College Decisions: Where I'm Thinking of Going

Two days ago, I received my last few college decisions. While I got rejected by a couple of notable schools such as UC Berkeley and USC, I did get waitlisted by UCSB and UCLA (although it's not very easy to get into UCLA if being on the waitlist). Additionally, I got into all of my safety schools, which includes Santa Clara University and UC Santa Cruz. Currently, I'm thinking about going to UC Davis or Cal Poly SLO as well as the aforementioned schools I got waitlisted by.

UC Davis

A photo of the UC Davis campus

I chose statistics as my major for UC Davis. UC Davis is between 1 and 2 hours from where I live, and my family knows more people who go to UC Davis than Cal Poly SLO. According to U.S. News, UC Davis is ranked #39 in National Universities, and College Factual ranked the school at #2 on 2020 Best Schools to Study Statistics in Far Western US. When visiting UC Davis last April, I liked how environmentally friendly the campus was, as there were many people who were riding their bikes. My UC Davis campus tour guide mentioned that bike theft is common on campus, although one can lock his/her bike to prevent it from being stolen, and students helped each other out when studying for final exams. The website Niche.com gave the professors at UC Davis an A rating.

Cal Poly SLO

A photo of the Cal Poly SLO campus

For Cal Poly SLO, I also chose statistics as my major. Cal Poly SLO is approximately 3 hours from where I live. According to U.S. News, Cal Poly SLO is ranked #4 in Regional Universities West, and College Factual ranked the college at #7 on 2020 Best Schools to Study Statistics in Far Western US. When visiting Cal Poly SLO last year during June, I liked the variety of recreational activities that were offered, and students often seemed to interact with each other. The college also offers a hands-on learning experience. However, most of the dorms didn't look too attractive, and Niche.com gave the professors at the college a B rating (although this ranking may not be representative of the statistics major in the college).

UC Santa Barbara and UCLA

A photo of the UC Santa Barbara campus

A photo of the UCLA campus

I chose statistics and data science as my first choice major for UC Santa Barbara and statistics as my first choice major for UCLA. UC Santa Barbara is between 4 and 5 hours away from where I live, while UCLA is over 5 hours. According to U.S. News, UC Santa Barbara is ranked at #34 and UCLA is ranked at #20 in National Universities. However, UCLA is more selective, with an acceptance rate of just 12% for fall 2019, compared to UC Santa Barbara's 29.7% during the same term. For UCLA, there is an optional info section, which I hope to get advice from my college counselor on what I should state. College Factual lists UCLA at #3 and UCSB at #4 on 2020 Best Schools to Study Statistics in Far Western US. I toured both UC Santa Barbara and UCLA last June. UC Santa Barbara is close to many beaches (my UC Santa Barbara campus tour guide stated that it took 42 seconds from where his dorm was to get to a beach), the recreation is good, and many artists perform at UC Santa Barbara. UCLA has a small class size, nice dorms, and is located in a safe area of Los Angeles. For both UC Santa Barbara and UCLA, Niche.com gave the professors an A+ rating.

Conclusion

It's definitely not an easy decision for me to decide where exactly I'd like to go for college, but hopefully I'll be able to come to a decision in the next few weeks.

The Pros and Cons of Closing School

Yesterday, I was informed that all schools in my school district were going to be closed for 4 weeks (from March 16 to April 10) due to the ongoing coronavirus cases. While the district does not plan to implement online learning, there will be flexible learning options provided. Currently, in a poll I posted on my Instagram story regarding the school closure, 78% of the people voted for while 22% of the people voted against the decision to close schools. Personally, I have mixed feelings about the closure.

The poll I posted on my Instagram story

The Pros of Closing School

• There's more time to sleep. I personally feel that I don't sleep enough during school nights and so it can be hard for me to focus during class.
• Schoology is where all of my teachers post assignments and lecture notes, so I can still keep up with the work they assign when staying home.
• I don't have to worry about tests. I often don't do as well as I hoped on school tests, especially in my math class (AP Calc BC). By closing school, I don't have to worry about any test anxiety I can get from any problems that I'm not quite sure on how to do.
• There's more free time. Since I'll mostly be staying home when school is closed, I can find more time to do activities that I enjoy, such as playing the piano.

The Cons of Closing School

• School will resume on April 13, which is less than a month from AP testing. Unless College Board decides to cancel or at least postpone AP testing, I don't know if I'll feel prepared to do well on my AP tests (particularly BC calc).
• I heard that nearby school districts (e.g. Menlo Park City School District) plan to implement online learning, whereas my school district does not. I would personally prefer having online instruction because although there may be difficulties (such as faulty Wi-Fi connection at times), it is the closest the school district can get to in-class instruction when schools are closed.
• In Audio Music Production, one of the classes I'm taking this year, all of my projects are done on a computer in the classroom. Closing school would hinder my ability to finish those projects, although it is possible that the teacher might change the guidelines to the projects or postpone the due dates to them.

Overall, closing school is definitely a big change in my school experience since it's the first time I've had to deal with school shutting down. Such a change will take a great amount of time to adapt.