UC admissions policies

[SagGal]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: UC admissions policies

Lose ~ lol. u get offended from sarcastic responses. that's the difference. haha


Dan ~ a personal statement is something that high school seniors write, providing reasons why they should get accepted to a UC and other information is also included there. There is a 1000 word limit and this yr, it was three questions that the students had to answer. Personal Statement was changed last yr so these were the essay type questions students had to answer with some of 200 and 600 word limits.
Question #1: How have you taken advantage of the educational opportunities you have to prepare for college?
Question #2: Tell us about a talent, experience, contribution, or personal quality you will bring to the University of California.
Question #3: Is there anything you would like us to know about you or your academic record that you have not had the opportunity to describe elsewhere in this application?

hard to believe that someone with a 520 got into UCB, yup, well it happened. If SAT's were the only thing that mattered, ppl wouldn't be so worried about extra curricular activites(clubs and etc.) now would they. Dan, u don't know what a Personal Statement is? How old r u?

[Dan]

Hahhaa, as I had guessed.... utter BS!!! telling them why you should be accepted does not make you a good candidate, no matter how well-written your 'personal statement' is... let me tell you what MY personal statement would be like: I should be accepted because I have good marks in BOTH high school AND SAT, and I think I will succeed at university!!

Don't give me that 'extracurricular activity' BS... because it's BS. unless you're applying for a scholarship that assesses your extra-curricular merits, it should have no bearing whatsoever on acceptance into university. yeah, person X plays the violin. Well, guess what, unless person X is majoring in music, it really doesn't matter if he's a genius at playing violin......

We're not talking about what happened. We're talking about what should NOT happen.

Dan, u don't know what a Personal Statement is? How old r u?

I thought it was something along the lines of what you said, but I had to make sure before jumping to conclusions. I come from a British education system, and the terminology is quite different for us. I've written a personal statement once, actually, when I was applying for undergrad studies at an American university. I got admitted, but rejected their offer (although they took off 75% from my tuition)... As for how old I am, I'm going to turn 21 in 2 months, and I'm done with my 3rd year of university, considering applying for grad school, and faced with the same problems of affirmative action....

[ckBejug]

Admissions policies aside, can I take a moment to say how much I dislike UCLA? I THOUGHT I wanted to go there for grad school, but this school is terrible. I'm sure it's a fine school and the education is great, whatever. It sucks. A LOT. I got here this morning for this academic decathalon thing and I've felt out of place and lost and completely uncomfortable all day. I SO should have blown this off for a drive in the mountains. Next time, I will!! The school is too big and impersonal and there are too many people around and the bookstore is like a freaking mall and I happen to hate the campus right now. Everything is piled up on top of eachother and maze-like. I'm lost and I feel like crap. So, to add to my sucky day I have to now figure out how to get out of here without completely going MAD because I've been going around in circles for the past 20 minutes. ARGHHHHHHHHHHH. At least I found a computer. Ha, I'm ragging on stupid Fucla from the campus link computers on the campus. Take that you stupid campus!!



I hate ucla! How do you do it mousey??? How is it that you go to school here.. Bleh. El sucko!

[Dan]

hahaha. UCLA sucks ***. I was considering applying to grad school there, but f*** no.. it's not even worth paying the application fee.. Geez... who do these people think they are? UCLA is f*ing overrated. Seriously. One of my neighbours' son went to UCLA and they put stickers all over their car, like it's some f*ing big deal.. chedes martig... oh well..

As for the mall-ish aspect of libraries, etc., welcome to big universities, where half the student population attends university just to "show off", and dress up like they're going to some xxxxtail party.... Whatever happened to traditional scholarship!!! UGH!!! f*ing twits.

So it will be grad school in Britain for me! Either U of Glasgow, U of Aberdeen, U of Manchester, or U of Liverpool. I haven't decided yet.. but yeah, at least they look and sound like they're a bit more sane...

[loseyourname]

Originally posted by ckBejug I SO should have bown this off for a drive in the mountains.

I agree.

[Sip]

Originally posted by ckBejug Admissions policies aside, can I take a moment to say how much I dislike UCLA? I THOUGHT I wanted to go there for grad school, but this school is terrible. ... I've felt out of place and lost and completely uncomfortable all day. ... The school is too big and impersonal and there are too many people around and the bookstore is like a freaking mall and I happen to hate the campus right now. Everything is piled up on top of eachother and maze-like. I'm lost and I feel like crap. ...

