Welcome Nurds!!!!
This is a continuation of my UCLA College Talks series and as you may know, the UC application has already opened this past Monday, November 1, 2017.
Instead of worrying you with "the clock starts clicking" and all of that, I want to give you an idea of what to expect when applying to the Universities of California.
Here are a few things I will repeat throughout the article: 1) You can edit any of the info you include in your application at any time before you turn in your application. Otherwise, you will have a complicated time trying to reach admissions, which is a possibility; 2) the UC's have a holistic admissions process, meaning that they are competitive to apply to, but they won't reject you for stupid reasons or even just one tiny reason. They look at all aspects of your application and consider everything as whole.
Basic Info
First thing's first, your basic info--legal name, address, phone number, etc.
You will also be asked about your residency. As you may or may not know, the UC's are on in-state, out-of-state, and international basis. They primarily accept applicants from in-state or who have lived in California for at least 3 years. Such people would be residents and should they choose to accept one of the UC's admission offers, they will pay in-state tuition. Otherwise, you would not be a resident.
Additionally, you will be asked about your citizenship and social security info. If you are an international student, you will be asked about other documents.
Campuses and Majors
Next, you get to choose the UC's you want to apply to. You can apply to as few as one of the eight undergraduate UC's (UC San Francisco is a graduate school and is the ninth UC) or as many as all eight of them, though be wary that if you get free/reduced lunch or qualify for other any other indicator that suggests that paying for application will pose as a financial hardship, you will only be able to apply up to four exams for FREE; any number of schools after the four free ones you apply to will cost you some dough you may not want to spend. You can change which schools and the number of schools you apply to.
MAJORS!!
Okay, don't freak out! You don't have to worry about which major you want to declare just yet. You have until the end of your second year to choose a major, so if you don't know what you want to do (or conversely, if you're like me, and you have too many interests), you can put undeclared. There's this misconception that colleges don't like when prospective students put that they are undeclared. That's dumb. Again, the UC's have a holistic process. As long as you justify why you are undeclared in your essays, you're as solid as this guy right here:
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Also understand that some majors are MORE selective and may require a supplemental application, which is an application on top of the UC application, which is even more time-consuming. You will have to choose these selective majors as your FIRST choice major in order for your supplemental application.
If you have more than one major that you may be interested in, you will have the opportunity to choose an alternate major for each school. If you get into any of the UC's you may not get in for your first choice major and instead for you alternate major due to the capacity of people or how impacted the major is. This can be changed once you attend the school--if you choose to attend the school. Additionally, if your first choice major is selective as I mentioned above, and you have an alternate major, and you don't get in with your first choice major, you won't even be considered for you alternate major. You just get in with that major or not.
You may need to take a breather after this part of the application. Please do so. In the meantime, check out this guy right here:
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| Ain´t he cute? I know, huh? |
Scholarships
Very briefly, you will have the opportunity to apply up to 16 scholarships, which you will be considered for if/when you get your acceptance letter.
The categories include academic major/interest; affiliation with group, program, or organization; career plans; ethnicity, national origin, or religion; health/disabilities; miscellaneous; school or geographic affiliation. Check the boxes if you feel they apply to you.
More Info About You
To be fair, all of the application is info about you . . .
So to be specific, this part of the application has to do with what languages you speak (your 1st/2nd spoken languages and which you frequently speak) as well as if you're independent or dependent, if you have served in the U.S. military, if you are or have been in the foster system, etc.
You will be asked about your parent(s)/guardian(s) and their jobs and educational background.
Academic History
You will be asked about what schools you have attended and when, the school's grading system (ABCDF, %, etc.) as well as its term system (quarter, semester, trimester, etc.), and all of the courses you've taken throughout your secondary education, what grades you had received in these courses, and whether or not they are honors/AP or not. Each year must try to fit the A-G requirements.
Please, please, please include summer courses you have taken, courses you have taken at other colleges/institutions, and courses that are in progress for your term at these schools/institutions.
Here's a tip: Don't lie. If you get accepted into one or more of the UC's, they will eventually ask for your transcripts to ensure that you're not BS'ing them. So have an excuse prepared if you do choose to lie about your grades to look better in your application. Warning: they will eventually find out, so you best tell the truth, even if you're not proud of your grades. I personally wasn't proud of most of my grades. I got two D's, several C's, and primarily A's and B's and I still got into UCLA, so please calm down.
Understand that grades don't define you.
Activities, Awards, Educational Programs, Volunteer/Community Service, Work Experience, Etc.
Besides the essays, which I will eventually get to, this is probably the most cumbersome portion of the application. I would suggest compiling all of your awards or in my case, all of my one award, and a list of everything you've done extensively. You can only put up to five activities per subsection. So, for example, you will only have to choose up to five volunteer/community service activities you have participated in, up to five awards, etc. So choose the ones that best represent you. You can eventually write an essay justifying these experiences to demonstrate that you weren't participating in stuff just to get into college and instead have a degree of passion in these activities and experiences.
If you haven't participated in much, that's okay too, considering your circumstances. Otherwise, if your school does offer a lot of clubs, activities, and such and you don't really participate or participate for a minimal amount of time, it'd be best if you didn't include this in your application unless you can defend that there's passion in this activity or experience.
You will have to indicate when you participate in each activity or program or when you received your award as well as the frequency of participation in hours and weeks.
Test Scores
SAT/SAT Subject Test scores, AP, IB, TOEFL or IELTS or other international external exams. This is pretty self-explanatory.
I do have a tip though: Show your good scores and your "bad" scores. The UC's don't want to see how perfect you are. After all, there's no perfect student. They want to see that you're able to fail and recover. They also want to see that you challenged yourself with collegiate material by taking an assessment. Taking an exam [and passing or failing] is a better indicator than not taking the exam at all.
Submission
I turned mine in on November 29th even though I could have well turned it in earlier. Don't worry. UC's don't judge you based on when you turned; they'll just judge you based on what you turned in.
My journey will not replicate yours and that is a fact. 100% affirmative.
Understand that it's not the worst case scenario if you don't get in.
What I am sure of is that I turned in my application, which is significantly better than not turning in my application, because, well, I wouldn't have found out if I had gotten in or not. And thank Mark Wahlberg's third nipple I did, because I'm actually going. I'm sure you have all heard of this quote, which at this point may sound like a cliché, but I claim to be a proverb: "you miss 100% of the shots you don't take." ~Wayne Gretzky
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