UC admissions data now on Web
By Rotem Ben-Shachar
Oct. 2, 2008 10:26 p.m.
When applying to transfer to UC Santa Cruz, Saskia Salm was frustrated that she could not find any information on transfer admissions statistics, such as average GPA and test scores.
But the University of California is now one of a few universities that has recently publicized undergraduate admissions information, letting students like Salm access the information right on the Web.
The data is part of StatFinder, the UC’s interactive Web tool providing undergraduate admissions and enrollment data. The UC is currently working on a third phase of the program that will be released in early 2009.
“This tool seems extremely helpful,” Salm said. “I would have loved to have this when I was applying so I could better gauge my chances of being accepted.
The site, statfinder.ucop.edu was launched in late October 2007 after the insistence of former UC regent John Moores, who wanted to make admissions information more accessible, said Ricardo Vazquez, director of admissions and ethnic media for the UC.
Phase 1 provided the public with access to detailed information about undergraduate admissions from fall 1994 to fall 2007.
It allows site users to tailor their search to specific statistics they are interested in, such as high school GPA, SAT II math scores, gender and ethnicity.
While Phase 1 was based on undergraduate admissions data, Phase 2, which was released Sept. 3, focused on information about current UC students.
Besides including information on transfer student admissions, Phase 2 includes information on college GPA and UC graduation and retention rates from 1992 to 2006.
If students are interested in these statistics in a specific field, they can do a more focused search as well.
“The information that’s been added (in Phase 2) gives people access to how well people do at UCs,” said Sam Agronow, coordinator of admissions research and evaluations at the University of California’s Office of the President.
The UC is working on its final phase that will provide admissions information for all public and private high schools and community colleges in California.
“Students and parents can see how many students from a particular school were accepted and how they are doing at UCs,” Agronow said.
Amiti Uttarwar, a junior at the Harker School in San Jose, said she thinks the information that will be available after Phase 3 will be beneficial in applying to UCs.
But she thinks it is important to remember that students are admitted to colleges based on their entire application, not only test scores and GPA.
“I think this information is nice to have but not extremely helpful because you can’t see someone’s entire record,” Uttarwar said. “Someone who only took two Advanced Placement course with amazing extracurricular could be accepted to a school, while someone who took eight APs but didn’t do much else will not.”
The StatFinder site cautions users not to draw conclusions from admissions data on the site, since admissions is based on more than just statistics.
Currently, there have not been large efforts to publicize the site because the priority has been building the site.
As of early September, the site received an average of 6,000 unique users per month, according to a university press release.
“This number is still roughly the same, if not slightly more,” Vazquez said.
After Phase 3 is released, Agronow said, publicizing the site will be a priority.
“We hope to make the site more known to community colleges and high schools in the future,” he said.
Uttarwar said she had not heard of the site before.
At Palo Alto High School, the UC site is on the college and career Web site.
“Many students use this resource, but it is only available to junior and seniors. It’s great that StatFinder is accessible to everyone,” said Susan Decamp, a parent of a Palo Alto High School student and a college and career center volunteer.
In the future, the UC is looking into added information about Financial Aid and graduate school admission to the StatFinder site.
“Our goal is to make admission information as transparent and accessible as possible,” Agronow said.
