Ask and You Shall Receive

Normally it's only radio DJs that take requests, but when blog reader "iloveucla" asked if we could write a blog about how we read our freshman applications, I thought it was a great idea, and voila! The answers you seek are below:

UCLA application readers can be divided primarily into 3 groups: UARS/EAOP (Early Academic Outreach Program) employees, employees in other UCLA departments, and qualified community members. People outside of UARS/EAOP who are interested in being application readers must apply for the position.

After we have our some 150 readers selected, we undergo a VERY thorough training process. I can personally assure all of our applicants that everyone involved with the application read process takes it incredibly seriously. All application readers, new and returning, complete an extensive application training process before they are allowed to start reading and ranking actual applications.

From the official 2008-2009 Freshman Admissions Policy:

Selection is based on a comprehensive review of all information--both academic and personal--presented in the application. All applications are read twice, in their entirety, by professionally trained readers. After independently reading and analyzing a file, the reader determines a comprehensive score that is the basis upon which the student is ultimately admitted or denied. In addition, admissions managers conduct multiple checks for consistency and completeness throughout the reading process. While this evaluation process is based on human judgments rather than a system that quantifies factors and incorporates them into a numerical formula, the extensive reader training, comprehensive reading of files, as well as other monitoring procedures, ensure that the process is highly reliable. Formal tests of reliability are conducted regularly to assure quality control.

So we spend December and January reading and evaluating applications in accordance with the guidelines that we by then can recite in our sleep. Every application gets read at least twice, and, as the policy states, there are myriad quality controls in place to make sure that applicants are being reviewed fairly and accurately.

Because we receive so many applications (55,369 for fall 2008) from so many highly qualified students, we are only able to offer admission to approximately 1/4 of our freshman applicants, which is why I would recommend that students apply to at least 4 UC campuses, and any other universities they think might be a good fit, in addition to UCLA. Best of luck to all students applying to college this year!

Comments

[PDF Writer]

No kidding, 55,369 applications were received for the fall of 2008?! I wonder what is my chance of getting in my preferred campus. So, each is only allowed 4 UC campuses. What happen if all 4 were not available?

[Jordan]

A few of my friends received an e-mail from UCLA asking them to submit additional essays and all their grades again. But I didn't receive the email and when I went to the site, it said UCLA did not require any additional information from me. Could you shed some light on this? Why did some people get the e-mail, while others didn't?
Thanks!

[iloveucla]

Wow, I didn't expect to get an answer... What a nice surprise!

Thank you!!!

It's very interesting and informative.

So i get the impression that one aplication will be read by one reader only. I had thought that it would be team work-- read by a panel and the average score would be the final score for decision making. Anyway, it's nice to know the process which is always mysterious to me. I appreciate this blog article. Thank you again. I hope your guys find it rewarding to read the applications (because I would and I would love to be on the team next year if you post the information on how to apply and when to apply...)

[Stacy Redd]

Wow lots of questions! I will answer them in the order received:
PDF writer: you are absolutely welcome to apply to as many UC campuses as you wish (you can even apply to all of them!); it is just my personal recommendation that students apply to at least 4 because admission is so competitive.

Jordan: Unfortunately, I cannot shed light on why some students are asked for more information and others are not, but I can tell you that being asked for additional information is not a guarantee of admission, and not being asked does not mean you will not be admitted, so there's no need to worry about it.

iloveucla: If you want to learn about what is required of our application readers, please visit the Fall 2008 prospective website: http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/prospectivereader/default.htm.

Thanks for the comments everyone, keep them coming!

[caryn]

My son received an e-mail inviting him to an open house in april for the engineering school, but it didn't say he was admitted. Does this mean that the engineering school notifications of admittance come out in April?

[Ericka]

Hello and Thanks for the blog! This is such a great way to keep applicants updated, and provide some closure on issues that concern us. I have a question regarding the credit/no credit grading basis. Currently I am taking a class for which I opted to take for s/nc, and am worrried that i may fall a few percentage points below the 75% cutoff to recieve the required grade of a sold "C" to pass. My progress in other classes is great, but the possiblity of recieving "NC (no credit)" concerns me. I know that applicants are required to report "significant drops in GPAs and D or F grades," but since this would not affect my GPA and is nor a D of F grade, I am not sure what to do...
I am worried that this would jeopardize my chances of admission. Thanks in advance!

[Nizzura]

Nice post you have there.. I don't know anything about this until I read your post.

Keep up the good job!

Thanks

nizzura

[m.w.]

This fall, my first semester of my senior year, I recieved a grade of D after I applied to the UC's. How should I report this grade to the schools? Should I write a letter or call the school?