Even top students finding it hard to get into top colleges

By MERRILL BALASSONE
mbalassone@modbee.com
and DEB KOLLARS
THE SACRAMENTO BEE

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An unusual season of disappointment, confusion and heartbreak has settled over the nation's college-bound crowd this year.

In a domino process of memorable proportions, a record-breaking crop of high school graduates has led to a record-setting stream of applications to top-tier universities. That, in turn, has triggered more students than ever being placed on wait lists or rejected.

For many, it hurts.

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PDF: Spike in application chart

"I just think our hard work should have paid off somehow," said Yashlee Nazi, a sen-ior at Johansen High School in Modesto. "I really have no idea where I'm going to go."

Yashlee has a 4.08 grade point average and is student body president. She takes Advanced Placement courses in English literature, biology, calculus and government, and racked up 400 volunteer hours with Doctors Medical Center and the American Cancer Society during her high school career.

She applied to four University of California campuses -- Berkeley, Davis, Santa Barbara and Merced -- and California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.

Over spring break, Yashlee received rejection letters from the Berkeley and Davis campuses. She is on the wait list for Cal Poly's engineering program, which turned away 400 applicants with 4.0 grade point averages, said James Maraviglia, assistant vice president of admissions, recruitment and financial aid. Yashlee is writing a letter of appeal to Davis, her first choice, where she wants to study biology to become a cancer researcher.

Decisions made difficult

Yashlee is not alone in her confusion over the ferocious college admissions process this year. Her friend Rafael Delgadillo, 17, was rejected by Berkeley, his first-choice college, despite posting a perfect score on the SAT in math, earning a 4.4 grade point average and packing his schedule with Advanced Placement classes.

Other students have found themselves in academic limbo this year: They have been accepted by some schools and must send an acceptance deposit by May 1. But they have been put on wait lists at others and won't know until after May 1 whether they can enroll.

Lisa Lodi, Johansen's college counselor, said her colleagues at other Modesto high schools also have noted that this year has been a roller coaster ride for college applicants.

"This is the weirdest year I think I've seen," said Lodi, who has worked at Johansen since 1999. "How do I tell the kids what to do? The schools have to be more selective, but what are they looking for?"

According to college admissions directors and school counselors, the number of high school graduates has grown steadily as children of baby boomers reach adulthood. The trend was expected to peak this year or next, but the intensity this winter came as a shock.

"It was the magnitude that surprised us," said Susan Wilbur, the UC's director of undergraduate admissions. She said the growing number of graduates has been accompanied by an increase in students meeting the UC's tough entrance requirements, creating even more competition.

Overall, freshman applications to UC rose 9.2 percent this year, from 87,213 to 95,201.

The University of California at Davis, which last year admitted nearly 60 percent of freshmen who applied, had the biggest jump -- 15.6 percent. UCLA, where fewer than a quarter of applicants were admitted last year, got more than 55,000 freshman applications.

Like most UC campuses, the Merced campus's admission rate decreased for this fall's applicants compared with 2007. Of 9,980 applicants, 7,658 were accepted, although UC Merced officials expect only about 600 to enroll.