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Be University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)-Bound with IvyBound!

University of California Los Angeles -- #20 (tied) National University (US News & World Report)

University of California is a public institution that was founded in 1919. Located in LA’s Westwood neighbourhood, five miles from the Pacific Ocean, UCLA is a home to the College of Letters and Sciences and also a number of graduate schools and programs. The oldest is the Vermont Avenue campus of the University of California (known as UC’s “Southern Branch”) started in 1919, it offered two-year undergraduate teachers-training programs.

Today, UCLA ranks no. 1 in California and also hold 6th place in the U.S. for the number of Peace Corps volunteers. With the mission of Education, research and service, UCLA has unlimited opportunities for inquiry, discovery, and education — and yet is a close community that provides a real sense of belonging. It integrates education, research and service so that each individual can enrich and further extend it to other students. This integration mainly promotes excellence in academics and nurtures innovation and scholarly development.

Admissions Requirements

Application PortalUC Application Site for all UC Colleges. Portal opens August 1. Applications due November 1st-30th.
Application Fee$70
Standardized TestsSAT or ACT. Both with Essay. *Note does not superscore. UCLA will take highest composite score of either tests.
SAT Subject TestsSAT Subjects Tests are not required Strongly encouraged when applying to Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science wherein students must take the following SAT Subject Tests: Math Level 2 and a science test (Biology E/M, Chemistry, or Physics) as per the applicant's intended major.
AP and IB examsYou may self-report. May receive credit
Personal Insight Questions (like Supplement Questions/Essays)You must respond to only four of the eight questions.Each response is limited to a maximum of 350 words.
RecommendationsNo teacher or counselor recommendation required
From Your High SchoolTranscript required after admission
InterviewNo
International StudentsTOEFL, IELTS, or PTE Academic (if applicable)
Early PlanNot offered
Regular DecisionCan apply starting November 1. Filing is November 1-30, decision by late March

Personal Insight Questions (like Supplement Questions/Essays)

*Please provide responses to only four of the eight questions. Each response is limited to a maximum of 350 words.

  1. Describe an example of your leadership experience in which you have positively
  2. influenced others, helped resolve disputes, or contributed to group efforts over
  3. time.
  4. Every person has a creative side, and it can be expressed in many ways:
  5. problem solving, original and innovative thinking, and artistically, to name a few.
  6. Describe how you express your creative side.
  7. What would you say is your greatest talent or skill? How have you developed
  8. and demonstrated that talent over time?
  9. Describe how you have taken advantage of a significant educational opportunity or worked to overcome an educational barrier you have faced.
  10. Describe the most significant challenge you have faced and the steps you have taken to overcome this challenge. How has this challenge affected your academic achievement?
  11. Think about an academic subject that inspires you. Describe how you have
  12. furthered this interest inside and/or outside of the classroom.
  13. What have you done to make your school or your community a better place?
  14. Beyond what has already been shared in your application, what do you believe makes you stand out as a strong candidate for admission to the University of California?

Academic Parameters

When applying to an institution, it is important to look at the academic information of previous applicants. This includes the SAT/ACT test scores, SAT Subject test scores (if available), GPA ranges, or class ranking. By looking at these data points, you may assess where you fall and how likely is your admission into this college. Please note, there are students who fall below the middle range and are still admitted, but then their application has one or more factors that boosts their application, such as a special talent, a recruitable athlete, legacy, racial or socioeconomic minority. Use the chart below to see where you fall and if you may raise your test scores and grades to keep your application in the running.

Testing/GPA Guidelines

SAT Range (25th to 75th percentiles)Composite Score: 1270-1520
Math: 630-780
ERW: 640-740
ACT Range (25th to 75th percentiles)Composite Score: 28-34
Math: 27-34
English: 29-35
Rank97% of Students in Top 10% of their class
GPA Range (unweighted)86% of Students of GPA of 3.75 and higher

IvyBound Consulting featured UCLA on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter from July 8 - July 14, 2019

Day 1 • UCLA

According to US News & World Report, University of California – Los Angeles is ranked #19 (tied) in National Universities. Schools are ranked according to their performance across a set of widely accepted indicators of excellence. Please check their website to read up on these indicators. We are using US News for its popularity, but by no means should they be the only source in determining your “best fit” college. Your best fit colleges should be determined by your academic goals, your personality fit, and financial considerations.  

