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Stories from the data

Shorter reads than our research briefs — the questions parents and counselors actually ask us, answered with the numbers.

At UC San Diego, a 4.1 from out of state beats a 4.1 from California

UC admissions · August 7, 2026

Same GPA, Different Odds: What Residency Really Does to UC Admissions

At five of the six selective UC campuses, an out-of-state applicant with the same weighted GPA is admitted at a higher rate than a Californian. Berkeley is the lone exception — and the systemwide number hides all of it.

UC just admitted a record 102,031 Californians — the headline is true, and it's only half the story

UC admissions · Fall 2026 · August 7, 2026

A Record 102,031 California Students Just Got UC Offers. Here's What the Record Hides.

The most California admits in UC history — and a nine-fold spread in the odds between campuses. Why 'I got into a UC' and 'I got into the UC I wanted' are two very different sentences.

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo admit rate by major, from the live High School Reach profile

Behind the data · August 7, 2026

A Counselor Asked Our Tool a Question It Couldn't Answer

Engineering at UC San Diego has a very different acceptance rate than sociology — so why did our site show one number for the whole campus? A counselor's fair question, and what we built because of it.

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