Every application season, the buzz around the University of California (UC) system reaches a fever pitch. Last year, the number of applicants to the three most popular campuses—UC Berkeley, UCLA, and UCSD—surged to a staggering 127,000, 145,000, and 137,000 respectively. For international families, the UC system has long been the holy grail of higher education, promising global brand recognition and strong job prospects. Recently, the UC system released internal tracking data