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UC Application FAQ
1. How do I apply to the UC’s?
2. What are the deadlines?
3. What do I need to fill out the application?
4. What is a State School ID number (SSID)?
5. Do I need to decide on a major? What should I major in?
6. Why can’t I select a major?
7. What College should I pick at UCSD?
8. What are all these questions about scholarships? Do I need to write essays?
9. Does it matter what I put down for my parents’ jobs and education? 10. Where do I list classes I took over the summer?
11. What if I transferred schools?
12. Do I list my school as semester, trimester, or quarter?
13. What grade do I report if I repeated a class?
14. How do I list Honors,AP, IB, or community college courses?
15. What is an A-G course?
16. What do I do if certain classes are not listed as options? Do I list gym or health classes? How do I list non A-G courses?
17. Do I need to submit all of my SAT/ ACT scores?
18. Do I need to submit all of my AP scores?
19. How many hours should I put for my extra-curricular activities?
20. I can’t fit all my extracurricular activities?
21. What grades to I put in for my current courses?
22. What 7th and 8th Grade courses can I include?
23. What is the 500-word optional comments section for?
24. What is Eligibility in a Local Context?
25. What are the policy changes for fall 2012?
1. How do I apply to the UC’s? All nine UC campuses use the same online application. https://admissions.ucop.edu/pathwaysF2010/Pathways
2. What are the deadlines? The application became available October 1, but the first day to send the application is November 1. The deadline is November 30, but the UC offices will be closed for Thanksgiving on that date, so no one will be there to answer any questions if any problems arise. To be safe, we recommend getting it in by November 15. SAT/ ACT test scores need to be requested by December.
3. What do I need to fill out the application? · Print out of your school transcripts (all schools attended) · SAT or ACT score reports · AP score reports (optional) · Activity list with estimated hours · List of any honors or awards you have received · Two UC essays written and ready to be uploaded · There are going to be some questions about your parents’ jobs and education, so having access to your parents at some point is helpful.
4. What is a State School ID number (SSID)? Students in California public schools will have a statewide student id number printed on their transcripts, other students need to leave this space blank. So if you attend a private school or school out of state, don’t worry about it.
5. Do I need to decide on a major? What should I major in? Pick a major you’re interested in and prepare a list of alternative majors. Even if you are undecided, you generally need to be “undecided” in a general area (Humanities, Social Sciences, Physical Sciences, Engineering, etc.). You will need to list a major and usually an alternate major for each campus, because they all offer different majors. (Berkeley is the only campus that won’t allow you to select an alternate major). There’s very little information about which majors at which UC campuses are the most competitive, but whatever’s most popular (and what’s most well-known for a given campus) is a good judge for what will be the hardest to get into. One of the big myths about applying to the UC’s is that it significantly affects your chances of admission if you apply to a lesser-known major (like agriculture). That is true in very limited circumstances, so you should not count on this to help you much in the admissions process for the UC’s. Unlike the Cal States, there are no official quotas for specific majors, nor are there many impacted majors for UC campuses. The exceptions are typically special programs at a given campus, programs such as engineering, which have their own unique application requirements. For most campuses, you are able to apply as undeclared. At UC Davis you are able to apply in one of four undeclared major options in the College of Letters and Science: Fine Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences, and Physical Sciences. They also offer an undeclared major in their College of Biological Sciences. UC Davis has a program for students who haven’t made up their minds called the Exploratory Program: link Also, here’s the list (created by The Princeton Review) of the three most popular majors at each UC campus:
If you’ve got several majors you’re choosing from, and one of the majors is on this list while the other is not, you will be better off and more likely to get in if you put the major that’s not on the list. While that is not universally true, it may make a small difference.
6. Why can’t I select a major? Certain majors are closed to freshman admission on each campus or requires an audition (music and theater). Check these links for each school.
