Here’s me reflecting on my university decisions

Unlike most college-related YouTubers, I only applied to 7 universities, and they're all from California. I've submitted applications to 4 universities from the University of California system, two from the California State University system, and one private university. The seven universities I've applied are San Jose State University, California Polytechnic University San Luis Obispo, University of California Irvine, University of California Santa Barbara, University of California Los Angeles, University of California Berkeley, and the University of Southern California. Because I am from California, I get reduced tuition as an in-state student for any California public university I've applied to. I've listed them under a computer science major or a computer engineering major. However, at the University of California Berkeley and the University of California Los Angeles, I've applied for electrical engineering, computer science, and Linguistics and computer science, respectively. I chose these few universities because I like to attend any of them. I know that College admissions are complicated and much luck based. So to make a relatively balanced list, I'd be delighted to attend if accepted. Cost is a significant factor when applying to these universities. Despite having a rather bad financial situation, I wanted to refrain from using ivy league universities or Stanford for their unreasonably high cost to attend. Also, I do not want to stay away from California because it's the only place for my creativity and career in the creative field. And that creative field is only in Los Angeles and Silicon Valley. I applied early action for the University of Southern California and the rest are regular decisions because they only offer Regular Decisions. Here are the results.

University Decision #1

The first university decision I received was the University of Southern California, which put me on deferral. I liked USC, so I decided to give it a go for the regular decision application cycle. I applied early to USC because my mother wanted me to get scholarships. She didn't know explicitly, but I told her that using early action does allow USC to award scholarships to incoming students. However, I worked on the application for three weeks, and the essays were horrible. I'll discuss them later. After seeing the early action decision, I didn't care. My stats were quite average to be considered for any scholarships the university provided. I believed I'd get rejected anyway, and it was a reach university. I assumed myself getting into other universities that were way more affordable than USC. The university only offered student loans, which could have served me better.

and I didn't care about the University of Southern California, because I have a good idea about the decisions.

University Decision #2

The second university decision I received was San Jose State University, where the university accepted me. Receiving an acceptance letter surprised me because I applied to the university as a computer science student, and the GPA cutoff was extremely high. This university was my only safety school, but my major had a high GPA cutoff. When I applied to this university, the GPA cutoff for a computer science major was 3440. I barely reached there and didn't know if I could make it in this decision cycle. So, when the university accepted me, it blew my expectations away. The good news was that I got into a university. The university was great for computer science as it was at the heart of Silicon Valley, and I could get high-tech jobs there. However, it was my second university decision, and I still need to commit.

UC Irvine Campus

University Decision #3

The third university decision was the two University of California campuses, Irvine and Los Angeles. I expected Irvine's acceptance or waitlist and Los Angeles's rejection. Unlike the two previous decisions, I received these two decisions when I was away from home. I was eating at a Chinese restaurant in Dublin with my family. After eating, I went home and immediately went to open the decisions. The first decision letter for the day was for the University of California, Irvine, where it rejected me. Immediately after the rejection, I opened the decision for the University of California, Los Angeles, and I got waitlisted. When I saw the line "on the waiting list," I could not believe it. UCLA has a terrible acceptance rate (the most selective for a University of California campus) with an acceptance rate of around 11 to 8%, and a person with what I call average stats to join the waitlist was unbelievable. I told my sister and mother that UCLA had waitlisted me.

Like many people interested in highly prestigious universities, I went out of my way to tell my friends. Because of the university's horrible acceptance rate, it rejected a lot of my friends. When I asked my friends about the decisions on that day, only three people got in. I found two others who got waitlisted. From what I've known, one of those admittees preferred attending Harvard University and received admission in the early admission cycle. Unsurprisingly, the University of California, Irvine, rejected these same people I've met. And apparently, two people got Irvine, and none wanted to go. One of those admittees should address what happened in the decisions because this person committed herself to New York University. From what I've known, New York University only offered two early decision applications and one regular decision. And I've learned that New York University admitted this person in December, and December was usually the decision for early action/decision applicants. And when you apply early decision, and you receive admission, you must commit to the university and drop all the applications. So, even UC Irvine's results were quite random.

