UCLA and UC Irvine Dominate Rankings in Recent Study

AMY PATEL & AMBER MOLINA

STAFF WRITERS

Many elite high school students aim for a future at highly ranked colleges including Harvard University, Yale University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton University and Columbia University.

Two Southern California schools have been recently reported to dominate rankings: University of California Irvine  [UCI] and University of California Los Angeles [UCLA]. According to a Pasadena Times article, UC Irvine is tied with UC San Diego for ninth place alongside University of Florida. UCLA is now tied in first with UC Berkeley. The University of California schools dominate the rankings of best public universities in the nation.

For UCLA, this is the first time they have reached number one. UCI has also experienced a move into the higher ranks,

Since UCLA is not far from the city of Alhambra, many students apply there as well. But now that UCLA and UCI have moved into top rankings, this could mean more students applying to them, but also more competition as well. There is already much competition among the UCs, with UC Berkeley receiving over 90,000 applications every year. In fall of 2013, according to UCLA’s newspaper website, the university received over 80,472 freshman applications and 19,087 transfer-student applications for fall 2013 admission, for a total of 99,559 undergraduate applications. Likewise, 88,792 students from in and out of state are vying to enroll at UCI.

Now that UCLA is tied with UCB in rankings and UCI has upped as well, the chance of more competition is very likely, as both universities are ranked among the nation’s best.

“Even if I do not get into the most prestigious college, or if I go to a community college, I’ll still get the same quality of education,” junior Kelly Vuong said.

For those applying, it may be more difficult with more competition. But the chance of acceptance itself depends on the individual.