7. What College should I pick at UCSD? UCSD requires students to rank their six colleges. The colleges were created to foster a smaller campus feeling (and stop any major riots during the 1960’s). You can major in anything you choose within the different colleges. The primary differences between the colleges is the amount of General Education classes you are required to take. Common sense dictates that less GE’s are better. Some other things to think about are location, food, and parking. A quick rundown of the colleges: Warren College:Easy GEs – 2 quarters of writing
Earl's Place (awesome alternatives to dorm food)
Close to RIMAC (except the hill)
Get used to walking uphill everywhere on campus
Horrible parking
http://warren.ucsd.edu
Revelle College:
Lots of GEs – 5 quarters of writing
Close to Bio and Chem departments
CLICS Library
Older dorms
Lots of parking
http://revelle.ucsd.edu/
Muir College:
Easy GEs – 2 to 3 quarters of writing
Really social dorms
Closest to beach
El Mercado – awesome Mexican food that takes meal points
http://muir.ucsd.edu/
Thurgood Marshall College:
Easy GEs – 3 quarters of writing
Dining hall open late (really good burritos)
Centrally located
http://marshall.ucsd.edu
Eleanor Roosevelt College (ERC):
Lots of GEs – 6 quarters of writing (the most)
New dorms but really thin walls
Nice layout
International House located within
Dining hall is architecturally beautiful
Plenty of parking and near RIMAC
Far from everything else
http://roosevelt.ucsd.edu/
Sixth College:
Moderate GEs – 3 quarters of writing
Newest college
Next to Price Center
Most tech savvy college
Doesn't really have a dining hall (Foodworx only that offers retail food)
http://sixth.ucsd.edu
8. What are all these questions about scholarships? Do I need to write essays? The UC application includes a drop down list of everything under the sun that might qualify you for one of their scholarships. All you need to do is pick sixteen things that you qualify for, from attending school in California to being a Jewish orphan interested in pursuing aeronautical engineering. Obviously the more specific the constraints of the scholarship, the less people you will be up against.
Scholarship Types: link
Scholarship Requirements by Campus: · UC Berkeley · UC Davis · UC Irvine · UCLA · UC Merced · UC Riverside · UC San Diego · UC Santa Barbara · UC Santa Cruz
9. Does it matter what I put down for my parents’ jobs and education? The UC’s ask for your parents’ current occupations and how long they have been there. For admissions, a student’s family income and level of parent education represent the opportunities that the student has been given in life. The UC’s love to serve as a ladder for social mobility, so they usually award unofficial bonus points when evaluating an application from a family in which one or both of the parents have not attended college. Answer the questions honestly, but remember that you are being evaluated on how you took advantage of the opportunities you were given. If you put down your dad is the CEO of a bank, you had better have an impressive resume of activities to show for it. Better to be honest, but slightly vague. Businessperson or banker will suffice instead of a haughty job description. To the best of my knowledge, what you put for income on the application has little or no bearing on whether you get for financial aid. What will determine financial aid is what you put on the FAFSA.
10. Where do I list classes I took over the summer? Summer classes are listed in the following year. If you took a class in June of 2009, it would be listed in your senior year.
11. What if I transferred schools? List each school separately, as the course offerings will be different.
12. Do I list my school as semester, trimester, or quarter? Most students know what grading system they are on based on how many report cards they receive. 2= semester, 3= trimester, and 4= quarter. There is some confusion when certain classes, usually AP’s don’t fit the norm. Don’t worry about classes that go all year or are off the normal track, just base it on how many report cards are sent home.
13. What grade do I report if I repeated a class? All grades for all academic courses completed in grades 9, 10 and 11 must be reported. If a course is repeated, both the initial and repeated course and grades earned for both must be shown. Grades earned in the ninth grade will not be used in the GPA calculation for admission purposes.
Only courses designated as UC-certified honors courses on the school’s official UC-certified course list may be listed as honors. UC-certified honors courses are starred on the list. To indicate a course is a UC-approved honors course, students should enter the appropriate two-letter code in the space provided: AP for Advanced Placement courses, IB for International Baccalaureate courses, HL for other UC-approved honors courses on the school's UC-certified course list and CL for transferable college/university courses
15. What is an A-G course? To satisfy the UC’s course requirements, you must complete 15 yearlong high school courses in academic areas (Social Science, English, Mathematics, Lab Science, Language other than English, Visual and Performing Arts, and College Preparatory Elective). At least seven of the 15 yearlong courses must be taken in your last two years of high school.
The official requirements: Link
16. What do I do if certain classes are not listed as options? Do I list gym or health classes? How do I list non A-G courses? Your school reports all academic classes offered to the UC’s, so they have a built in list of classes for you to choose form. However, if there were changes to the schedule you may have to fill in the academic class at the bottom of page. Make sure you note whether the class was Honors, AP, or Not Honors. Do not pick a class that is similar to one you took, especially if the honors criteria is different. Let your high school know if there are any major differences. The UC’s are looking to see if you took the most challenging coursework available to you, so they need to know what classes were actually available.
