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New Guidance Event: College Majors and Careers in the A.I. Era Wednesday 9/23/26

Class of 2028

Junior Parent Guidance Night

Meeting Agenda

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• Introductions
• Junior Class Officers
• Calendar of Events
• Campus Support Teams
• Graduation Requirements and College Kickstart
• College Data and Planning
• How to Get Help

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Calendar: Student Activities

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Calendar: Student Activities

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Calendar: Academic Announcements

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Campus Support Teams

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Our School Counselors

Ms. Saiki

Last names G-L

fsaiki@lgsuhsd.org

Ms. Allen

Last names A-B and M-R

eallen@lgsuhsd.org

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Mr. Safine

Last names S-Z

bsafine@lgsuhsd.org

Ms. Bernal

Last names C-F

mbernal@lgsuhsd.org

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Resources: SHS Guidance Website

With link to Toga Testimonies Youtube (college videos)

The Wellness Center

Location: �Next to the Staff Lounge & Copy Center �

Hours : �8am - 4pm during school days

The SHS Wellness Center Team

Ms. Thea (she/her) - Wellness Center Coordinator (dwidmer@lgsuhsd.org)��Victor (he/him) - Licensed Lead Therapist, LMFT

(vthompson@lgsuhsd.org)

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Ms. Janae (she/her) - Licensed Lead Therapist, LMFT

(on maternity leave)

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Ms. Kim (she/her) - Licensed Therapist, LCSW

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Ms. Abha (she/her) - Licensed Therapist, LMFT

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L to R: Ms. Thea, Ms. Kim, Victor, Ms. Abha

(Ms. Janae not on picture - maternity leave)

Purpose of the SHS Wellness Center

• Each student at SHS has access to up to 12 free therapy sessions on campus. The therapy referral can be made by students themselves, their peers, and also by parents �and teachers.
• When class is not in session (before school starts, tutorial, lunches, post school) - Wellness Center is a relaxing and calming space with free snacks, hot chocolate or tea. Students can play board games, do arts and crafts, listen to music and be with their �friends. There are also peer support groups that interested students can join and receive volunteer hours. In addition, there are therapy dogs available most days during Tutorial for extra support.
• When class is in session - If a student needs a mental health break (stressed, overwhelmed, etc) they are able to come to the Wellness Center for 20 minutes after checking in with their teachers. They are sent back to class after 20 minutes.

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Important Upcoming Dates

• September 6-12: National Suicide Prevention Week - SoS Activity
• October 11: National Coming Out Day - Wellness Event
• November: World Kindness Day / Sources of Strength Training / Diwali / Thanksgiving

�Round table discussion with Wellness Therapists:

"Rigor, Resilience, and Academic Success"

• Part 1: Oct. 29th @ 6:30pm in the cafeteria
• Part 2: Jan. 28th @ 6:30pm in the cafeteria
• Part 3: April 27th @ 6:30pm in the cafeteria

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Why This Matters

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(Please submit referrals!)

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Graduation Requirements

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High School Req’s vs. UC/CSU A-G Req’s

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Transcripts:

• Check your credit summary

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Transcripts:

• If you did a summer course, make sure the transcript is sent to Ms. Hsu- our registrar- shs-registrar@lgsuhsd.org
• Are you scheduled in the correct courses to keep you on track for graduation?
• Any D’s or F’s on your transcript?
• Make sure you speak to your guidance counselor

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SAT vs. ACT

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Suggested Testing Schedule

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Please don’t wait too long to sign up, to prevent multi-hour Saturday drives

College Kickstart

Access granted for Juniors in January 2027

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College Kickstart: An Effective Tool for Building Your College Application List:

Available for Rising Juniors/First Semester Seniors January-January

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College Kickstart: An Effective Tool for Building Your College Application List

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To craft an early application strategy, employ early strategy

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College Kickstart: An Effective Tool for Building Your College Application List

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To improve the letter grade of your list and find more targets, employ list fixer

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College Kickstart: An Effective Tool for Building Your College Application List

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To find colleges that offer specific programs or attributes, employ tags

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SHS College Info and Data

Presented by Sierra Ward

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CCC Advisor: Sierra Ward, she/her

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• 27 years of experience (7 college admissions, 20 college counseling)
• 300+ college visits
• Executive Board & committee chairs of professional ass’n
• Counselor Advisory Boards
• College apps, essays, balanced lists
• College campus visit itineraries
• College admissions rep visits to Saratoga HS
• Stats & data
• Financial aid & scholarships
• Military recruiters
• Jobs & careers, volunteering
• Individual meetings w juniors/parents begin in Dec./Jan.

