CA CA - Sydney “Syd” West, 19, University of CA student, San Francisco, 30 Sept 2020

[Lamima]

Also...kids get loans. The min for freshman year is like $5500. Or something like that. Taken out of the 45K. So 20K for each semester. Can also be on payment plan where they pay like 5 installments. So might not be likely she took much money and ran. Though the 4th installment would be due around now...so @ $12K could have been paid. Any idea what date she withdrew?

 

[Teche]

Wherever she might be, a nice fat check deposited in a brand new account with a brand new credit/debit card wouldn’t be traced. If she planned this, she could have emptied her regular account well ahead of her disappearance too.
JMO

DBM

 

[Birdie1212]

When I study the map of The Presidio and other parks or common areas, what stands out are the many buildings closed due to CoVid. I would want to search the closed and abandoned areas and buildings near the water and bridge. It would be great to know where she’d been living with her “friends”.

 

[dotr]

When I study the map of The Presidio and other parks or common areas, what stands out are the many buildings closed due to CoVid. I would want to search the closed and abandoned areas and buildings near the water and bridge. It would be great to know where she’d been living with her “friends”.

Exactly, had been thinking the same thing- checking out the empty buildings, especially office buildings that still have running water, electricity and maybe kitchens, some might even have some food!

 

[SteveP]

Exactly, had been thinking the same thing- checking out the empty buildings, especially office buildings that still have running water, electricity and maybe even kitchens, some might even have some food!

I agree. We are now into day 11 since SW was last seen or heard from. If I were her parents, I would really be pushing LE, and if I had the financial means, and from what I have read and seen, I believe that they probably do, I would have feet on the ground in Cali, trying to organize searches, whether volunteers or paid PI. I almost get the feeling that neither her parents, nor possibly LE, believes this is anything more than a voluntary disappearance. I think that is why it seems to be getting very little media coverage, and almost no press releases from LE. Sadly, with each passing day that there has been no reported sighting of her, I think the odds increase that she may have encountered harm, either at her own hands, or some0ne else's. JMO

 

[BirdieB]

Her Instagram update- She is now following two new people since Monday. She could have requested a while back but still interesting. She may be active? The people she is following is increasing.

My theory- I get she is an academically smart girl but I am still having a hard time processing she was posting public lingerie/underwear photos on her VSCO account as well as selling her bras on poshmark. That is not smart. The bikini pics are normal.. I know a lot of girls her age and know they would never do that. She also posted on Instagram a risqué photo and said “I’m going to steal yo men.” That’s pretty out there and seeking attention from men. I think she was doing more inappropriate things online and met someone for attention like an older man. Reddit also showed how she was doing sexual things on Snapchat. Someone could have connected to her emotionally and that led her to trust this individual.

 

[distracted]

This is what people assume and university administrators suggest but in reality the kids are socializing and getting out. My nephew started his junior year in August as a transfer student in the dorms and he is definitely not locked in his dorm room wilting away. When he comes by to have dinner he wears a mask and stays about 10 feet away from us outside because he says he has too much of a social life and doesn’t want to expose his elderly aunts If I could get close enough to him I would snap that mask right back into his face for that elderly comment lol

good to hear!

 

[distracted]

Her Instagram update- She is now following two new people since Monday. She could have requested a while back but still interesting. She may be active? The people she is following is increasing.

My theory- I get she is an academically smart girl but I am still having a hard time processing she was posting public lingerie/underwear photos on her VSCO account as well as selling her bras on poshmark. That is not smart. The bikini pics are normal.. I know a lot of girls her age and know they would never do that. She also posted on Instagram a risqué photo and said “I’m going to steal yo men.” That’s pretty out there and seeking attention from men. I think she was doing more inappropriate things online and met someone for attention like an older man. Reddit also showed how she was doing sexual things on Snapchat. Someone could have connected to her emotionally and that led her to trust this individual.

I really, really hope not.

 

[Lusitana]

Her Instagram update- She is now following two new people since Monday. She could have requested a while back but still interesting. She may be active? The people she is following is increasing.

My theory- I get she is an academically smart girl but I am still having a hard time processing she was posting public lingerie/underwear photos on her VSCO account as well as selling her bras on poshmark. That is not smart. The bikini pics are normal.. I know a lot of girls her age and know they would never do that. She also posted on Instagram a risqué photo and said “I’m going to steal yo men.” That’s pretty out there and seeking attention from men. I think she was doing more inappropriate things online and met someone for attention like an older man. Reddit also showed how she was doing sexual things on Snapchat. Someone could have connected to her emotionally and that led her to trust this individual.

None of that is inappropriate or risky, a girl is allowed to live her sexuality freely without judgement from anyone. Her social media paints a normal girl, to me. The “I’m going to steal yo men" is most likely a joke. Sydney seems like just another 19-year-old girl trying to figure out who she is and who she wants to be, exploring her sexuality, partying, having fun is part of that. All signs point to her being a little lost and confused about her future, which again, is pretty normal.