UCLA:
Public, total undergraduate enrolment of
31,002, and the campus size is 419 acres

History:
Founded in 1919

Setting:
City

Tuition & Fees:
$41,294 (2018-19)

Housing:
Current undergraduate, freshmen and transfers can live on their campus, but most students choose to remain off campus. It has 8 residence halls and has many plazas and suites. To support the community of total 11,000 undergraduate students, UCLA has been charged to add 1500 more bed spaces. Types of campus housing available: dual and triple sharing.

Admit Rate:
Highly competitive

Diversity:
UCLA has a percentage of 40% males and 60% females. The undergraduate student body is made up of 22% Hispanic/Latino students, 3% African American students, 27% White students, 28% Asian students, 0.2% Native American, 0.3% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, and 6% Multi-Racial students.

Religious Affiliation:
None

Other Awards by US News:
#19 in National Universities, #4 in Best College for Veterans, #1 in Top Public Schools, #23 in Most Innovative Schools.

Day 2 • School Mission, Mascot, Sports

Mascot:
Joe Bruin is the official mascot of the University of California. Initially, University of California, Berkeley used both Bears as well Bruins. Later on Berkeley’s student and leaders voted and decided to give up on the ‘Bruin’ name and then UCLA got its mascot. Over the years, Joe’s costumes and how it was depicted evolved. A Mickey Mouse-looking Bruin in the 1930s, it became a smiling Joe during the 1970s and the current design was developed in 1996. It is seen at all UCLA sporting events.

Colors:
Brown Bear

Sports:
UCLA has both men’s and women’s basketball teams, golf, cross country, soccer, volleyball, tennis, water polo and track field. Male athletes compete in football, while women can choose between beach volleyball, rowing, gymnastics, softball, swimming as well as diving teams. The football team is called UCLA Bruins competes in Pac-12 Conference of NCAA’s Division I. UCLA is known for the successful men’s and women’s water polo teams.

Day 3 • Academics/Top Undergraduate Majors/Student Life

Academics:
UCLA campus is home to world-renowned faculty who teach in 240 undergraduate and graduate majors, with more than two dozens of these academic programs it has been ranked among the top 20 in their disciplines. 

Academic Calendar:
Quarter system

Top Undergraduate Majors:
Social Sciences; Biological and Biomedical Sciences; Psychology; Engineering; and Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies.

Highly-ranked Graduate programs:
UCLA is inclusive of the highly-ranked Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, Anderson School of Management, School of Law as well as David Geffen School of Medicine. UCLA has a prestigious School of Theater, Film and Television and it has a School of Dentistry. The Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center is among one of the top-ranked hospitals. 

Student Life:
Located in the neighbourhood of LA’s Westwood, it is five miles from the Pacific Ocean. UCLA encompasses the College of Letters & Sciences as well as graduate schools/programs. Around 48% of students here live in college-owned, operated or affiliated housing. At present, 52% of students live off campus. The campus offers many programs including GroupX, Yoga, KREC, Bike Shops, Rock Wall, youth programs, intramural sports, adaptive programs, art.

Day 4 • Notable Alumni

Notable alumni include Jackie Robinson, Agnes de Mille, Francis Ford Coppola, Ralph Bunche, Nathan Myhrvold, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Johnnie Cochran, Anna Lee Fisher.

Day 5 • Applying to UCLA? Be Collegebound with IvyBound.

Looking at first-time, Freshman Applicants: 

Admission Rate: 
14% (including early applicants)

Total Applicants:
113,761

Admitted:
15,970

Enrolled:
6,240

Yield Rate:
39%- Number of students who actually attended or matriculated once admitted. 

Early Option:
Not offered

Regular Deadline:
November 1-30

Admission Requirements:
See table above

Admission into this prestigious University, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), is highly competitive as the acceptance rate is decreasing each year. With the increase of sheer number of applicants, how do you stand out and get admitted? If UCLA is one of the colleges on your list, use this invaluable worksheet to plan and prepare when applying. 

IvyBound Consulting offers personalized college admissions services to help you create winning college applications that surely gets you admitted. Choose from one-on-one counseling services, college admissions online course- Applications That Get You Admitted!, private Facebook group membership, and essay review and editing services. 

Next week, I will cover, US News Week’s #19 (tied) Nationally Ranked University, University of Washington in St. Louis. Stay Tuned.

Be Collegebound with IvyBound!

* Sources used: the college website, common data set, college factual, US World News, other websites.

Hey guys, welcome to the episodes Be Collegebound with IvyBound! I’m your host, Ruchi S. Kothari. I’m super excited that you’ve joined me.

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Then, stay tuned…

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