04.29.07
College applicants find making cut tougher
College applicants find making cut tougher
Extracurricular activities, excellent GPA not enough for some schools this year
BY LISA SCHENCKER, Californian staff writer
e-mail: lschencker@bakersfield.com | Saturday, Apr 28 2007 8:20 PM
Last Updated: Saturday, Apr 28 2007 8:26 PM
Golden Valley High senior Nancy Nasrawin thought her valedictorian status and long list of extracurricular activities would give her a decent chance of getting into an Ivy League school.
Graphics:
But in the end, her 4.5 GPA wasn’t enough for Princeton, Stanford or Harvard universities.
“I did everything I could do. I couldn’t have done more,” said Nasrawin, who will go to UC Berkeley in the fall. “They’re looking for something I didn’t have.”
For students across the country, this has been one of the toughest years for getting into big-name schools. All but three of the University of California campuses had lower acceptance rates than last year. Stanford, Princeton and Harvard also had lower rates.
“It’s because so many kids are applying,” said April Woody, head counselor at Centennial High. “The competition gets tougher.”
The lower acceptance rates mean students had to accomplish more than ever this year to get into many universities.
Stockdale High valedictorian Neil Mathur did get into Princeton. But he worried. He knew his superstar grades and impressive high school resume weren’t guarantees.
“It just always seemed so incredible,” Mathur said. “You meet such accomplished people and then realize you’re in competition with them.”
Raising the bar
The Ivy League schools have always been difficult to enter, but now so are many public schools. Many students across the state were shocked to receive rejection letters from some of the UCs, especially UCLA.
“I was surprised how competitive it was,” said Stockdale High senior Bradley Brown, who has a 4.2 GPA and a schedule packed with activities. “It’s an astronomical amount of pressure.”
Brown, along with about 77 percent of the 50,729 students who applied to UCLA this year, were turned away. Getting into UCLA this year was, in many ways, more difficult than last year.
Students admitted to UCLA had an overall GPA of 4.3 this year compared with 4.26 last year. The average SAT score was 2,007 out of 2,400, one point higher than last year. Though fewer than one-fourth of UCLA applicants were admitted, about 90 percent of those who applied met all the University of California eligibility requirements.
In or out
University of California spokesman Ricardo Vazquez said a few things made it harder for some students to get in this year. For one, the minimum GPA required to get into a UC school rose to 3.0 from 2.8 last year. Also, he said some campuses such as UC Davis and UC San Diego made fewer offers this year to make up for higher enrollments last year.
“There’s no question, some campuses are extremely, extremely competitive,” Vazquez said.
He said UCLA received more applications than any other university in the nation.
For the first time this year, UCLA chose applicants based on a “holistic” approach, meaning several readers considered each application as a whole. In the past, several readers considered different parts of each application. Readers also tried to take opportunities available to students into account.
Still, some students said the school’s choices seem as mysterious as ever.
For example, Brown didn’t get into UCLA but his friend, Stockdale senior Byron Alexander, did. Both have similar GPAs and activities. They thought they’d go to UCLA together.
“I really expected him to get in,” Alexander said of his friend.
Brown will go to UC San Diego in the fall instead.
How much is enough?
Stockdale senior Nicholas Simons, who has a 3.5 GPA and a mile-long list of activities, said he wishes he knew why some schools rejected him while others opened their arms. He applied to nine schools and has already gotten into at least four.
“You never know what they’re looking for anymore,” Simons said.
Maybe, he said, being Associated Student Body president, president of the United Black Student Unions of California, a track athlete, involved in church and an Eagle Scout just weren’t enough.
“Maybe I was taking too many challenging courses,” Simons said. “Maybe I could have taken lower-level classes and my GPA would have been higher.”
Stockdale senior Ted Chun — who has a 4.0 GPA, plays tennis and is a member of numerous clubs — said he wouldn’t have done anything differently even if it meant getting into more colleges.
“There’s always room for more, but you don’t want to live your whole life for school,” said Chun, who will go to UC San Diego in the fall. “You want to do other things outside of school.”
Keep your options open
North High senior Nick Northrop, who has a 3.9 GPA and is Associated Student Body president, said he doesn’t think he could have done more.
“I was completely maxed out, and that kind of still barely made me competitive,” Northrop said.
Northrop said he got into his first-choice school, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, but not the programs he wanted at UC Berkeley or Cal Poly Pomona, which he considered his safety school.
Though this admissions season has been one of the most competitive in recent years, many students said they were prepared. That’s why some high achievers applied to so many schools despite the application fees, forms and essays.
“We tell them not to put all their eggs in one basket,” said Woody, the counselor at Centennial High. “You’ve got to go beyond what’s required and recommended just to be competitive.”
Nasrawin left her options open by applying to seven schools in all. She said she’s looking forward to attending UC Berkeley and took the Ivy League rejections in stride.
“I feel very much like I’m meant to go where I’m meant to go.”