If you are not sure if a class is and A-G course. Look up your school course list here: link
In Section Six of the application, you will be able to list non A-G courses (anything other than History, English, Math, Lab Science, Language other than English, Visual and Performing Arts, and College-Preparatory Electives). This is where you can list gym, health, or any other classes that don’t qualify for the UC’s A-G courses.
17. Do I need to submit all of my SAT/ ACT scores? The UC’s use your highest sitting for your SAT scoring, but they require (highly recommend) you to send all scores to the UC’s. According to UC admissions, you only need to send your scores to one campus and all campuses will have access to your scores. This will save you some money for score reports. To be safe, apply early and check to make sure that your schools have received your scores. You may self-report your SAT and/or ACT results in the application, but you also are required to submit official test scores. Please order score reports from the testing agency no later than December 2009 for fall 2010 admission. You must take the SAT Reasoning Test or ACT Assessment plus Writing, and two SAT Subject Tests. For SAT and ACT test dates, see important dates and deadlines. You can get information about reporting scores for the SAT from the College Board. You can report ACT scores from the ACT website.
18. Do I need to submit all of my AP scores? Generally speaking, yes. Unless you cancelled your scores to an AP exam, you will need to self-report this information for the application process. You do not need to list planned AP tests for senior year. You should have already listed your planned courses with the AP class notation. AP Scores are used in the admissions process to validate (or invalidate) the grades you received in your AP courses in school. If you got a 3 on an AP, the UC’s would expect at least a C in the class. A 4 or a 5 would correspond with an A or B. Any discrepancy between scores and grades, though, will cause an admissions reader to raise an eyebrow. If, for example, you passed the course but received either a 1 or 2 on the AP exam, then the reader will assume one of the following: a) you blew off the exam or b) your teacher did not prepare you well for the exam (hence, your grade doesn’t mean you actually know the material). This determination does not prevent you from gaining admission, but it certainly colors their reading of your grades a bit.
19. How many hours should I put for my extra-curricular activities? Figure out how many weeks you were most involved and how many hours a week you participated. Admissions committees know that you don’t have consistent hours year round. What they want to know is how many hours you generally participate. Obviously, be honest for honesty’s sake, but also because admissions committees know when you’re inflating your hours. They see too many applications, so they’ll know what’s reasonable and what’s not. Try to portray a realistic scenario of your activity. Let’s say you participate in an activity that happens one day per month, for 4 hours on that day. You could write it as:
or you could write it as:
The more realistic view of the activity would be the latter, because it’s more descriptive of your time and energy of several long chunks, rather than something that’s truly spread out for one hour per week.
20. I can’t fit all my extracurricular activities? The UC’s only allow five options for each of the activity headings (5 Awards/Honors, 5 Extracurricular Activities, 5 Community Service, 5 Educational Preparation Programs, 5 Work Experiences, 5 Coursework other than A-G). You are limited to 160 characters in describing each one. Obviously, put the most important and time consuming activities first.
21. What grades to I put in for my current courses? For courses you are currently taking in your senior year, put the status as “In Progress” for the first semester, and “Planned” for the second semester. If your school uses a 4x4 system, then you should have grades for your first semester for half of your classes for 12th grade, you should put “In Progress” for the second semester grades for those classes, and you should put “Planned” for the additional coursework.
22. What 7th and 8th Grade courses can I include? Language other than English and UC-approved math courses that are completed successfully in the seventh and eighth grades will be used if they are on the high school transcript and show letter grades and credits. Generally, Algebra 1, Geometry 1, Algebra 2, and beyond, if taken in 7th or 8th grade, will all be included in the college application process. Like ninth-grade courses, the grades are not factored into the GPA.
23. What is the 500-word optional comments section for? The 500-word section is NOT another essay. It’s truly optional. Among its many uses are: a) The chance to explain any deficiencies in your grades, test scores, or extra-curricular activities. You only need to do this if your application has significant holes in need of additional explanation (other than your personal essays). I have probably told you if this is the case, but if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask. b) The chance to explain any information about how your high school allows students to take particular classes, the number of AP courses offered, etc. You only need to do this if your high school is relatively new (e.g. Canyon Crest) or if there is a critical piece of information needed to interpret your transcript. c) The chance to elaborate on any coursework or activities that you did not have space to elaborate on in the other sections of the application. Need to explain a particular position you held that you couldn’t fit into the activities section? Do so here. Again, this is not a section to brag, and only include additional information if it truly does not fit in the other portions of the application.
