UC Admissions Drop Slightly for Fall, Remain High Overall for Pleasanton Students

Despite high anxiety during this year's college admissions process, nine out of 10 Pleasanton public school students who applied to University of California colleges won acceptance for next fall.

Ninety percent of Amador Valley students, and 92 percent of Foothill students, who applied to schools in the UC system got in, according to data provided by UC's Office of the President.

Admission rates for both schools fell slightly compared with last fall, but still exceed the overall admission rate for California freshman, 72 percent. Amador Valley's acceptance rate was the lowest it's been since 2004, when it hit 88 percent. Foothill's rate has hovered in the low 90s since 2007.

"It was a tense year," said Susan Shanker, head counselor at Foothill High. Because of the rough economy, she added, more students applied to state universities and the community college system.

According to the university, the fall 2010 admissions cycle included the largest number of applicants in its history: 100,428, compared with 98,119 for fall 2009 and 95,444 for all 2008.

Teri Hildenbrand, another Foothill counselor, said state budget problems have been "huge" for students.

"It's affecting their families. They're concerned about getting financial aid and not qualifying for it," she said. "One student was told, unless she gets a full ride, she'll have to go to community college. And then, of course, the CSUs and UCs have gone to waitlisting, so a lot of students are in limbo right now."

Amador Valley saw a marked increase in applications and admissions to UC schools, according to university and school district data. This year, 37 percent of its seniors applied to UC schools, compared with 29 percent the year before. This year's applicant pool was much larger than at any point since 2004, the period studied for this analysis.

(All school district data are preliminary, because final class size numbers, upon which admission rates are based, will not be available until June, when graduation takes place.)

Enrollment figures for fall 2010 are not yet available, but had remained fairly steady from 2004 (13 percent) through 2009 (12 percent).

Foothill High's admission and acceptance rates have remained pretty even since 2006, though the numbers are much improved relative to 2004. For the 2010-11 school year, 40 percent of its senior class applied for admission, and 37 percent was accepted.

Foothill graduates' enrollment in UC schools for the 2009-10 school year fell to 18 percent, its lowest level since 2004 (16 percent).

(California's Master Plan for Higher Education, adopted in 1960, requires the university to admit the top 12.5 percent of the state's high school graduates; California State University is to admit the top one-third.)

Amador Valley senior Andrew Bondale, 18, said there was "definitely a lot more competition" this year, compared with his impression of other years.

"That's the reason why people applied to so many schools," he said. (Many school counselors agreed with this assessment.) "People are getting rejected left and right. I got into Cornell but not into Berkeley. But getting into an Ivy is supposed to be harder than getting into Berkeley. It's totally screwed up this year."

Andrew got into many of the 12 schools to which he applied. In the end, he said he was torn between Northwestern and UC Irvine, but chose Irvine because it was "a better fit," and also because of the full ride he was offered to attend.

"UC Berkeley is too crowded and really cutthroat. I really wanted to go to Penn, but I didn't get in," he said. "It was hard for me to decide where to go to college. But Irvine was just a better offer. It's not that far away from Northwestern's rankings. And I get to stay in California. It's a lot of icing on the cake."

Historically, seniors from Amador Valley and Foothill are most likely to enroll at UC Davis, followed by UC Berkeley, according to the most recent detailed data available from the university, which is from 2008.

Though Foothill is smaller by more than 200 students, about 30 more of its seniors enrolled at Davis and Berkeley that year.

From 2004 to 2008, 383 Amador Valley students enrolled at UC schools. In the same time period, 524 Foothill students enrolled. 

Data from UC's Office of the President also provide demographic information about the high schools. According to the 2008 data, Foothill had a much larger Asian/Pacific Islander population (29 percent compared with 19 percent), and Amador Valley had a higher white population (70 percent compared with 61 percent). Otherwise, the schools' racial breakdowns were nearly identical.

There were slight differences as well in the education level of parents for students in both schools. Foothill parents, 43 percent, reported having obtained graduate degrees, compared with 37 percent of Amador Valley parents.

The Office of the President announced its 2010-11 admission data in April, including the unwelcome news to many California families that the state would provide funding for 1,500 fewer in-state students in the fall. Officials said out-of-state and international admissions had grown, and made up most of the 2,064 more applicants admitted this year compared with last.

This spring, 72 percent of fall 2010 California freshman were offered admission, compared with 73 percent for fall 2009 and 76 percent for fall 2008.