After months of waiting, the Universities of California (UCs) have released their admissions, and many Woodside seniors are excitedly announcing their commitments. The UCs released their admissions throughout March. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, 249,824 people applied to UCs this year, a 0.5% decrease from last year’s record breaking numbers. Some of Woodside’s UC bound students shared their insight into this year’s UC application and admissions process.
Admission rates
While the overall UC system’s in-state admission rates increased by 4.3%, according to University of California, the low acceptance rates of some schools can seem intimidating. Senior and BOSA secretary, Brody Brennan shared his thoughts on UC admissions.
“This year, the admission rates were insane,” Brennan said. “Out of [the six] UCs I applied to, I only got into two of them: UC Berkeley and UCSB…it felt more like a lottery to get in.”
Brennan has committed to UC Berkeley for political science. He was one of this year’s 125,000 Berkeley applicants. Berkeley has been ranked by U.S. News as one of the top 20 national colleges. UC Berkeley has the second lowest acceptance rate of the UCs, last reported at 11%.
UC Santa Barbara commit Ellie Axelrad shared similar feelings about the acceptance rates. UC Santa Barbara is a competitive college, ranking eighth in Forbes list of top public universities. Its acceptance rate is 28%.
“I was super worried that I wasn’t gonna get into any California schools because of lower admission rates,” Axelrad said.
This year had many speculating about what factors could have contributed to the lower acceptance rates.
“There was a baby boom [in 2007],” UC Davis commit Jadaleen Perez said. “So that could have been a reason. Also, a lot of out of state people are trying to apply. It’s just getting…more competitive.”
According to The New York Times, 4,317,000 babies were born in the United States in 2007—the most in U.S. history. Additionally, The San Francisco Chronicle reported that the UC system this year had 42,336 out of state applicants, a 28% increase from 2019. Both of these could be factors that contributed to the 1.5% increase in applicants this year.
Admission experiences
When applying to a UC, students have to fill out their academic history, activities, awards and personal insight questions (PIQS). PIQS are short essays where applicants get to express more about themselves. Applications had to be submitted by Dec. 2, 2024.
“It was extremely difficult because there’s so much [personal] information that you don’t expect to get asked,” Perez said.
The activities and awards section is where applicants can share their volunteering experience. Senior Bryce Jekat is UCLA bound and majoring in psychology. UCLA has been the most applied to UC, with 146,276 applicants this year. At a 9% acceptance rate, it is also the most selective UC. She believes that her community service and involvement is a factor that helped her get accepted.
“I was really involved in the Woodside community,” Jekat said. “I helped my mom with events, showed up and was helpful.”
Brennan similarly emphasized how important community involvement was to his application.
“I am on BOSA, I coach baseball and basketball and I volunteer hundreds of hours in my community,” Brennan said. “While I am not saying this is the sole reason I got in, I believe it definitely was a huge factor.”
Axelrad and Jekat both gave their advice to rising seniors: start working on your PIQS as soon as possible.
“I think the most important piece of advice is to start your essays now,” Jekat said. “It will make your life so much easier. Even just drafting a good base over the summer will be helpful.”