24. What is Eligibility in a Local Context? ELC is a program that guarantees students who are in the top 4% of their high school class admission to a UC. This guarantee is only for one of the nine UC campuses and usually does not include UCLA, Berkeley, or UCSD. Davis, Riverside, Santa Cruz, Merced and Of course, this is only one of several ways to be admitted into a UC, so you’re definitely able to get in even if you do not qualify under ELC. Link: http://www.ucop.edu/sas/elc/eligibilityinfo.html
25. What are the policy changes for fall 2012? The new rules will take effect for the fall 2012 entering class regardless of when you graduate high school. All students who complete 11 of the 15 UC-required college prep classes (a-g) courses by the end of 11th grade with at least a 3.0 GPA and take the SAT or ACT can apply. Two groups of students who meet the basic requirements will be guaranteed a spot within the UC system (not necessarily the school of their choice): those who fall in the top 9% of all high school graduates statewide and those who rank in the top 9% of their own high school graduating class. These groups are considered Eligible in a Local Context (ELC). The big changes from earlier policies:
2. What are the deadlines?
3. What do I need to fill out the application?
4. What is a State School ID number (SSID)?
5. Do I need to decide on a major? What should I major in?
6. Why can’t I select a major?
7. What College should I pick at UCSD?
8. What are all these questions about scholarships? Do I need to write essays?
9. Does it matter what I put down for my parents’ jobs and education? 10. Where do I list classes I took over the summer?
11. What if I transferred schools?
12. Do I list my school as semester, trimester, or quarter?
13. What grade do I report if I repeated a class?
14. How do I list Honors,AP, IB, or community college courses?
15. What is an A-G course?
16. What do I do if certain classes are not listed as options? Do I list gym or health classes? How do I list non A-G courses?
17. Do I need to submit all of my SAT/ ACT scores?
18. Do I need to submit all of my AP scores?
19. How many hours should I put for my extra-curricular activities?
20. I can’t fit all my extracurricular activities?
21. What grades to I put in for my current courses?
22. What 7th and 8th Grade courses can I include?
23. What is the 500-word optional comments section for?
24. What is Eligibility in a Local Context?
25. What are the policy changes for fall 2012?
1. How do I apply to the UC’s? All nine UC campuses use the same online application. https://admissions.ucop.edu/pathwaysF2010/Pathways
2. What are the deadlines? The application became available October 1, but the first day to send the application is November 1. The deadline is November 30, but the UC offices will be closed for Thanksgiving on that date, so no one will be there to answer any questions if any problems arise. To be safe, we recommend getting it in by November 15. SAT/ ACT test scores need to be requested by December.
3. What do I need to fill out the application? · Print out of your school transcripts (all schools attended) · SAT or ACT score reports · AP score reports (optional) · Activity list with estimated hours · List of any honors or awards you have received · Two UC essays written and ready to be uploaded · There are going to be some questions about your parents’ jobs and education, so having access to your parents at some point is helpful.
4. What is a State School ID number (SSID)? Students in California public schools will have a statewide student id number printed on their transcripts, other students need to leave this space blank. So if you attend a private school or school out of state, don’t worry about it.