University Decision #4

The fourth university decision was the University of California, Santa Barbara. I finished school and came home to open the application. Before I knew it, UC Santa Barbara accepted me. I couldn't believe I got into campus at the University of California. So, I went upstairs to tell my mother about the decision, even though she had no idea about the shock value. I did show my mother my laptop, which revealed my acceptance to UC Santa Barbara. My mother read the decision and found that I got into the physics major, not the computer engineering. UC Santa Barbara didn't take me for the computer engineering major due to the limited spots for a class, according to the university. So, my mother decided to talk to my father about this decision. I should now commit to San Jose State University for the computer science program. Besides the significant acceptance, I looked at financial aid and got some assistance. I've received some University grants that halved the in-state cost of attendance, and I reviewed a gift to do work study at the university, which is very cool. Considering my poor financial decision, it was good. After going to the campus, this university may be the one to go.

University Decision #5

The fifth university decision was the University of Southern California. The conclusions should arrive on 30 March. But one friend of mine told me that the findings appeared today. From what I've predicted, USC will reject me. And after signing into the portal and clicking on the decision, the university dropped me. I didn't care about the university. USC is very expensive to attend, and I'm sure I won't get a lot of financial aid. I thought it was okay for the rejection because I didn't care about the university.

University Decision #6

The last university decisions were California Polytechnic University - San Louis Obispo and the University of California, Berkeley. Unfortunately, for both universities, I was rejected. California Polytechnic University - San Louis Obispo surprised me because I thought I could've gotten in. Even though California Polytechnic University - San Louis Obispo was the most selective California State University regarding the acceptance rate, it was still a good option for me. This university doesn't reveal any data regarding impacted majors, like computer science and computer engineering. I am still determining whether I can get into this university. And for the University of California, Berkeley, I expected a rejection, and I got a rejection. I applied for electrical engineering and computer science at Berkeley Engineering. For Berkeley, electrical engineering and computer science were among the most iconic Berkeley majors, EECS (eaks). Because electrical engineering and computer science was incredibly popular major, along with the success of computer science, it was an incredibly difficult major to get into. From what my stats show, I knew I wouldn't say I liked a chance. Besides Berkeley engineering, other departments were way more challenging to get into than Berkeley. One classmate from AP Literature got into the Berkeley Haas program, which was the Berkeley business school. Because of these circumstances, I didn't care about the Berkeley rejection. These were all the university decisions I'd received straight up. However, I have one more decision.

University Decision #7

This decision was from the University of California, Los Angeles, which appeared on 29 April 2023. I was at the gym doing a workout. After having disagreements when driving, I wasn't in a good mood when I returned home. Getting rejected by UCLA would finish my lousy attitude. It didn't, and it wasn't a rejection. UCLA accepted me, and was in the earlier rounds of waitlist admittees. I cannot believe it. It was my dream and probably the most prestigious university (besides the University of California, Berkeley). I wrote the waitlist gamble, and I've made a huge gamble. I ended up having 15 minutes of whispering, and I could not believe it. Then my parents asked me to go downstairs, where I told them of the acceptance. At this point, I changed my mind about going to this university.

So, I've shown all my college decisions. Although my predictions are pretty accurate, considering the randomness, I even see my expectations blown out of the water in some of them. I decided to discuss how the decisions ended up like they were.

Reflection

The first thing that can contribute to the randomness is the undergraduate application. I applied to 4 University of California universities which used the UC application. The application has only one deadline, which acts for regular decision but with an earlier date than typical regular admission. Within the UC application, you can apply to up to 9 University of California universities and pay a reasonable fee with a fee waiver. You answer 4 of the eight essay questions to use. Still, each university in the University of California system has a different preference. So, getting into all 9 of the University of California universities is rare. I would like to know whether the University of California considers campus preference for admission. The case is a thing for me, and I wrote essays with Irvine and Los Angeles in mind. Is access to all the University of California universities possible for many qualified applicants? The other thing is that the University of California universities are now significantly more challenging to access. The universities in the system I've applied to are challenging targets and could be considered reach schools. Some people believe they can get into the University of California, Irvine. But in my case, it isn't, and only two non-interested people in my high school got in. For most of us California residents, our state universities have admissions that don't correlate. One example I'm interested in is that only three people I knew got into Berkeley and Los Angeles. The rest got into one or the other, and I was one of them. This achievement was comparable to getting into all Ivy League universities.

