> Her own child was turned down by her top three UC choices two years ago, despite SAT scores and a grade point average above the 90th percentile. Her daughter ended up at a fourth UC campus.
Why not simply follows Texas' Top 10% Rule[1] ?
> The law guarantees Texas students who graduated in the top ten percent of their high school class automatic admission to all state-funded universities
This top 10% rule, (in conjunction with a minimum SAT to avoid bad schools) would solve that mom problem (assuming the child is above the 90th percentile for that particular school).