5. Do I need to decide on a major? What should I major in? Pick a major you’re interested in and prepare a list of alternative majors. Even if you are undecided, you generally need to be “undecided” in a general area (Humanities, Social Sciences, Physical Sciences, Engineering, etc.). You will need to list a major and usually an alternate major for each campus, because they all offer different majors. (Berkeley is the only campus that won’t allow you to select an alternate major). There’s very little information about which majors at which UC campuses are the most competitive, but whatever’s most popular (and what’s most well-known for a given campus) is a good judge for what will be the hardest to get into. One of the big myths about applying to the UC’s is that it significantly affects your chances of admission if you apply to a lesser-known major (like agriculture). That is true in very limited circumstances, so you should not count on this to help you much in the admissions process for the UC’s. Unlike the Cal States, there are no official quotas for specific majors, nor are there many impacted majors for UC campuses. The exceptions are typically special programs at a given campus, programs such as engineering, which have their own unique application requirements. For most campuses, you are able to apply as undeclared. At UC Davis you are able to apply in one of four undeclared major options in the College of Letters and Science: Fine Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences, and Physical Sciences. They also offer an undeclared major in their College of Biological Sciences. UC Davis has a program for students who haven’t made up their minds called the Exploratory Program: link Also, here’s the list (created by The Princeton Review) of the three most popular majors at each UC campus:
| Campus | Princeton Review – Top Majors | College Board – Top Majors |
| UCLA | Biology/Biological Sciences, General Political Science and Government, General Psychology, General |
|
| Berkeley | Computer Engineering, General English Language and Literature, General Political Science and Government, General |
|
| UCSD | Economics, General Microbiology, General Political Science and Government, General |
|
| UCSB | Biology/Biological Sciences, General Economics, General Psychology, General |
|
| Santa Cruz | Art/Art Studies, General Business/Commerce, General English Language and Literature/Letters, Other |
|
| Davis | Biology/Biological Sciences, General Economics, General Psychology, General |
|
| Irvine | Biology/Biological Sciences, General Computer and Information Sciences, General Economics, General |
|
| Riverside | Biology/Biological Sciences, General Business Administration and Management, General Psychology, General |
|
| Merced | No Data Reported |
|
6. Why can’t I select a major? Certain majors are closed to freshman admission on each campus or requires an audition (music and theater). Check these links for each school.
7. What College should I pick at UCSD? UCSD requires students to rank their six colleges. The colleges were created to foster a smaller campus feeling (and stop any major riots during the 1960’s). You can major in anything you choose within the different colleges. The primary differences between the colleges is the amount of General Education classes you are required to take. Common sense dictates that less GE’s are better. Some other things to think about are location, food, and parking. A quick rundown of the colleges: Warren College:Easy GEs – 2 quarters of writing
Earl's Place (awesome alternatives to dorm food)
Close to RIMAC (except the hill)
Get used to walking uphill everywhere on campus
Horrible parking
http://warren.ucsd.edu
Revelle College:
Lots of GEs – 5 quarters of writing
Close to Bio and Chem departments
CLICS Library
Older dorms
Lots of parking
http://revelle.ucsd.edu/
Muir College:
Easy GEs – 2 to 3 quarters of writing
Really social dorms
Closest to beach
El Mercado – awesome Mexican food that takes meal points
http://muir.ucsd.edu/
Thurgood Marshall College:
Easy GEs – 3 quarters of writing
Dining hall open late (really good burritos)
Centrally located
http://marshall.ucsd.edu
Eleanor Roosevelt College (ERC):
Lots of GEs – 6 quarters of writing (the most)
New dorms but really thin walls
Nice layout
International House located within
Dining hall is architecturally beautiful
Plenty of parking and near RIMAC
Far from everything else
http://roosevelt.ucsd.edu/
Sixth College:
Moderate GEs – 3 quarters of writing
Newest college
Next to Price Center
Most tech savvy college
Doesn't really have a dining hall (Foodworx only that offers retail food)
http://sixth.ucsd.edu
8. What are all these questions about scholarships? Do I need to write essays? The UC application includes a drop down list of everything under the sun that might qualify you for one of their scholarships. All you need to do is pick sixteen things that you qualify for, from attending school in California to being a Jewish orphan interested in pursuing aeronautical engineering. Obviously the more specific the constraints of the scholarship, the less people you will be up against.
Scholarship Types: link
Scholarship Requirements by Campus: · UC Berkeley · UC Davis · UC Irvine · UCLA · UC Merced · UC Riverside · UC San Diego · UC Santa Barbara · UC Santa Cruz
9. Does it matter what I put down for my parents’ jobs and education? The UC’s ask for your parents’ current occupations and how long they have been there. For admissions, a student’s family income and level of parent education represent the opportunities that the student has been given in life. The UC’s love to serve as a ladder for social mobility, so they usually award unofficial bonus points when evaluating an application from a family in which one or both of the parents have not attended college. Answer the questions honestly, but remember that you are being evaluated on how you took advantage of the opportunities you were given. If you put down your dad is the CEO of a bank, you had better have an impressive resume of activities to show for it. Better to be honest, but slightly vague. Businessperson or banker will suffice instead of a haughty job description. To the best of my knowledge, what you put for income on the application has little or no bearing on whether you get for financial aid. What will determine financial aid is what you put on the FAFSA.
