During an already stressful college application season, the University of California (UC) school system experienced technical difficulties the night before the deadline, preventing many from submitting their applications. Both the UC and California State University (CSU) application deadlines, which were originally on Sunday, November 30, were pushed back. The UC’s deadline was extended to Friday, December 4, while the CSUs extended theirs to Tuesday, December 15.
The UC system’s outage, caused by an issue with the server, led to a crash that lasted three hours on Sunday, November 29. As a result, many applicants could not submit their Fall 2021 applications for both scholarships and undergraduate admissions.
Stett Holbrook, Senior Communications Strategist at the UC Office of the President, addressed the distress and panic caused by the difficulties surrounding submission. “The University therefore decided to extend the deadline,” Holbrook said, “In hopes that the additional time will help reduce the anxiety around the application process and deadline.” Holbrook also mentioned that the UC Technology Team was closely monitoring the system to ensure that all servers were functioning properly until the extended deadline.
Susanne Goldstein, a BHS senior in Academic Choice (AC), experienced the UC technical difficulties on Sunday night, when she had planned to submit her application. She said that the website was completely dysfunctional for over three hours, so she ended up submitting her application on Monday. Though she turned in her application before the original deadline, the extra time to work on it allowed her to double check everything without the stress or worry of not submitting it in time. She added that Mary Jacobs and the essay readers from the College and Career Center (CCC) were all extremely helpful when it came to UC application.
“They were definitely a resource that I would recommend to any BHS senior that’s applying to college right now,” said Goldstein.
This new extension provided an opportunity for students who weren’t originally able to apply to reconsider doing so. Holbrook acknowledged these new applicants and said, “All students who had not completed their application will be notified of the extension,” and later announced that the UC system would be reaching out to high schools and college counselors to inform them of the extension.
While some were burdened by technical difficulties, many were able to take advantage of the extended due date. Though she didn’t experience technology issues herself, Communication Arts and Sciences (CAS) senior Ava Clason utilized the additional time to finalize and perfect her application. “I was close to not submitting my application because of stress and lack of motivation,” Clason said. “The extra few days allowed me to submit something I feel genuinely good about.”
Update: An earlier version of this story stated that the CSU deadline was extended due to technical difficulties, which is incorrect.