Hi, my question is about the chances for international students of getting accepted into UC schools (without external funding). I know there is an older thread about this topic, but I posted there and I got no answer, so I thought it would be ok to refresh the discussion with a new thread now that we are in time of applications.
So to be more specific, I'd like to know if the situation next year is likely to be similar to the one this year, meaning that it's going to be very hard to get accepted into UC schools. If this is so, it seems that the best chance is to get a RA for the first year, instead of a TA. Is there a standard procedure to get a RA (assuming that my application is strong enough to begin with), like contacting a professor and asking formally for funding, or should I just cross my fingers?