10. Where do I list classes I took over the summer? Summer classes are listed in the following year. If you took a class in June of 2009, it would be listed in your senior year.
11. What if I transferred schools? List each school separately, as the course offerings will be different.
12. Do I list my school as semester, trimester, or quarter? Most students know what grading system they are on based on how many report cards they receive. 2= semester, 3= trimester, and 4= quarter. There is some confusion when certain classes, usually AP’s don’t fit the norm. Don’t worry about classes that go all year or are off the normal track, just base it on how many report cards are sent home.
13. What grade do I report if I repeated a class? All grades for all academic courses completed in grades 9, 10 and 11 must be reported. If a course is repeated, both the initial and repeated course and grades earned for both must be shown. Grades earned in the ninth grade will not be used in the GPA calculation for admission purposes.
14. How do I list Honors,AP, IB, or community college courses?
Only courses designated as UC-certified honors courses on the school’s official UC-certified course list may be listed as honors. UC-certified honors courses are starred on the list. To indicate a course is a UC-approved honors course, students should enter the appropriate two-letter code in the space provided: AP for Advanced Placement courses, IB for International Baccalaureate courses, HL for other UC-approved honors courses on the school's UC-certified course list and CL for transferable college/university courses 15. What is an A-G course? To satisfy the UC’s course requirements, you must complete 15 yearlong high school courses in academic areas (Social Science, English, Mathematics, Lab Science, Language other than English, Visual and Performing Arts, and College Preparatory Elective). At least seven of the 15 yearlong courses must be taken in your last two years of high school.
The official requirements: Link
16. What do I do if certain classes are not listed as options? Do I list gym or health classes? How do I list non A-G courses? Your school reports all academic classes offered to the UC’s, so they have a built in list of classes for you to choose form. However, if there were changes to the schedule you may have to fill in the academic class at the bottom of page. Make sure you note whether the class was Honors, AP, or Not Honors. Do not pick a class that is similar to one you took, especially if the honors criteria is different. Let your high school know if there are any major differences. The UC’s are looking to see if you took the most challenging coursework available to you, so they need to know what classes were actually available.
If you are not sure if a class is and A-G course. Look up your school course list here: link
In Section Six of the application, you will be able to list non A-G courses (anything other than History, English, Math, Lab Science, Language other than English, Visual and Performing Arts, and College-Preparatory Electives). This is where you can list gym, health, or any other classes that don’t qualify for the UC’s A-G courses.
17. Do I need to submit all of my SAT/ ACT scores? The UC’s use your highest sitting for your SAT scoring, but they require (highly recommend) you to send all scores to the UC’s. According to UC admissions, you only need to send your scores to one campus and all campuses will have access to your scores. This will save you some money for score reports. To be safe, apply early and check to make sure that your schools have received your scores. You may self-report your SAT and/or ACT results in the application, but you also are required to submit official test scores. Please order score reports from the testing agency no later than December 2009 for fall 2010 admission. You must take the SAT Reasoning Test or ACT Assessment plus Writing, and two SAT Subject Tests. For SAT and ACT test dates, see important dates and deadlines. You can get information about reporting scores for the SAT from the College Board. You can report ACT scores from the ACT website.
18. Do I need to submit all of my AP scores? Generally speaking, yes. Unless you cancelled your scores to an AP exam, you will need to self-report this information for the application process. You do not need to list planned AP tests for senior year. You should have already listed your planned courses with the AP class notation. AP Scores are used in the admissions process to validate (or invalidate) the grades you received in your AP courses in school. If you got a 3 on an AP, the UC’s would expect at least a C in the class. A 4 or a 5 would correspond with an A or B. Any discrepancy between scores and grades, though, will cause an admissions reader to raise an eyebrow. If, for example, you passed the course but received either a 1 or 2 on the AP exam, then the reader will assume one of the following: a) you blew off the exam or b) your teacher did not prepare you well for the exam (hence, your grade doesn’t mean you actually know the material). This determination does not prevent you from gaining admission, but it certainly colors their reading of your grades a bit.
