however, that she got appropriate advice but she did not take it and overestimated her chances. In addition, she could have applied to San Diego State as a safety as well. It takes only checking an additional couple of boxes to include Riverside and Irvine and SB on that application. However, I agree with the poster who said that a guidance counselor or TA should have suggested some less competitive safeties - no one can use Santa Cruz as a safety. You don't have enough information to assume that the admission process misfired or was unfair. Maybe she received too much help on her essay or wrote a poor essay - that can matter as well. There are many factors that can lead to a student not being accepted to any particular school. She could also have failed to get all her a-g requirements and thus not even been considered. My guess is that her SAT was not sufficiently high, since a strong SAT could render a 3.85 sufficient for Santa Cruz. You don't say what her SAT was but the UCs use a complex formula comprised of SAT and grades. ![]()
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