Is this a mistake? I am devastated my child got denied from UC IRVINE and UCLA. What do I do now?

Question

I don t get it, now my child has to resort to going to community college because these 4-year universities denied her. She had a 4.5 GPA, 2210 SAT, 34 ACT. My husband and I are devastated because we have been saving money for her college fund. What should I do? Is this a mistake?

She did get accepted into some east coast schools but we want her to stay in California and attend a UC school for the prestige of University of California and cheaper costs.

Answer 1

You went from UCLA to community college? She doesn't have to go to community college, although, for the record, there is nothing wrong with going to CC and transfering later, employers nor anyone else cares. But, I don't believe UCLA or UC Irvine accept transfer students often. Anyway there are a few options.



1. She could apply for the following year, take a year off and do whatever. (I'm guessing you don't like that option)



2. Or, she could apply to another university (UC Merced, California State) she'd be able to get into either pretty easily. I imagine some of these schools accept applications on a rolling basis, so she wouldn't miss the deadlines for fall admission. Worst case, she'd start in the spring.



Obviously, she should have applied to back up schools. Ivy league 4.0's trying to get into masters programs apply to back up schools. You always need to apply to back up schools, always! Anyway, lesson learned. Your daughter, is I'm sure very smart and will be very successful, it's just a hiccup on the road.

Answer 2

There are plenty of good colleges that she can get into. I only applied to 3 CSUs because of the huge gap in GPA. People with 3.3-3.6 GPAs end up going to the same schools as the students with 3.0-3.3 because there are enough students with a 3.7+ GPA that fill up the seats in the good colleges. I know many people have gone to CC and transferred to UCI and UCLA and UCB, etc. So if she really wants to go to those UCs, she can end up saving a ton of money by attending CC. The first 2 years of college have been moderately easy for me (except for those darn physics classes). Some of my friends have been able to transfer to great colleges like USC and UCSD just by getting 3.7+ GPAs in CC. These colleges don't really care too much about anything else besides your GPA, I'm assuming so it's a legitimate option. However, I personally think that she would be better attending another university so she can use those 2 years to make friends, have more consistency in coursework, and settle into the college campus.

Answer 3

Before jumping off a cliff, consider this. I went to a Cal-State campus for two years before transferring to UC. I think I got a better basic education there than I would have at UC, in smaller classes, and for less cost. And the UC on my diploma looks exactly the same as the ones on those who went to UC for four years. This could very well be a blessing in disguise.



Also, there is a guaranteed transfer from community college to most UC campuses (not UCLA, but Irvine is included).

http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/transfer/guarantee/

Answer 4

There is no mistake. It sucks to not get in, but you can't do anything about it. You did say she did get accepted by some east coast schools, so if those schools have good recognition, maybe she should consider going to one of them. She is the one that is off to college so she should at least get to make the decision and yes, for her to get accepted means somebody else got rejected. But if there was no real intention of consideration to begin with, then applying to those east coast schools was just a waste.



She might be able to apply again to the UCs this November, if she is willing to take a year off from school. OR she can start at community college. But, if she commits to going to community college, she is pretty much there for the next 2 years. UCs have different admission requirements for transfer applicants (this is what she will be once she starts attending community college) and UCs would pretty much require completion of at least 90 UC transferable quarter credits (which is about 60 semester credits) of General Education courses and prerequisite courses for the intended major. It takes about 2 years of full time enrollment to earn that amount. Then she still has to apply for admission again. With California community colleges, UCs typically like the students to follow the IGETC general education pattern at their school, and follow www.assist.org for the articulation agreement between the community college and the UC for courses pertaining to the major.



Right now, she has three options. First option is to pick from those east coast schools, second is to take the community college path, third is to wait and not go to community college and then apply again this November for Fall 2017. Going to the east coast won't be cheap, but she starts the road to earning her degree right away and she doesn't have to apply for transfer admission later on. Community college costs less and she still can take classes that transfer, but she doesn't build a GPA history at the new school. When a student transfers to the UC, the UC GPA is still 0.00 because there is credit history there and its the same at whatever school the student transfers to. Third option is probably the poorest option, since if she didn't get in now, she might not get in even if she waited until then, but she would have wasted a year of doing nothing for her college career.



And what you should do is let her choose what she wants to do. You can voice your opinions and such, but in the end, its her that will be going to college

Answer 5

UCI and UCLA, while great schools, they are not the ultimate. My daughter and I used to live in Orange County and my daughter opted for an eastern school. When she went for her PhD in engineering she was offered slots at both UCI and Berkeley but elected to go to an eastern school for that as well. The California budget cuts caused almost all the top professors to leave and go east.



Besides she found it far easier to make great contacts in the east and it it likely she would never have worked in DC while getting her masters without her eastern degree. She worked in Congress and several DC agencies and is now a contractor to a major federal department making serious money. If she stayed in California chances are she would only be working at the state level instead of federal.



As well, in the LA area did you look at the Claremont-McKenna schools in pomona. They are higher prestige than the US schools. Harvey Mudd in particular has some of the highest starting salaries for its grads of any school in the world.



The issue with UCLA and UCI is they get more applicants than they can admit with better qualifications ar your daughter. Also note that a weighted GP means nothing to them. Only an unweighted GP matters.



Now you can either send your daughter, as a young adult, to an eastern school where she got admitted of have her go to community college though the transfer rate from community college is poor.



I still remember the day in 2004 that I put my daughter on the train at Union Station as she went off to university a long way away. Mind you, we were talking on the phone again before I got on the 101 and before she got past the 605.

Answer 6

Unfortunately, those school are hard to get into. However don't turn your nose up at a Community College. I felt a bit down because I can only afford a community college, but I am finding it has its advantages. Smaller class sizes means more individual attention and the chance to ask your questions and get help. I would also say that its not really for you to decide what she does now. Ask her what she wants, and be prepared to accept it no matter what it is.

Answer 7

What is wrong with a community college? She can apply to UCI or UCLA again in two years and almost have a guaranteed transfer. A LOT of college kids do this.

Answer 8

A lot of people do not realize that the deadline for applications for UCs and CSUs are pretty much up... So either look into community college and transferring later, or look into schools that having rolling admission so she can still apply. (I know CSU San Bernadino is rolling admission) She'll do great wherever she ends up!

Answer 9

Why wouldn't you apply to backup colleges? Sorry, but that's ridiculously stupid, like a Pepperdine, or California State, or Davis or Santabarbara? Why would you aim for top schools that barely anyone gets into, and not have any decent schools she could fall back on? Yeah, her scores are good, but so is everyone else applying.



What do you do know? Apply to backup schools that you should've applied to begin with.

Answer 10

Have you asked her what she wants to do? She might want to go to one of those East Coast Schools. She can always transfer if she doesn't like it, but it might be a great experience for her. I say this as someone who moved across the country, alone, to go to a prestigious East Coast School. Was this scary? YES. Was it worth it? HECK YES.

Answer 11

I'm curious as to why you'd have her apply to those East Coast schools if you had no intention of letting her go there. That's got to be disappointing for her, and also for the applicants who had to be rejected in order for your daughter to be accepted. Not to mention, a waste of those application fees. Seems like a pretty foolish move for parents who are so concerned about costs.

Answer 12

Support her again.

Answer 13

mistake, no. Luck of the draw, maybe. Displaced by a DREAMER - another possibility.