The second factor for the randomness is how you polish the application. My application could be more polished, but I did my best. The essays were quite solid, in which the application and writing improvements gambled me into getting into the University of California, Los Angeles. I needed a robust application for the University of Southern California. Considering the acceptance to the University of California, Los Angeles, I could give more time polishing essays for the University of Southern California and get a higher score on the SAT, in which I can theoretically get the same result. But I've heard circumstances where some people got into the University of Southern California and not the University of California, Los Angeles. My major was the other factor that negatively affected my admission. My primary major is computer science, which is, as of 10 July 2023, a very difficult major to get into. My extracurricular activities could be better. I had nothing noteworthy nationwide, no national awards or anything like that. I didn't have a job back then and didn't have any research experience. I only had a little coding experience other than the one at the University of the Pacific (I didn't apply to this university). I was dedicated to YouTube, my time at Science Olympiad, and this blog. If I describe my application, my application was unique within my local area. If university admission doesn't consider the local context, I don't get into all universities I've applied to.

The most important example to me was the decisions from the University of California, Irvine, the University of California, Los Angeles, and California State University - San Louis Obispo. I predicted acceptance for Irvine and San Louis Obispo, according to Collegevine. Wait, you guys have yet to hear of Collegevine?

Collegevine

Collegevine is a consulting website that uses AI and counselling to help students strategise their college applications and get into their dream universities. You can make a student profile that lists your activities, grades, class standing, and other things like SAT, ACT, and AP scores. You can list universities and hire college counsellors to aid students in getting in. You can submit essays for the community to review and provide comments on making the writing better. Collegevine can use this information to calculate the chances for the universities the student is applying for.

I used Collegevine to create a list of universities I'm interested in applying to. I found the community to help improve the essays, and they did help me to get better results than I expected. And the admission chances were reliable until this moment.

One example that went the wrong way

The decisions from the University of California, Irvine, the University of California, Los Angeles, and California Polytechnic University - San Louis Obispo proved the admission chances from Collegevine wrong. The one thing Collegevine didn't do right was admission by major, which defined entrance to the California State University system. Irvine made sense as Collegevine stated its admission chance as 37%, which was noticeably higher than the acceptance rate. I had lousy confidence that I would get into Irvine, and from what you've read, I got rejected. For San Louis Obispo, it needed to make more sense. According to Collegevine, I have a 73% chance of admission to San Louis Obispo without considering computer engineering and computer science. But it rejected me, and some of my friends didn't find much sense in their decision. And for Los Angeles, I didn't know why it accepted me. I have this imposter syndrome where I question myself. Why do some highly desired and qualified people get rejected from their dream universities, and some ordinary people with something compelling to offer to get in?

Regrets during high school

Based on the college decisions, there are some stuff I've regretted. First, I went to high school with little of a plan. I didn't want to join many clubs because I was pleased working on my YouTube channel and preferred working for myself. I didn't plan to join many clubs for the first two years of high school, especially for the same reason. Second, I only mainly took AP and honours courses during high school, not dual enrollment. I only went out of my way to interact with as many people as possible to discover dual enrollment courses. Dual enrollment courses can allow me to skip AP exams. Considering the universities I've applied to, I should've taken them to waive classes at university and bypass the general education requirement. Lastly, I regret not having a long-term academic plan, and I can discuss it much.

My time management needs some major work to do, in which I didn't set time for essential things for the application. I've regretted not putting enough time to study for the SAT, which made me apply to the University of Southern California test-optional. I made the same mistake when preparing for the AP exams. Despite buying a thick preparation book, I didn't try to study for the ACT. My time management came from needing a long-term goal for academic success. I wanted to grow my YouTube channel during high school; university wasn't my biggest priority.

Lessons Learned

Throughout all this, I've learned a few lessons that changed how I viewed my life. College decision reactions showed that I'm fortunate, and being lucky defined many college decisions for me. I'm not the most qualified person to attend my university of choice, and I'm still waiting. Although I've worked hard throughout high school, I didn't bother to become valedictorian. I have a balance of what I can and cannot do. High school taught me a lot of lessons I can use for university.

Throughout high school, staying up all night was not a good idea. Most nights during the last two years of high school, I was close to not functioning properly. My peers tend to sleep during class and have other things to do, like other classwork. I hadn't had a class where I slept during class, but I was close to it. The other thing was that I knew when to say no. I thought there was stuff I couldn't trust most students, and I must say no. I didn't have much, but I spent quality time on them, which was great. But I wonder if saying no to the decisions made was fitting, considering my young age during high school. The positive part of saying no was that I've chosen courses I can handle. Although taking more classes is good for me, I knew they could overwhelm me.

I hope you enjoy reading this weird article about college decisions. Let me know in the comments.