<p>Before we begin, keep a few things in mind- there are tens of thousands of applicants, only a very minimal number can be accepted into UCSD, so it’s your responsibility to make sure you turn in something that is fabulous.</p>
<p>The UC App has two big things- the “Application Part” where you add all your info, classes, ECs, Volunteer stuff, etc. and the Personal Statement (you would just copy and paste).</p>
<p>My suggestion is to do a bit of both each day (or whatever suits you), with greater emphasis on the essay (because as I mentioned in another post, the essay shows who you are). For the application itself, I would compare it to checking out online. They ask you for your name, address, whether you are a CA resident or not, and stuff like that. They need a credit card to charge the fee for applying to EACH UC (so if you apply to 5 UCs, you would be getting the base price (i forget) * 5). How many UCs you app for depends on your personal choice, but don’t leave out a campus if you think you won’t get in (and have at least one safety to fall back on). You also get to choose the respective majors for the campus’ selected (and in the case of UCSD, you get to rank your pref. to colleges (ie. Muir, Revelle, ERC… etc-- there are tons of things out there for more info on UCSD colleges, so just google or search these forums)</p>
<p>This is all the basic stuff. Now comes the interesting parts. The “Know me even better” part of the application is where you add in your college courses, your classes that gave you some credit (this could be college courses, courses taken in HS that gave you college credit (Not APS, the AP exam gives you college credit, I’m referring to classes only, etc.). Basically, you fill out the class, year, grade (I won’t go into too much detail, but if you run into trouble ask your counselor, who might i recommend is an excellent excellent person to go to, to get even better feedback on your paper). </p>
<p>Then the interesting parts come- this is what I call the “How Interesting Are You?” where the UC app asks you to put (5 max. per category) EC’s / volunteer work / jobs/ awards/ leadership etc. You want to a) make a list of EVERYTHING that could go into each category and b) pick out the ones that suit you the most.
The rule here for me was to pick the ones that really “showed me off” when compared to other students. Don’t strive to be someone else (or someone you are not), strive to be yourself, because that’s what UCSD is looking for. </p>
<p>Here are my ECs:
*participated in FIRST ROBOTICS
*HAL 2010: Physics club
*INDIAN club: Head Chef
*Writers block, Poetry Branch: President
<p>As you can see I chose to show them different “colors” of me. None of my ECs are related (which is both a good thing and a bad thing- good b/c it shows you are interested in a variety of things,… bad: I don’t have a clear choice of what I like. ]. In these cases, I think it’s more important to show your interests in relation to your major (but it wouldn’t harm you to throw in a few “outside” things)… but again, whatever suits you the best!</p>
<p>A big one is Leadership! Get involved with clubs etc. Have at least a few (more than 1). If you aren’t in any (or just one), take the liberty to create a few clubs on campus. </p>
<p>Volunteers Hours are usually an easy one. Either you have a lot of volunteer hours from various places, or you have one or two with a lot of hours (either works fine, and they both show how dedicated and committed you are!)</p>
<p>I think these are the highlights of the UC App. Just remember, there are going to be tons of people apping for UCSD (and other UCs), so you want to stand out the most. Make what you write 9in the PS, and ECs etc.) show who you really are. Try not to make the PS “boring” per se. Always remember to SHOW not TELL (show as in take the reader there with you, otherwise if you are telling it to them, it gets boring very quickly. Read my above post for the details on the PS. And feel free to ask me questions :)</p>
<p>submit the app early too (don’t wait until 11:59 PM on the last day the application is due. Chances are the servers will crash and UCs will be like, “Too bad”) I suggest at least a week in advance.</p>
<p>Good Luck, Have Fun, and dedicate a lot of time to revising those personal statements.</p>
<p>(A tip for PS- write as much as you want for both PS, dont focus on the cut off limit. For example, the cutoff should be 1000 words (total)? so don’t keep monitoring your essay to see if both add up to 1000. Rather write as much as you want, and then start chopping some pieces off little by little (this is when counselors, tutors, writing lab, parents, etc. come in handy). Read the PS to yourself aloud many times, you’ll get a better sense of where your writing falters, and what points aren’t important.</p>
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