Can someone explain the UC system to me?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Los Angeles
1

<p>Hey everyone! </p>

<p>I've lived in the midwest my entire life (and I'm sure some of you know that I'll be staying here in the fall to be at the University of Michigan) so I'm not really accustomed to how the UC system works. I know that many of the UC's are highly thought of (especially UCLA and UC Berkeley) and that all of the UC's are really just one school. I also know that it's insanely difficult to get accepted into them (especially if you're out of state). However, I'm kind of interested in how the whole application process works with these schools, how the decisions are made, etc. I've heard "rumors" of how it works (and from what I've heard about it, it seems like a neat system), but I'd kind of like to hear the system explained by someone who has actually been through it (maybe someone from this year or flopsy?). I just need to satisfy my curiousity about this. Thanks.</p>

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<p>One, as much as I'd like to say that all of the UC locations are just off-shoots of the real UC (Berkeley) that is not true. Each school is its own entitiy, and together they are governed by a group of regents. The application process is not weird or spooky, and the only thing that really makes it any different from any other school is that for a nominal fee you can simply add another UC to your list of UCs that you are applying to. I can't really tell you much about the process after the app leaves your hand because that is a mystery. They let some people in and some they don't.</p>

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<p>As far as I know the UC system consists of nine campuses: UCLA, UC Berkeley, UC Santa Barbara, UC San Diego, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, UC Santa Cruz, UC San Francisco, UC Davis and the newly added UC Merced so its actually going to be ten. The toughest to get in to and the highest ranked are CAL, UCLA, UCSD, UCD, UCSB with UCR and UCSC being relatively easy to get in to. UCSF is from what I know a graduate school it has a school of medicine which is good. When you apply you have to pay $55 for each campus but there is a common application so all campuses receive the same info and personal statement. Anyway all are really good and rank on US News best colleges. It is also known that the UC's have the best "bang for your buck" No they are not all the same school its like saying the Big Ten is just one campus not very rational. Only UCLA and CAL are in the PAc 10 and have good athletic teams UCR, UCI, UCSB are in the Big West conference and have semi good teams but all UC systems are known for academics they are a notch up from the other cali system we have the CSU or california state university campuses its like Michigan State and Michigan both are public but one is a state school if that makes sense. At any rate all campuses are well respected out here in California and CAL and UCLA are nationally recognized with Davis San Diego and Santa Barbara gaining ground. They are all research institutions and have many nobel laureates and patents to their credit. Like any other system of schools they have their similarities in they get alotted the most chunk from california's state budget so all have beautiful campuses and great campus life I know of the CSU system and they are pretty neglected and overcrowded. Most UC schools have a student bidy around 20,000-35,000 students including both undergrads and grad students. For UCLA , CAL, and UCSD you need anywhere from a 3.5-4.0 gpa for UCSB, UCD, UCI, UCSB you need anywhere from a 3.0-3.5 and for UCSC and UCR you will be fine with a 2.8-3.3 These are rough estimates and depending on your major the stats needed may differ but from my experience these are pretty good rough estimates of their admission pool. UCLA and UCBerkeley draw the most applications and are the most competitive. UC Berkeley is the second highest public university in the country behind Michigan and ahead of Virginia and ranks in the top 20 nationally while UCLA is close at #25 according to US News ranking. Overall the UC system has a wide array of majors and things to get involved in it is one of the jewels of CA and provides a large portion of our work force many Alumni have gone on to become CEO's doctors, lawyers, etc etc and the UC system is a wekk oiled machine that churns out talented capable members of society. I applied with this year as a transfer student with a 3.45 gpa and was accepted to my top choices CAL UCLA and UCSD I think in my case other factors were taken into consideration like my financial situation and the fact that I am the first in my family to attend college because I got in to all three. I will be attending UCLA but would have been equally happy and successful attending either of the other two. Hopefully this gives you some idea of the UC system if you want to learn more visit <a href="http://www.ucop.edu%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.ucop.edu&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>mexbruin: sb and sd have great H20polo teams</p>