 

[10ofRods]

I keep thinking about how huge U.C. Berkeley is and how daunting it could be for anyone at any time. Back in 1962/3 when I was accepted by the U.C. system, I reeeeeallly wanted to go to Berkeley, even though, living in the Bay Area, I probably wouldn’t have been allowed a spot in a dorm. My Mom insisted that I go to U.C. Davis an hour away near Sacramento because it was much smaller and she felt I’d be overwhelmed at Berkeley (and maybe she wanted to be an empty nester ). We struck a deal that I’d try Davis for a year and could transfer to Berkeley if I didn’t like it. She was right and I stayed at Davis. So I wonder if Syd might have been better off to lower her (or her parents’) expectations and go to one of the smaller U.C. campuses. I don’t think employers really care where you got your degree, if that was a deciding factor.

I wanted to go to Berkeley too (from SoCal) but my parents had a fit. Looking back, I do think I would have been overwhelmed.

The reddit posts from Syd seem to indicate that her parents actually wanted her to stay close to home (UNC) and perhaps live at home. The reasons she gave for this is that the parents wanted to save money if she couldn't get into an Ivy or Stanford. She is the one who decided to take a gap year (no word that I've seen on her parents' view of this) so that she could re-try for an Ivy. I think she was the one who was driven.

Unless you're going into academia/top notch grad schools, no one cares where the degree comes from - only that you can perform in your job. She was wanting to be some sort of tech entrepreneur, so choice of university might play a role there in terms of start-up costs and contacts.

She surely could have gone to UC Irvine or UCSD and gotten a very high tech oriented education - but I'm not sure about their rankings in rowing, which was important to her.

 

[Birdie1212]

I agree. We are now into day 11 since SW was last seen or heard from. If I were her parents, I would really be pushing LE, and if I had the financial means, and from what I have read and seen, I believe that they probably do, I would have feet on the ground in Cali, trying to organize searches, whether volunteers or paid PI. I almost get the feeling that neither her parents, nor possibly LE, believes this is anything more than a voluntary disappearance. I think that is why it seems to be getting very little media coverage, and almost no press releases from LE. Sadly, with each passing day that there has been no reported sighting of her, I think the odds increase that she may have encountered harm, either at her own hands, or some0ne else's. JMO

Agree. It is inconsistent to both post that she is missing but have some secret knowledge she is independently choosing to disappear. Obviously, anything is possible. However, given that there is the possibility she has come to harm, it seems important to truly search proactively and in earnest. I’d want the bloodhounds out! I know it’s not that simple. But...

 

[technicallymissing]

Her Instagram update- She is now following two new people since Monday. She could have requested a while back but still interesting. She may be active? The people she is following is increasing.

My theory- I get she is an academically smart girl but I am still having a hard time processing she was posting public lingerie/underwear photos on her VSCO account as well as selling her bras on poshmark. That is not smart. The bikini pics are normal.. I know a lot of girls her age and know they would never do that. She also posted on Instagram a risqué photo and said “I’m going to steal yo men.” That’s pretty out there and seeking attention from men. I think she was doing more inappropriate things online and met someone for attention like an older man. Reddit also showed how she was doing sexual things on Snapchat. Someone could have connected to her emotionally and that led her to trust this individual.

If Syd has left on her own she's been awfully careful not to leave any kind of digital trail. No mean feat, especially for a young person who is most likely used to relying heavily on technology (most people I know don't keep cash on hand thanks to the prevalence of cash apps, etc). To throw it all out the window just to follow a couple people on Instagram? I'm inclined to think they were late follow-accepts for that reason.

 

[turanna25]

None of that is inappropriate or risky, a girl is allowed to live her sexuality freely without judgement from anyone. Her social media paints a normal girl, to me. The “I’m going to steal yo men" is most likely a joke. Sydney seems like just another 19-year-old girl trying to figure out who she is and who she wants to be, exploring her sexuality, partying, having fun is part of that. All signs point to her being a little lost and confused about her future, which again, is pretty normal.

The "I'm going to steal your man" thing was a popular tiktok video challenge people were doing a few months ago. Its pretty normal for a young person to partake in tiktok videos like that.

 

[ElizabethAnne]

In the Reddit thread, she spoke about her parents paying $15K to an admissions counselor to apply to colleges during the gap year, as well as retaking the standardized tests to boost her scores. She talked about taking 5 APs during her junior year in Chapel Hill which she said would have been impossible to do at Foothill High in Pleasanton because taking 5 AP courses at a time would mean you would have had to have been some sort of prodigy.

