Holistic Admissions

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

<p>With this term being thrown around everywhere when speaking of UCLA's new admissions philosophy, I think it would be nice to actually get an idea of what it is.</p>

<p>I found this article. Thoughts?
<a href="http://www.today.ucla.edu/voices/janina-montero_admissions/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.today.ucla.edu/voices/janina-montero_admissions/&lt;/a>
<a href="http://www.newuniversity.org/showArticle.php?id=4952%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.newuniversity.org/showArticle.php?id=4952&lt;/a>
Official UCLA doc: <a href="http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/Prospect/Adm_fr/fradms.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/Prospect/Adm_fr/fradms.pdf&lt;/a>
Their previous admissions philosophy sounds terribly draconian- with individual readers for each section of the application, and no communication between. I'm glad they made the switch to holistic.</p>

<p>"The reader who reviews grades, test scores and high school curricula doesn’t know about extracurricular activities, employment, community service or awards. The reader who considers socioeconomic status, family and education levels is not exposed to the rest of the application.
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2

<p>I like the previous process simply because my really high GPA made up for the weaknesses in other areas. I probably wouldn't have gotten in here with holistic admissions... :D</p>

3

<p>oh thats cool..so one person academics..one person extra/status and i guess they deliberate on if a person should get in or not?</p>

4

<p>The old system compartmentalized the scoring process, so one person would assign a score for academics, another for socioeconomic status, another for extracurriculars, etc.</p>

<p>The new holistic approach allows admissions staff to view your application as one whole package, taking everything into account at once.</p>

5

<p>***. so how is that any better then old system</p>

6

<p>It allows people who suffer in one area because of an extenuating circumstance to get a shot at attending a good school? Is that hard to see?</p>

7

<p>no what im getting from the old system is that 3 ppl look at 3 different aspect and then they deliberate on it. if thats the case, its just like bringing those 3 together and calling it holistic admissions. </p>

<p>and just because i misunderstood what you said, theres no reason to be a ******* about it</p>

8

<p>No, in the old system you get a score for each section. At the end they add up the scores and whether that number fits into their admissions range or not for that year determines your decision. There's no deliberating involved from what I read.</p>

<p>I understand you're tense about this, but I wasn't being curt with you. Just a misunderstanding.</p>

<p>The key part of this: </p>

<p>Take academics for example. The person giving you a score for academics will be blind to all other portions of your application. So if you were in a terrible car accident during your junior year and that caused your grades to drop, they wouldn't know about it and you'd take a low score in that section.</p>

9

<p>if you weren't intending to be mocking then I apologize. But from context, it really did seem that way.</p>

10

<p>Well, sorry about that. I'm curious, do you still think holistic admissions is bad?</p>

11

<p>flong completely off topic but i just noticed ur post #... you've broken 1000! i totally think that like a week ago it was 400 something. yeah just thought i'd share, sorry for this fruitless post. :)</p>

12

<p>i don't know if it helps me or not.</p>

<p>i'll know when i get in or get rejected.</p>

13

<p>thtas alot better for me. the only major flaw i have on my app is a 3.8 w uc gpa. sats and exc and essays are all alot better</p>

14

<p>Theoretically this holistic admissions process SHOULD be a lot better than me, my stats are a bit lower than UCLAs average, but everything else is really strong.</p>

<p>I guess we'll find out soon, though.</p>

15

<p>I'm OOS. Does anyone know how many students apply with illnesses like juvenile diabetes or cancer? The only thing not in my advantage are test scores and lack of AP courses. I could only take 2 this year, because I have to take other prereqs in order to graduate high school, such as Chemistry. Last year, I was robbed of my SAT prep and the strength of my academic schedule.</p>

<p>Can someone chance me with my circumstances? And I would be bringing a lot of diversity to the school with my foundation. Our mission is to help in the funding for cures for childhood cancer.</p>

16

<p>what does OOS stand for?</p>

17

<p>out of state</p>

18

<p>Thanks for the links. I really don't understand "holistic" admissions but from reading the articles, it appears to me that they are putting more weight on "life challenges" (i.e. socioeconomic status, family and education levels).</p>

<p>Does that mean a student with high test scores/GPA from a rural school that doesn't send many kids to 4 year colleges is at an advantage?</p>

<p>My son was accepted at UCLA last year before "holistic" admissions and I have another son that will be applying this fall.</p>

19

<p>Is this Supplemental Application also a part of this Holistic Admissions? I received one, and I think my Fall Senior Grades were good, but I sort of restated the personal circumstances in the short answer question. </p>

<p>Thanks</p>

20

<p>there was a thread on it..theres a mod here named Flopsy and he explained to us that some of lower end "borderline" ppl were given this supp app. One way to see it is UCLA wanted to give that person a chance to strengthen his or her app i.e. strong grades, new volunteer hours, essays to give more insight on the person but on the flip side, UCLA was also just looking for a reason to cut you from the group i.e. bad grades, dropping a AP course, etc.</p>