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<p>really though not many people care about water polo its football, bball, and baseball that get the national attention. Don't want ot discredit sb and sd though oh yeah and didnt UCLA win the h2O championship recently?</p>

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<p>I think UCLA has the most national championships bar none its tally is close to 100 if hasn't reached it already just his year they claimed men's tennis and their women softball lost a close one to Michigan tough break :(.</p>

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<p>By the way is UCSD even in Div I?</p>

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<p>The UC system started in Berkeley and San Francisco (1873), then expanded southward to Davis, (1905), Riverside, (1907), Los Angeles (1919), Santa Barbara (1944), San Diego (1959), Irvine and Santa Cruz (1965), and now Merced (2005). Well, the UCs are not "really one school"; what sets the UC system apart is that, unlike the University of Texas/Michigan systems which are pinnacled by a single flagship institution, the UCs are almost as independent as private institutions, competing amongst themselves as well as private schools for top high school graduates, faculty and funding from the state government. The primary mission of the UC is to provide workforce education for California residents; then comes public research and community outreach. The westward economic migration due to the post-war Baby Boom followed by the Cold War military-industrial complex has poured federal and private investment into both California's economy and the UC which supports it. This has allowed for a staggering number of UC-owned patents, research publications, Nobel Prizes and textbooks courtesy of The University of California Press. If the University of California really were "one school", as you suggested, it would be the largest, most productive and most well-rounded school in the world.</p>

<p>Enrollment at the UCs is generally reserved for the top 12.5% of California's high school graduates. The top 4% are also granted Eligibility in the Local Context, which guarantees admission to a UC (though UC Berkeley and UCLA are exempt from the deal). Applying to the UC system is done through PATHWAYS, an online "common application" that is sent to however many UCs you check off. These applications are to be submitted in October, while decisions arrive in March, which is earlier than most other American universities' deadlines. The stats valued the most here are, in order: the three SAT II subject scores, followed by the UC GPA (a weighted GPA based on your 10th and 11th year grades in "A-G" courses), SAT I / ACT scores, rigor of course selection, class ranking and ECs. Since the inception of Proposition 209 took effect in 1996, the UCs no longer practice affirmative action based on ethnicity. Instead, they opted to practice Comprehensive Review, which tallies up socioeconomic difficulties, high school location/quality and personal issues into the applicant's point-based score. Letters of recommendation are not accepted. Selectivity is tiered into UCLA and UC Berkeley as being the most selective (24%), followed by UCSD (36%), then UCD, UCSB, UCI (~50%), and finally UCSC, UCR and UCM (~70%). The UCs allow for third-year transfer admission from California State Universities and California Community Colleges with roughly equivalent selectivity. Admission from out-of-state is somewhat more difficult, due to state-imposed restrictions on the proportion of the student body that can be out-of-state. Nevertheless, UCLA and UC Berkeley still receieve a large number of out-of-state and international applicants. A 4.0 UC GPA and a 2100 SAT I/II score makes one competitive at the top-tier campuses.</p>

<p>The biggest plus of the UCs is the quality/price ratio of the education you can receive, due to the influence of faculty (think Nobel-prizewinning lecturers) and research opportunities available at both the undergraduate and graduate level. UC Berkeley and UCLA are both ranked in the US News National Top 25 and have many programs in the Top 15, while UCSD, UCD, UCSB and UCI are ranked in the National Top 50. UC Berkeley is known for its engineering, law and business schools, UCLA for its medical and film schools, UCSD for its biological and political sciences, UCD for agricultural science, UCSB for graduate physics, and UCI for English and criminology. UC Berkeley and UCLA also boast teams in the Pac-10. The biggest minus of the UCs is the impersonal nature of attending such large public schools of 20,000-30,000 undergrads; many lower-division lectures contain 300 or more students, faculty/student ratios are low and taking more than four years to graduate is commonplace due to difficulty enrolling into desired/necessary courses. Being at UCLA and UC Berkeley often makes one seem to be a number in an overcrowded diploma-mill; however, the rule of thumb at the UCs is that if you want something, there's no hand-holding; you have to get it yourself. This exposes one to the real world, for better or for worse. If you want to stand out in either academia or the job search process in California, the UCs offer an solid opportunity, but it's up to you to make the most of it.</p>

