Record number of UC, CSU freshman applicants dealing with rejections

Published Apr. 7, 2022

BY MARCUS MICHIE

For the second consecutive year,  a record-breaking number of applicants and the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic–interrupted extracurriculars and limited opportunities for students–were felt by many Carmel High School seniors during their admissions to schools within the University of California and California State University systems.

“Internships and extracurricular activities were limited by COVID-19, which contributed to students being denied at a higher level this year,” says CHS college and career counselor Darren Johnston.

With limited opportunities and changes to admissions policies, such as the elimination of standardized testing from applications, many CHS students were met with disappointment this admissions season. 

“The UCs were a blood bath this year without standardized testing,” says senior Addie Crabbe, who applied to an assortment of in-state public schools, including UC Los Angeles, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Santa Barbara, California Polytechnic State University and San Diego State University.

Now, Crabbe plans to attend another of her top choices, University of Southern California, after being waitlisted at UCLA and rejected from UCSB.

Senior Stevie Dean expresses the belief that the UC’s policy of remaining test-blind in the admissions process contributed to his rejections from UCLA and Cal and being waitlisted from UC San Diego.

“Considering how competitive the process was this year, I don’t know if my SAT score of 1510 would have helped my application very much,” Dean concedes.

For some students, finding SAT and ACT testing centers was difficult throughout lockdown, with many centers closed and examination dates canceled throughout quarantine. Though public schools in California no longer require students to submit standardized testing scores, many private schools across the nation continue to give applicants the option to submit them.

“The SAT score might’ve helped me get into the private schools,” Dean theorizes.

Following their two-year suspension of standardized testing submissions, CSU schools decided March 23 to permanently do away with SAT and ACT scores, following in the footsteps of the UC system’s 2020 decision.

Though a lack of standardized testing may have muddled the waters of college admissions, an influx of applications to schools across the nation made admissions increasingly competitive this year. 

“There is such a manic increase in applications in every public university in the country partly because of anxiety and the fear of not being accepted,” Johnston says.

During 2022 undergraduate admission, 203,700 students applied to schools within the UC system, about 64,000 more than one decade prior. In a parallel, 59,004 students applied for freshman admission into Cal Poly, 4,395 more applicants than the previous year. Overall freshman applications to CSU schools have also increased, with 608,569 applications as of Dec. 15, an increase of 70,567 applications from the previous year.

“Acceptances felt like winning the lottery,” Crabbe says, “because the process became much more competitive among thousands of applicants.”

Among the record number of applicants, many with uncommonly high grade point averages, differentiating applications was difficult without standardized testing.

“Seniors had the most impressive transcripts and GPAs in recent Carmel High School history,” says Johnston referencing the fact that 30% of this year’s CHS seniors have grade point averages of 4.3 or higher.

With an unprecedented number of freshman applications as well as evolving admissions policies, many students are left discontent with the results of this year’s college rejections.