It is completely natural to feel that way. I felt the same way at first when I set foot in the place. It just seemed like a jungle. But trust me, as someone who has spent the last 9 years there, it will feel like a second home to you in NO time. The campus is actually not that big compared to other comparable universities. That is why it seems very crammed and maze like ... after a while, "crammed and maze-like" will feel "cozey and inviting" to you!!! It is like anything unfamiliar ... at first it is intimidating but then, you won't even feel like you are somewhere "else". It'll be YOUR turf!

Sure parking and driving to and from it are a major pain at times (heck I did it every day for about a decade from Woodland Hills) ... but when you become a grad student, you can shift your schedule such that you avoid all traffic. Then it's like a dream commute.

As far as the studentstore/bookstore, well, what can I say ... I went there maybe a few times to buy a gatorade and a bar after playing basketball in Wooden center. That's about it. You should order your books online anyway. As far as the class books, that is a separate store upstairs and it's really not that bad (well, assuming the price tag on the books doesn't give you a heart attack).

Originally posted by Dan
hahaha. UCLA sucks ***. I was considering applying to grad school there, but f*** no.. it's not even worth paying the application fee.. Geez... who do these people think they are? UCLA is f*ing overrated. Seriously. One of my neighbours' son went to UCLA and they put stickers all over their car, like it's some f*ing big deal.. chedes martig... oh well..

This is absolutely NOT true. For one thing, where else are you going to find an Armenian department at such a university? Even if you are an engineering major, you can still take advantage of the great classes they offer for all levels ... if not to brush up on your skills, then at least get exposed to the language and hear it! The Armenian collections at the UCLA library is one of the finest in the world outside of Armenia ... I hear they have some kick ass hand written scrolls in Armenian from the middle ages! Now that, I would imagine is like heaven for a linguistics major type of person.

Other than that, you have one of the best medical schools, great engineering school, not to mention the fine arts and tv and drama and all the other majors ... so now if you are an undecided person like I was, what better place to go and explore and see what you want to do? I had a friend who was a bio major, switched to engineering, who finished physics with good GPA I might add! It took him a while since he went to community college for a few years and then switched to UCLA ... but hey, what's the rush? As long as you get it done, and do it right, then you are set!

Anyway, all I am saying is if right now UCLA seems impersonal, intimidating, and scary, don't worry. If you live in the LA area, want to live at home and commute to school, there is no better choice. Unless you want to spend 10 times as much money on the "other" school in town

[Darorinag]

Welcome to the forum, Seapahn.

OK, point taken about Armenian department and all that, but that still doesn't mean that it's not overrated.. Here in Toronto, U of Toronto is overrated. And now the university I attend is getting overrated. I can say that the university I attend is a joke. 90% of the students come here dressed as if they're going to c0cktail (great, now swear word filter won't even let me write that word cos it has that 4 letter word in it... ) parties or something. But I'm actually not surprised, the majority of Toronto being immigrants who haven't had anyone in their household attending university, so they have to show off and pride themselves on it.. I still don't understand what's the big deal about attending university and getting a bachelor's.. Everyone is so like "excited" and in a frenzy over it... oh well, never mind. I don't understand the majority of people..

Dan

[anileve]

Originally posted by Seapahn It is completely natural to feel that way.

I know what you mean, I go try to tell myself that every night at 3am in the morning. Welcome to the forum by the way, and hope we can all be friends.

[Sip]

What's up Dan! Thanks for the welcome Anileve thank you too

It is very true that to a lot of people getting a chance to pursue ANY higher education beyond basic schooling is a huge priviledge. The fact that it seems so trivial to many of us (including myself I might add) just shows how spoiled we have become to not appreciate what we have and what billions in the world don't have.

On the other hand, there is another fact where as time goes on, a "BS" or a "BA" is becoming more of a norm as the majority of the work force in the "developed" countries shifts from factories and manual labor into white collar and more "higher end" positions. Global economy is also playing a major role with US factory and manual jobs going outside it's borders.

But just wait! Even a lot of "white collar" jobs are starting to leave the US for much cheaper destinations. As an example, almost all programming jobs are leaving for India. So what's going to happen? I don't know... but in the end, you can bet your ass that there will always be a demand for educated, intelligent, individuals that are able to think. Now where or how they developed and fine tuned their skills will varry but a 4-year university seems to be the standard starting place accepted by the norms.

[Anonymouse]

Yaaay me! I'm at UCLA. I'm a bruin, which means bear!

By the way, that campus is the most politicized campus I've ever seen. Bruinwalk is literally no mans land for a free thinker, but rather is a place for political fringe groups.

By the way Seapahn, welcome to the Flamer forum.