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<p>that's a good summary, flopsy!</p>

<p>i want to add that UCSD uses a point system (scroll to the bottom):
<a href="http://admissions.ucsd.edu/dev3/info/comreview.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://admissions.ucsd.edu/dev3/info/comreview.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>Just to clarify a few things Mexbruin said. If you want to have a competitive shot at either Cal or UCLA, having a 3.5-4.0 is not quite the best advice. The 4.0 will keep you competitive, but once you start dipping down closer to 3.5 you wont have much of a shot unless you invented silent velcro or are a movie star. I believe the average incoming GPAs for both schools are around 4.3 (maybe lower, maybe higher). The other thing, and this is just me being a dork, is that you said Cal is the second highest ranked public behind Mich, which is not true. Cal is the #1 ranked public in the country. I know, I know, it doesn't mean anything, but I wanted to correct that.</p>

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<p>Mexibruin,</p>

<p>UCSD is Div II.</p>

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<p>Thanks everyone for the responses. Apparently, I really didn't know very much about the UC system at all (seeing I thought they were one school just at different locations). If anyone has anything else to add, I'd really like to know what you think.</p>

<p>I won't be around very much for the next few days since I will be at my orientation, but I'll be back during the latter part of Tuesday (maybe sooner but it depends how much access I'll have to computers at orientation).</p>

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<p>You thought Berkeley and Riverside were the same school in different locations?</p>

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<p>You do not have a shot at UCLA OR UCB with a 3.5..... you need 4.1 or higher..... </p>

<p>UC=different schools but all in 1 system(name)....</p>

<p>California is like the 5th largest economy in the WORLD so the unversities are group into different branches to serve many parts of California.........</p>

<p>Each UC's are different just like in the US; you have Southerners, Midwestern, East Coast, and the Southwest coast...........all are different types of people..... </p>

<p>California is a BIG state with HEAVY population and workforce......... has more people than Texas.....</p>

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<p>

Actually, California was the world's 5th largest economy back in 2001; it's now slipped to seventh place since the budget crisis.</p>

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<p>"Each UC's are different just like in the US; you have Southerners, Midwestern, East Coast, and the Southwest coast...........all are different types of people....."</p>

<p>i don't get what you're trying to say here. do you mean the campus culture is different at each UC?</p>

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<p>Your'e right I meant to say that Michigan was right behind CAL as the highest ranked public univ which imho is a little low because CAL I have to admit is a great univ and I'd go as far as to say it is on par with ivy league and other elitist institutions (would more than hold its own not in public opinion but as far as the level of academics is concerned.) Wow flopsy you just gave us all a really brief history lesson but good nonetheless. kudos. </p>

<p>"Being at UCLA and UC Berkeley often makes one seem to be a number in an overcrowded diploma-mill"</p>

<p>I have to disagree I just got back from UCLA's graduation and it was really personal in the sense that there were less than 300 students. It was the Raza grad (the latino students graduation where the ceremony is in both spanish and english) and it was really "homey." Also you will find your niche and make a your experience at CAL or UCLA a sort of school within a school through your small but tight network of friends. You definately don't sense or notice that there are 20-30k undergrads maybe its because of the dispersion of students or the fact that they are not all on campus at the same time but I don't get an overcrowded sense to UCLA atleast other may have had different experiences but what I'm trying to say is that you make it wha t you want.</p>

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<p>how do they separate graduations...i thought it was by major, but is it by race or something?</p>

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<p>There are seperate segregationist graduations at some (maybe all?) UCs. I know UCSC had them earlier.</p>

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<p>They separate the graduations in many ways: most departments have their own graduation ceremony (e.g. mathematics, history, law) but there are also more specific, non-traditional graduation ceremonies (e.g. Raza grad, Asian/Pacific Islander grad, Phi Beta Kappa grad). You choose which one you want to attend...</p>