SHS Class Of 2026 Matriculations

83 unique colleges (96 for ‘25, 76 for ‘24, 92 for ‘23)

1. Arizona St.
2. Berklee/Music
3. Boston College
4. Boston U
5. UBC/British Columbia
6. Bryn Mawr
7. CalTech
8. Carleton
9. Carnegie Mellon
10. Case Western
11. Chapman
12. Colorado
13. Columbia
14. Cooper Union
15. Cornell
16. CSU-Cal Poly-SLO
17. CSU-San Diego St.
18. CSU-San José St.
19. CSU-Sonoma St.
20. De Anza
21. Duke

22. Emory

23. Foothill

24. GW/George Wash

25. Harvard

26. Harvey Mudd

27. Illinois

28. Indiana

29. Iowa

30. Lehigh

31. LMU/Loyola Mary.

32. Marquette

33. MIT

34. McGill

35. US Naval Academy

36. Northeastern

37. Northwestern

38. NYU

39. Occidental

40. Oregon St.

41. Parsons/New School

42. Pepperdine

43. Maryland

44. Michigan

45. New Mexico

46. Oregon

47. U of the Pacific (CA)

48. Pacific U (OR)

49. Penn St.

50. Pittsburgh

51. Pomona

52. Princeton

53. Purdue

54. Redlands

55. Rice

56. Rochester

57. Rose-Hulman

58. St. Bonaventure

59. St. Mary’s

60. Santa Clara

61. Stanford

62. Texas

63. Tulane

64. Toronto

65. Univ. College/London

66. UC Berkeley

67. UC Davis

68. UC Irvine

69. UCLA

70. UC Riverside

71. UCSB

72. UCSC

73. UCSD

74. USC

75. USF/San Francisco

76. Vanderbilt

77. Virginia Tech

78. Washington

79. Wash U

80. Wellesley

81. West Valley

82. WPI/Worcester

83. Yale

SHS Class Of 2026 Admissions data

Most applications (gold = California):

• UCLA 171, UC Berkeley 170, UCSD 168, UC Irvine / UCSB 158, UC Davis 156, Washington 147, UC Santa Cruz 130,

USC 128, Purdue 121, Illinois 115, Michigan 111, Cal Poly-SLO 93, NYU 86, Stanford 84, Wisconsin 83, UC Riverside 82

Most matriculations (overall = 82 unique colleges, vs. 92 for Class of 2025, 76 for Class of 2024; 92 for Class of 2023)

Purdue 22, West Valley 20, De Anza/NYU/Washington 12, UC Berkeley 11, Illinois / USC 9, UCLA 8, UCSD 7,

BU / Michigan / UC Santa Cruz 6, Stanford 5, Emory / LMU / Northeastern / UCSB 4,

Carnegie Mellon / Case Western / Foothill / Northwestern / Rochester / Santa Clara / UC Irvine / Virginia Tech 3

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Matriculations: In-state 121 (122 for 125, 109 for ‘24, 133 for ‘23) vs. out-of-state 147 (140 for ‘25, 143 for ‘24, 138 for ‘23)

• 2026: UC 41, CSU 6, CA private 38, community college 32, out-of-state public 67, out-of-state private 66, int’l 5
• 2025: UC 53, CSU 14, CA private 32, community college 23, out-of-state public 66, out-of-state private 74, int’l 4
• 2024: UC 48, CSU 12, CA private 22, community college 27; out-of-state public 78, out-of-state private 60, int’l 5
• 2023: UC 58, CSU 20, CA private 21, community college 34, out-of-state public 74, out-of-state private 63, int’l 1

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ED/Early Decision & REA/Restrictive Early Action (not EA/Early Action):

• ED: 112 seniors applied (~40% of Class of 2026), vs. 88 for ‘25, vs. 103 for ‘24, vs. 108 for ‘23
• 24 (21.4%) admitted, 28/(32% for Class of 2025); 11 deferred/4 later admitted (only 1 for Class of 2025)

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• REA: 29 apps (‘25 = 21, ‘24 = 19); 5 admitted (‘25 = 4, ‘24 = 4), 24 (83%) Denied or Defer/WL
• Stanford 20 ‘23→7 ‘24→8 ‘25→12 ‘26
• Takeaways: ED surged but admits dropped; use ED/REA wisely; REA eliminates many other excellent private EA options!

