<p>Does UC Davis use a holistic admissions process? I heard that it was one of the UC campuses that simply gives points to an applicant based on their GPA, SAT, essay, hardships, etc, rather than actually going through an application in depth. Is this true? Im asking cuz my academic stats arent that great (3.47 UC GPA, 2070 SAT), but my essays are kickass; I also have 1000+ community service hours. I know that a ton of extracurriculars doesnt make up for a bad GPA, but it should carry some weight in the admissions process right? I know that UC Berkeley and UCLA both look at an applicant holistically instead of just glancing over essays/extracurriculars and assigning points to them. Someone also told me that Davis will be using the holistic admissions process from this year onward. Can anyone confirm that? Thanks!</p>
<p>[University</a> of California - UC Newsroom | Regents committee endorses single-score holistic review](<a href=“http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/article/24832]University”>http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/article/24832)
[quote]
To provide a more thorough and fair evaluation of undergraduate applicants to the University of California, the UC Board of Regents’ committee on educational policy today (Jan. 19) endorsed a resolution calling for the use of single-score, individualized holistic review of each applicant as the expected admissions method at all UC campuses.<a href=“emphasis%20mine”>/quote</a></p>
<p>that’s fantastic news! i’m glad that people with achievements in areas besides academics will be more well recognized from now on. 
also, the officers will be REQUIRED to read our personal statements now right? in 2010, they didn’t even look at the essays for applicants and that was really really disheartening. 
so what do you think my chances are for uc davis, based on this news? i honestly do have 1000+ community service hours and a whole host of other activities as well. thanks!</p>
<p>Holistic review makes it harder to chance applicants without being able to see their entire application. If your essays really are as good as you think they are, you should be fine. Of course, being able to judge exactly what makes a “good” college application essay is extremely difficult without a lot of experience. Have your essays read by as many experienced people as possible. Preferably experienced on the receiving end, rather than the applying end.</p>
<p>“committee on educational policy today (Jan. 19) endorsed a resolution”</p>
<p>Wow! Don’t read too much into this. </p>
<p>That’s just a committee… not the Board of UC Regents. And it’s only a resolution… not a policy the Regents are forcing the UC Campuses to follow.</p>
<p>They still let each UC campus decide on their own admission policy. The trick is in researching each campus’ admission policy.</p>
<p>That’s somewhat disingenuous, VentureMan. First of all, it’s a committee within the Board, and the full Board [unanimously</a> voted to approve the resolution](<a href=“http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2011/01/20/uc-to-expand-individualized-review-of-applications/]unanimously”>UC To Expand Individualized Review Of Applications - CBS San Francisco) later that month.</p>
<p>Second, while it’s true that this resolution does not require all campuses to switch over to holistic review, a strong recommendation from the Board of UC Regents carries quite a bit of weight within the system. You can expect more campuses to be transitioning to a holistic system as soon as is reasonable given the current budget situation. UC Davis [is</a> already transitioning](<a href=“http://www.dailycal.org/2011/08/29/admissions-director-to-leave-post-for-uc-davis/]is”>http://www.dailycal.org/2011/08/29/admissions-director-to-leave-post-for-uc-davis/) with the help of Cal’s former director of admissions. (I should have shared that link originally, but I thought the resolution was more interesting.)</p>
<p>I might add that this resolution looks to have been written with one campus specifically in mind: UCSD, whose quantitative point-scoring system is somewhat notorious in the UC system. System administrators want all applications to be fully read, which means forcing UCSD to start reading theirs. We’ll see how that goes. I really have no idea how stubborn or cooperative UCSD plans to be.</p>
<p>Sorry… “a strong recommendation” doesn’t carry any weight if no one has to follow it.</p>
<p>Say what you will… but UC Davis does not have to follow this “a strong recommendation”… or even recognize this.</p>
<p>Are you kidding… this is a University system… where free thought and innovation are key. </p>
<p>Do you think Tenure is a Union idea to protect the teachers’ employment at high schools…? No, it to protect the innovativeness of the Professors of Universities. It’s to insure that Professors can’t be fired for being forward thinking and innovative in their thinking. Universities will always have guidelines… and even “a strong recommendation”… but will never be hindered by autocrats, as you may be suggesting.</p>
<p>Did you even read the article I linked that stated Davis is moving over to a holistic admissions process for the coming year?</p>
<p>Do you know the definition of the word “autocrat?”</p>
<p>Would you care to explain how faculty tenure has any relevance at all to this discussion?</p>
<p>If you fail to use enough ellipses, will you suffer some horrific injury?</p>
<p>It says on davis’s website itself that they’re gonna use holistic admissions from this year onward, so the UC regents board DOES carry a lot of weight.</p>
<p>Well, it could very well be that Davis was planning this move since before the regents board decided to get involved.</p>
<p>But it’s still very silly to say that just because something is not mandatory, it carries no weight. We only ever talk about whether a non-mandatory resolution (or suggestion, or whateveR) carries weight, because if it was mandatory the point would be moot.</p>
<p>ventureman be trippin, lol</p>