I know they say that they read every application, but that is hard to believe.
Idk I hope so, but I was admitted and one of my essays was literally written at 10PM on November 30th :-/
I regret not applying. I didn’t want to stay in LA at the time but I am having regrets. I am crossing my fingers for Cal.
@emilyskates If you are comfortable sharing. What are your stats?
@nobelcollegekid Even if I wasn’t comfortable sharing, you could always look at my chance threads 
35 ACT, 96/100 UW GPA, 800 Math II, 800 USH, 740 Bio, 6 APs senior year. Out of state. But I think GPA matters more than test scores at UCs and my UC GPA is trash compared to most other people’s I’ve seen on here. I think the other UC essay that I actually spent time on was pretty good, though.
Sure. A 35 ACT is very impressive and your subject tests are impressive as well.
@nobelcollegekid Thank you. Good luck with Cal! I also applied there. The 24th is going to be such a long wait :((
Each applicant spent 70-80 dollars for their application to be considered. Also, UCLA, with its status as the 2nd best public school in the nation this year (according to the US News and World Report), is eagerly looking to get the brightest of minds. Each application deserves to be read, and UCLA most likely read each and every one of them - though, of course, the sheer number of applicants would probably have forced the admission officers to not spend more than 5 minutes on each application.
Probably depends heavily on the quality of each application. An application will perfect test scores, 4.0 GPA, and convincing ECs / essays might be admitted after one or two reads. Likewise, a “no chance” application will get rejected after the first read. If the objective factors are exceptionally low, the app might get no more than a minute or two just to check if there were extenuating circumstances.
The majority of time is spend debating the more “borderline” applications.
Most apps are reviewed by readers hired for the job, not by actual UCLA adcoms. See http://www.admission.ucla.edu/prospectivereader/
Stats aren’t everything. I got in with a 3.64 GPA and 1950 SAT. I’m international with no hooks.
@klingon97 Wow, congrats! That is an incredible achievement. Your essays must have been stellar!
In my case I think it was because I am an international candidate and lived in studied in Africa and Eastern Europe. I wove this into my essays. IMO what is key is that you somehow differentiate yourself.
Every application is read at least twice
Every application is read at least twice. By an hourly temp. Nobody is getting into UCLA because of their essays. They are getting in because they were in the top 10% of their class for the most part. Our local HS Naviance with over 200 apps each of the last three years shows it pretty clearly. Test scores and other factors don’t seem to matter much at all.
^ @notveryzen Frankly if you are not within the top 3% of your class you have a slim chance to get into the top 2 UC’s.
@uclaparent9 My class rank is 27/385 and I got into UCLA. I know that 5 people at my high school got into UCLA this year and our valedictorian was actually rejected. My SAT score was 2080.
Each region/state in the country has its own admissions representative. The representative reads through all the applications that come through from their region and distinguishes accept/reject/waitlist/deferred. Then colleges usually have the apps read by a 2nd admission counselor just to make sure. If the application is rejected by both then its rejected. If its a favorable application it is brought to the board of the admissions committee to give a final review. And by this time the number of apps is significantly reduce --so in UCLAs case it would be much lower than 90k. The admissions counselor that read your application then advocates for you application and your strengths/weaknesses etc… and then there is a vote to admit/reject etc…
This is just a basic overview as how many colleges run admissions.
“If the objective factors are exceptionally low, the app might get no more than a minute or two just to check if there were extenuating circumstances.”
This is pretty close to what the admissions officer who held our info session said, except one did not have to be exceptionally low, just outside of what they look for at first blush to help them weed through all of the applications.
Good to see, from reading this thread, that there are always exceptions to the rule, and the whole thing is not merely numbers-driven. For me, that is part of what disappoints with the UC system. But it is what it is.
My D was accepted to UCLA and is not in the top 3% of her class and probably not even in the top 10%, although I’m not sure of her class rank. She does, however, have an SAT score of 2320 (single sitting) and is a NMF.