_{UC & CSU apps decrease, to plummet}

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• Self-reported, not broken out by major, course rigor, or GPA trend

LinkedIn, Top 50 Colleges For Long-Term Career Success

1 Princeton

2 Duke

3 Harvard

4 MIT

5 Dartmouth

6 Penn

7 Notre Dame

8 Cornell

9 Yale

10 Stanford

11 Vanderbilt

12 Brown

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13 Babson

14 Northwestern

15 UVA/Virginia

16 Bucknell

17 Wake Forest

18 Tufts

19 Washington & Lee

20 Carnegie Mellon

21 Boston College

22 UChicago

23 Lehigh

24 Columbia

25 Villanova

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26 Rice

27 Fairfield

28 Bentley

29 UC Berkeley

30 Colgate

31 CalTech

32 Georgetown

33 USC

34 Illinois

35 Richmond

36 Trinity College

37 Middlebury

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38 Michigan

39 SMU

40 Claremont McK.

41 Bryant

42 Wash U

43 Providence

44 Miami U

45 UNC-Chapel Hill

46 Lafayette

47 Davidson

48 Williams

49 Bowdoin

50 Purdue

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Paying for college

• CSU tuition = ~$7,500/yr
• UC = ~$15,000/yr
• WUE colleges (13 states) & Purdue ($28,794 since 2012-13!)
• USC $73,000, Michigan ~$66,000, NYU $65,000, WA $44,640
• FAFSA: opens ~10/1 (federal aid)
• CSS Profile: opens 10/1 (aid from ~300 private/OOS colleges)
• Workshops in CCC, for parents and students
• Get a job (including summer 2027!)
• Use AP credits (5 & 4, sometimes 3’s, save tuition)
• Beware the Parent PLUS loan! (can borrow high amounts)

Admissions News / Landscape

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• Recruited athletes can be 25% of a college’s admits
• Add legacies + donors + Board interests + other special interests
• Special interests include first-gen, low-income, rural/small town, North Dakota
• If you are not an athlete, are unconnected / unhooked / not special interest…?
• ED1 + ED2 may be 60% or more of colleges’ admits, RD = just 40% despite 90% of apps
• Admit rates vary by major: what is the admit rate for yours? (CS = problematic?)
• U of Illinois admit rate is 43.7% overall, but 22.2% engineering, 7.5% CS
• Admit rates vary by in-state versus out of state
• UT-Austin requires 90% in-state; admit rate = 48% for TX residents, 11% out of state
• UNC requires 82% in-state; admit rate = 43.1% for NC residents, 8.2% out of state
• UVA requires ⅔ in-state; admit rate = 28% for VA residents, 17% from out of state
• DEI / Affirmative Action / Int’l Students / Research Funding / Endowment Taxes
• Colleges remain committed to diversity, esp. low-income, rural, small town, URM
• Int’l students in US declined by 112,000 this year (largest drops = China & India)
• Int’l student apps dropped 10%; small-town up 9%, rural up 8%, low-income up 8%
• ACT/SAT: still mostly optional, no recent new colleges requiring scores, but…UC 2027?
• Extracurriculars: not just participation, but personal impact, prominence, leadership, differing from peers rather than cookie-cutter. Ability to be active, yet maintain grades.

CS and related fields: radical shift in expectations?

• Spring 2026: “Nationwide, enrollment in computer and information sciences continued falling this spring, down more than 8% at four-year institutions from the spring of 2025”

Once Seen As A Sure Thing, Computer Science Has Lost 53,000 Majors (8/28/26, Chronicle of Higher Education)

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Mathematicians Ask What’s Left For Humans When AI Can Do Math (8/19/26, WaPo)

�The Biggest Winners Of the American Economy Fear They’re Sinking Fast (7/19/26, WaPo)

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When Did White Collar Work Start To Look So Bleak? (6/15/26, New Yorker)

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AI Has Ruined The Job Market (6/2/26, The Atlantic)

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Goodbye, $165,000 Tech Jobs. Students Seek Work At Chipotle (8/10/25, NYT)

• “Among college graduates ages 22 to 27, computer science and computer engineering majors are facing some of the highest unemployment rates…more than double the unemployment rate among recent biology and art history graduates.”

College campus visits: suggested times

Labor Day Weekend (Sept 5 - 7)

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Fall Break (Oct. 10-12)

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Veterans Day (Nov. 11)

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Winter Break (Feb. 13-21)

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Long Weekend (March 6-8)

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Spring Break (April 3-11)

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Summer 2027

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Weekends: Bay Area, maybe SoCal / Northwest

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Be sure to include multiple Target/Likely, not just Reach!

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College Admissions Rep Visits @ SHS

Mostly In-Person In CCC, Sept.-Early Nov., Check Maia!

Senior & junior students only, please no parents

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Questions?

If you have any additional questions, please be sure to email your

Guidance Counselor and CCC/College and Career Advisor.

• C-F, Ms. Bernal, mbernal@lgsuhsd.org
• G-L, Ms. Saiki, fsaiki@lgsuhsd.org
• A-B & M-R, Ms. Allen, eallen@lgsuhsd.org
• S-Z, Mr. Safine, bsafine@lgsuhsd.org
• College & Career Advisor, Sierra Ward, sward@lgsuhsd.org

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