<p>I am black and sometimes feel as though I may not have deserved acceptance to UCLA, particularly in light of the recent scandal. To make matters worse, a couple of my friends with better GPAs did not get in (although I don't know what they got on their SATs) I am not from a low-income family. I went to a public school and was in the top 4% of my class, and was guaranteed acceptance into all of the other UCs: Irvine, Davis Santa Barbara, San Francisco, UCR, UCSC, UCM, and UCSD. The ethnic breakdown of my high school: (43% white, 42% Latino, 7 % black, 4% fillipino, 3% asian). I finished with a 4.1 GPA (AP classes) and 1920 on the SAT. I had some community service, and also attended the National Youth Leadership Forum on Medicine. These are my SAT II scores: Spanish 480, Literature 610, History 700. Do you think I deserved to be accepted? Or was I only admitted as the reult of a bastardized admissions system?
P.S. My major was in the college of letters and science, and I think I was rejected by U$C.</p>
<p>Having a diverse ethnic student body is a good and necessary thing. If that gave you a very slight edge (I say that because your stats are strong), that’s fine. It is good for the UCLA campus to be well represented by African American, American Indian, Hispanic/Chicano… not just good for members of these groups, but good for everyone of all backgrounds. This is the reason all private schools try to build a diverse student body, and outside the UC system, they are allowed by law to do as they please. and it pleases them to have a diverse student body… WHY? Diverse opinions and perspectives are a crucial part of learning at a university. Diverse religion, socioeconomic status, race, gender… all of it.</p>
<p>It is fair because it adds value to the community. There are experiences that you can share that others cannot.</p>
<p>No, cutting deserving students out just for diversity isn’t fair…
But, onequestion??, I wouldn’t worry. As DunninLA says, your stats are in the right bracket for UCLA…your gpa and NYLF prob got u in.</p>
<p>Uh, how did you get automatic acceptance to San Francisco? 
</p>
<p>Actually, I don’t know about San Francisco. But being in the top 4% of your high school class guarantees you admission to a UC (but not the one of your choice). I got letters specifically from UCSD, UCI, and UC Davis guaranteeing me acceptance. The only UCs I applied to were Berkeley (rejected), UCLA (accepted) and Santa Barbara (accepted).</p>
<p>NYLF isn’t selective isn’t it? I remember getting spammed with that stuff in HS (along with every other person in my classes) that requested $1000+ to go to DC to study. </p>
<p>Your SAT score and GPA are in the right bracket. Your Spanish is iffy but your other SAT IIs are fine.</p>
<p>Your stats certainly look good enough for UCLA.</p>
<p>SSfren – assuming diversity is a good thing (exposes students to different perspectives, experiences), are you saying that you would sacrifice diversity admits (lets say 300 admits would not have been admitted on stats alone) just to bring the non-diversity admits from 4700 to 5000?</p>
<p>If the goal of the university is to provide the richest learning environment possible, would you sacrifice diversity for more high stat, undiverse admits?</p>
<p>Would you say that the admissions committees at Harvard, Stanford, etc. should not admit slightly lower statted students in order to reach their diversity objectives? that it is not “fair”?</p>
<p>Actually yeah, I was spammed with numerous NYLF-type things. I paid no attention to them, but my mom was like, “You’re going.”<br>
My Sat score breakdown: Math 600 Writing 670 Reading 650
I got 1870 the first time, and some people questioned me, “Why are you taking it again, I only got 1450 and I’m not.” If I hadn’t, I’d probably be going to UCSB right now. Not that that’s bad.</p>
<p>don’t worry about it… you’re at UCLA now! 
be proud of your accomplishments and don’t question your acceptance. there even might have been something that really stood out from your application besides your race. i had slightly lower SAT scores than you and i’m caucasian (white) and i got admitted, so there is an exception to every case.</p>
<p>ah dude im asian and i got a 1990 and 4.1 gpa too…so were about the same… dont worry about it…</p>
<p>There’s more to admissions than GPA. A school with nothing but students who “work to the scores” and have nothing to offer the community but their stats would be a horrible place to work. The people who admit you have to be around you for at least four years, and they’re not masochists. It’s not as though a student with a 4.00 is better than a student with a 3.99 by 0.01. You have to look at the whole package.</p>
<p>And frankly, in case you hadn’t noticed, there are extremely few black students. You are probably exceptionally good, if anything.</p>
<p>u “think” you were rejected by usc?</p>
<p>Focusing on just your scores, I wouldn’t have said you were a lock, but I wouldn’t have been surprised if you got in, either. I think your gpa is in the right bracket. Your scores are okay; I’ve known many non-black students with similar scores who got in, so you certainly don’t have to feel like you didn’t get in “fairly”. </p>
<p>On another note, I hate it when people say that cutting out “deserving students” for diversity isn’t fair. wth does “deserving students” mean? I think it is unfair to use an absolute scale to judge across a wide spectrum of life circumstances and use it as a criteria to see how you will contribute to the university.</p>
<p>onequestion???:</p>
<p>UCLA: Reach</p>
<p>Op; I’m sorry if I’m out of line here, but are there any hidden agendas ?</p>
<p>You must have had some good stuff going for you that UCLA wanted. My D is Black, with better than UCLA admitted UC GPA, SAT’s, ect, and was not accepted to UCLA. Not sure why; not great SAT II, not first gen., not low income?..but being Black did not seem to get her any extra points. Just an anecdotal report of course; but for “the record”.</p>
<p>P.S. she did NYLF too! And at UCLA. A very expensive “college visit”, but she liked it.</p>
<p>not to be mean, but your SAT is kinda low, but your grades probably made up for it.</p>
<p>hewhothrows: I never got a letter from them and no e-mail. Maybe my mom got it first.</p>
<p>Shinkrap: That’s where I did mine too. And I’m assuming “D” means daughter? No hidden agendas.</p>
<p>chasefree: “Not to be mean” almost always precedes something mean. But not in this case. </p>
<p>The admissions process seems somewhat inconsistent. Maybe on a different day, my friends get in and I don’t. Btw, of the friends I mentioned, one was 1/2 black, 1/2 asian with a better GPA, his SAT i don’t know, another was asian with a much better GPA (SAT unkwown) and another was Latino with a slightly lower GPA and SAT (3.9, somewhere in the 1600s.) One of those rare times when I feel lucky.</p>
<p>SAT scores are kind of a big deal, might want to learn what your friends got before you say they should get in over you. And you said the one got in the 1600s…that is not a very good score at all…</p>
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<p>dude, if you’re majoring in the sciences, then you’ll probably get some good scholarships. assuming you maintain a decent GPA and you’re an underrepresented minority. from what i’ve seen/heard</p>