Admissions Blog

UCLA Wins the Popular Vote

Some may win "Best Eyes" or "Class Clown", but UCLA is by far "Most Popular." Last week, our humble campus got a lot of news coverage for having received the most freshman applications of any school in the U.S. of A. You can read more about our superlative achievement here and here and here.

And for those freshman and transfer applicants who did apply to majors within the College of Letters and Science, January 31, 2007 is the very last day for you to tell us whether or not you want to change your major. Simply visit the Data Change Web site and follow the instructions to submit an update to your application. You can also browse the list of majors here. And remember: admitted freshmen can also change their major once they get here, too. The choices are dizzying!

The Virtues of Lo Tech Continued...Visual Aids

So many apps...

Here's recruiter Julette Sanders reading a paper app.

UARS student workers sorting away...

The Virtues of LoTech

Hi. Daniel Fogg, here: programmer/analyst in the admissions office. When I’m not reading applications I work on the Web site. In all the years I’ve spent using technology, the most valuable lesson I’ve learned is when NOT to use it.

Here’s something you may not know: even though 99% of you filled out your applications (“apps” to us) online, we still convert them to paper to perform our reviews. Believe me, the logistics surrounding this choice are not simple. (My first job in the admissions office--more years ago than I’d care to remember--was as a clerk supervising the files.) We spend hundreds of hours pulling, batching, and distributing apps among 100+ readers, and almost as much time re-filing them and re-pulling them for subsequent reviews. But here are a couple of facts that make this seemingly archaic method worth every minute:

• When we review applications (with the exception of gender and ethnicity, which don’t appear on the forms) we look at everything: every course, every grade, every activity, your personal statements, everything.
• Each reader must review between 600 and 1,200 apps.

Performing such a thorough review for so many people on a computer would be miserable. Can you imagine reading 600 2-page essays on a monitor? And there’s something else: Even though the pages don’t contain your handwriting as they did in the past, there is still something more personal about paper. You can circle things and draw lines to make connections. You can dog-ear pages as a reminder to come back and reexamine something. It gives the review a vitality and urgency that would not be present online. 

Each of the 50,000 freshman apps we received last fall will have to get at least two reviews before a decision can be made. With numbers like these it would be easy for me to forget that each app represents a person whose life may be profoundly affected by what I do. But somehow holding an app in my hands keeps that from slipping my mind.

By the way, my favorite places to conduct application reviews are at a coffee house or in bed. Occasionally my reviews include both a ranking and a brown ring.

My first entry!

Hey!

My name is Fei, and I’m a junior at UCLA. I’m a student worker in Undergraduate Admissions by day (helping out the team with admin tasks), and a Design | Media Arts student by night (wreaking havoc upon the campus with loud music and large projected videos).

Yesterday night was one such example where we D|MA majors took over north campus (this is where all you artsy/literary folks will go) with our annual Undergraduate Exhibition which was titled MXD_MSSGS this year. It took place in the Broad Arts building. If you come and visit UCLA, it’s the big metallic looking one at the very north corner of campus. There was a live band playing outside with rubber ski masks, food, course work presented on the walls and TV screens inside, and tons of familiar faces.

Having my work shown in public made me realize how precious my time here at school is, and how I should take advantage of every opportunity I come across.

Sooo, here’s a picture of me with…me!

UCLA is Engaged

As many of you already know, UCLA is an amazing place. Consequently, it draws some pretty amazing people to its campus, and these amazing people are in turn really involved in their community -- so much so that the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching selected UCLA for its Community Engagement Classification, which recognizes universities with outstanding community-based curricula. UCLA was the only UC selected by the Carnegie Foundation for this classification.

UCLA's Center for Community Partnerships is the primary reason for our new classification. The CCP started as part of our UCLA in LA initiative, and it works to develop partnerships between UCLA scholars and local nonprofit organizations to produce academic projects connected to community-based applications that will improve the quality of life  for Los Angeles residents.

Be it in the local area or beyond, UCLA offers its students many ways to get involved. Undergraduates can even minor in civic engagement through the Center for Community Learning in the College of Letters and Science. You can read more about many of UCLA's community involvement programs here.

Redd Alert

Hi everyone! I’m Stacy Redd, assistant to the UCLA Director of Admissions. When I’m not reading applications and communicating with prospective students, I love to collect interesting facts about UCLA. For instance, did you know that UCLA was originally UCSB? When UCLA was created, it was the second UC campus (after UC Berkeley in northern California) and was called University of California, Southern Branch. I especially like that fact because it involves both my alma mater, UC Santa Barbara (the current UCSB), and my new home, UCLA.

On a more serious note, I want to address any students who have applied to UCLA for Fall 2007. If you have made any changes to your academic program or if your contact information has changed, please let our office know as soon as possible by emailing datachng@saonet.ucla.edu

I’ll be back periodically with more tips and UCLA trivia. Justine and our colleagues in UARS and beyond will be dispensing valuable info via this blog every week, so make sure to check it regularly.

Happy New Year!

UCLA Undergraduate Admissions and Relations with Schools (or UARS as we call it) was closed for our annual winter holiday last week, hence the lack of a post.

Many of us took freshman applications home with us to read during the break, and we will continue to  read them throughout January. I spent several quality hours poring over your academic records, personal statements, activities, and awards. Most of the UARS staff members are reading applications, and, because of the high volume of freshman applications we  receive (well over 50,000 for fall 2007!), we hire former staff members, campus advisors, and even some of your counselors to read applications too.  It's kind of bizarre how the office has changed so completely since the end of November. In parts of the office, you can find peaceful readers and empty cubicles, their occupants either reading applications at home or in another quiet place. Others rooms are full of activity -- with UARS staffers answering your questions and sorting your applications. I just started working at UARS in July, so I'm curious to see how  UARS continues to change throughout the year.