At least from what I've read, she never talked about what majors she was or was not accepted in. We don't know what types of classes she was taking at Berkeley or what was the outcome of the UC Berkeley rowing spot. She said she was given a walk-on spot, but whether that means a guaranteed spot or just an ability to try out, is up in the air. I don't see her on the Women's Rowing roster, and don't know if she was on the roster at the beginning of the fall semester. I did look on the Internet Archive to see if it had an older copy but could not find one. The reason her decision was down to UMass and UCB is because of the rowing spot according to her Reddit posts. She said in both cases, the rowing spot had guaranteed tutoring, preferential registration, etc. She also said that if she made it to the fastest two boats, she would get a free ride her junior and senior year, regardless of the schools (UMass or UCB).

I would think LE would need to contact the UC Berkeley rowing team coaches to determine what happened and when and whether her making that team or not caused her to withdraw.

 

[ElizabethAnne]

The other thing is that a UC Berkeley student was shot and killed off campus during the summer (June of this year) while she was taking classes presumably online from NC. He was 19. It is in all the newspapers but this berkeleyside blog does not have a paywall --https://www.berkeleyside.com/2020/06/17/young-man-fatally-shot-in-berkeley-identified-as-19-year-old-cal-student

One possible reason that she chose not to attend UNC Chapel Hill could have been due to the fatal shooting/kidnapping of the student body president Eve Carson several years ago. This murder at UNC Chapel Hill is still widely discussed in the area so she may have not felt safe going to college there.

I wish some of her friends would step forward and let the SFPD know if they confided to them the reason that she withdrew from UC Berkeley.

 

[legalmomma]

In the Reddit thread, she spoke about her parents paying $15K to an admissions counselor to apply to colleges during the gap year, as well as retaking the standardized tests to boost her scores. She talked about taking 5 APs during her junior year in Chapel Hill which she said would have been impossible to do at Foothill High in Pleasanton because taking 5 AP courses at a time would mean you would have had to have been some sort of prodigy.

At least from what I've read, she never talked about what majors she was or was not accepted in. We don't know what types of classes she was taking at Berkeley or what was the outcome of the UC Berkeley rowing spot. She said she was given a walk-on spot, but whether that means a guaranteed spot or just an ability to try out, is up in the air. I don't see her on the Women's Rowing roster, and don't know if she was on the roster at the beginning of the fall semester. I did look on the Internet Archive to see if it had an older copy but could not find one. The reason her decision was down to UMass and UCB is because of the rowing spot according to her Reddit posts. She said in both cases, the rowing spot had guaranteed tutoring, preferential registration, etc. She also said that if she made it to the fastest two boats, she would get a free ride her junior and senior year, regardless of the schools (UMass or UCB).

I would think LE would need to contact the UC Berkeley rowing team coaches to determine what happened and when and whether her making that team or not caused her to withdraw.

Rowing and college admissions. Oh my.

 

[Lusitana]

Rowing and college admissions. Oh my.

Yeah, I found that weird too. Didn't she play volleyball and softball in high school, why would she do rowing in college?

 

[SteveP]

Rowing and college admissions. Oh my.

I have to say, I thought the same thing!

 

[Birdie1212]

If Syd has left on her own she's been awfully careful not to leave any kind of digital trail. No mean feat, especially for a young person who is most likely used to relying heavily on technology (most people I know don't keep cash on hand thanks to the prevalence of cash apps, etc). To throw it all out the window just to follow a couple people on Instagram? I'm inclined to think they were late follow-accepts for that reason.

The Instagram thing is odd. New people can follow her now but there is no delay to follow others, unless she asked to follow private accounts and they just accepted.

 

[Birdie1212]

In the Reddit thread, she spoke about her parents paying $15K to an admissions counselor to apply to colleges during the gap year, as well as retaking the standardized tests to boost her scores. She talked about taking 5 APs during her junior year in Chapel Hill which she said would have been impossible to do at Foothill High in Pleasanton because taking 5 AP courses at a time would mean you would have had to have been some sort of prodigy.

At least from what I've read, she never talked about what majors she was or was not accepted in. We don't know what types of classes she was taking at Berkeley or what was the outcome of the UC Berkeley rowing spot. She said she was given a walk-on spot, but whether that means a guaranteed spot or just an ability to try out, is up in the air. I don't see her on the Women's Rowing roster, and don't know if she was on the roster at the beginning of the fall semester. I did look on the Internet Archive to see if it had an older copy but could not find one. The reason her decision was down to UMass and UCB is because of the rowing spot according to her Reddit posts. She said in both cases, the rowing spot had guaranteed tutoring, preferential registration, etc. She also said that if she made it to the fastest two boats, she would get a free ride her junior and senior year, regardless of the schools (UMass or UCB).

I would think LE would need to contact the UC Berkeley rowing team coaches to determine what happened and when and whether her making that team or not caused her to withdraw.

My daughter went to high school with her. It is common in that school system for all students to take a ridiculous number of APs. The demographic of Chapel Hill means there are many overachiever families. It’s a high pressure town.