19. How many hours should I put for my extra-curricular activities? Figure out how many weeks you were most involved and how many hours a week you participated. Admissions committees know that you don’t have consistent hours year round. What they want to know is how many hours you generally participate. Obviously, be honest for honesty’s sake, but also because admissions committees know when you’re inflating your hours. They see too many applications, so they’ll know what’s reasonable and what’s not. Try to portray a realistic scenario of your activity. Let’s say you participate in an activity that happens one day per month, for 4 hours on that day. You could write it as:
| Hours per week | Weeks per year |
| 1 | 52 |
| Hours per week | Weeks per year |
| 4 | 12 |
20. I can’t fit all my extracurricular activities? The UC’s only allow five options for each of the activity headings (5 Awards/Honors, 5 Extracurricular Activities, 5 Community Service, 5 Educational Preparation Programs, 5 Work Experiences, 5 Coursework other than A-G). You are limited to 160 characters in describing each one. Obviously, put the most important and time consuming activities first.
21. What grades to I put in for my current courses? For courses you are currently taking in your senior year, put the status as “In Progress” for the first semester, and “Planned” for the second semester. If your school uses a 4x4 system, then you should have grades for your first semester for half of your classes for 12th grade, you should put “In Progress” for the second semester grades for those classes, and you should put “Planned” for the additional coursework.
22. What 7th and 8th Grade courses can I include? Language other than English and UC-approved math courses that are completed successfully in the seventh and eighth grades will be used if they are on the high school transcript and show letter grades and credits. Generally, Algebra 1, Geometry 1, Algebra 2, and beyond, if taken in 7th or 8th grade, will all be included in the college application process. Like ninth-grade courses, the grades are not factored into the GPA.
23. What is the 500-word optional comments section for? The 500-word section is NOT another essay. It’s truly optional. Among its many uses are: a) The chance to explain any deficiencies in your grades, test scores, or extra-curricular activities. You only need to do this if your application has significant holes in need of additional explanation (other than your personal essays). I have probably told you if this is the case, but if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask. b) The chance to explain any information about how your high school allows students to take particular classes, the number of AP courses offered, etc. You only need to do this if your high school is relatively new (e.g. Canyon Crest) or if there is a critical piece of information needed to interpret your transcript. c) The chance to elaborate on any coursework or activities that you did not have space to elaborate on in the other sections of the application. Need to explain a particular position you held that you couldn’t fit into the activities section? Do so here. Again, this is not a section to brag, and only include additional information if it truly does not fit in the other portions of the application.
24. What is Eligibility in a Local Context? ELC is a program that guarantees students who are in the top 4% of their high school class admission to a UC. This guarantee is only for one of the nine UC campuses and usually does not include UCLA, Berkeley, or UCSD. Davis, Riverside, Santa Cruz, Merced and Of course, this is only one of several ways to be admitted into a UC, so you’re definitely able to get in even if you do not qualify under ELC. Link: http://www.ucop.edu/sas/elc/eligibilityinfo.html
25. What are the policy changes for fall 2012? The new rules will take effect for the fall 2012 entering class regardless of when you graduate high school. All students who complete 11 of the 15 UC-required college prep classes (a-g) courses by the end of 11th grade with at least a 3.0 GPA and take the SAT or ACT can apply. Two groups of students who meet the basic requirements will be guaranteed a spot within the UC system (not necessarily the school of their choice): those who fall in the top 9% of all high school graduates statewide and those who rank in the top 9% of their own high school graduating class. These groups are considered Eligible in a Local Context (ELC). The big changes from earlier policies:
- Two SAT Subject Tests will no longer be required for admission. However, students can still choose to submit their scores for consideration as part of their application, just as they do now with AP scores. The Subject Tests also may be recommended for certain majors.
- All applicants will need to complete 11 of the 15 "a-g" courses by the end of their junior year.Currently, this is required only of students who are designated eligible by ranking in the top 4% of their high school class.
- The share of students who are guaranteed admission based on their rank in their own high school class will grow (9% vs. the current 4%).
- Fewer students overall will receive an admission guarantee (10% of high school graduates statewide vs. 12.5% now), but nearly all students who would have received this guarantee under current policy will still be entitled to a full review by their campuses of choice under the new proposal.
AlisonH1 |
Latest page update: made by AlisonH1
, Jun 30 2010, 4:20 PM EDT
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