<p>@Dilapidatedmind Preach. You are spot on</p>
<p>I got into UCSB and my Math requirement is IP right now so I don’t know how adversely it really affects you, but I also got straight A’s last semester and my English courses were completed in my freshman year.</p>
<p>Every applicant is different and not every application is reviewed by the same admissions counselor. There is no way to specifically know what makes your app different from someone else with the same stats or better. Ive seen people with my GPA get into my main major while i was admitted to my alternate. These are the type of things I would get an aneurysm over trying to figure out the reason for, but I just have to accept it. I’m not going to go and say the school doesn’t know what they’re doing because of it. I think in the case of Sanfrankid I would have been all up UCSB’s butt if it was the only school I was applying to. I would have known the ins and outs of the admission/app process</p>
<p>Bottom line, talk to the school to figure out what the problem was. This is an exciting time for those who have been admitted and you shouldn’t rain on their parade because it didn’t work out for you.</p>
<p>@dilapidatedmind</p>
<p>the challenge is UC and my community colleges said as long as math/english were IP, it didn’t matter. I would not be regulated to a non-priority status. UCSB admission’s original requirements EXPLICITLY said math/english did not need to be completed by fall 2011. </p>
<p>i had a strong explanation why i was short on my math and english and i was told that it would not be a serious problem. </p>
<p>@nsw</p>
<p>UCSB’s real admissions policy is clearly dated, much like the stickys on this board. if the 3 counselors i met with said not finishing english and math was a major redline, worse than not completing pre-reqs or having 60 units, then i might have approached my last fall semester differently. i took classes more closely related to my major and finished another IGETC requirement, leaving only math and english. </p>
<p>im still in contact with reps, and im not totally finished just yet. what my main concern now is that the A i will get in my english now will be seen less favorably because im using an AP credit to meet the other english requirement. </p>
<p>i hear UC likes to see real CC classes done opposed to AP. though IMO high school AP english was probably harder than any language class i have ever taken at CC. </p>
<p>i should also note that in the many “chance” posts i made where i said english/math wasn’t completed, not one poster seriously challenged it. so clearly im not the only one who was surprised.</p>
<p>Even though it isn’t directly stated Math and English should be completed prior to the Spring semester before transfer. Not only does it look better, it automatically makes you competitive for admission w/ or w/out pre-reqs. </p>
<p>FWIW: I just got accepted to UCSD and I didn’t even complete a single REQUIRED pre-req for their Lit major with a gpa of 3.8x but I completed my English requirement last Spring and Math this past fall.</p>
<p>@UC</p>
<p>it doesn’t “directly” say it - it says it is not required. as long as it is IP, yea you might be looked down somewhat less favorably, but not a total redline. and UCSB rep said pre-reqs matter far less (specially for humanities and non-science majors) then finishing the math/engish by fall 2011.</p>
<p>if UCSB was so tight, then they should have a holistic review process. and their website should be updated with the facts.</p>
<p>It was common sense to me that english and math should be done ASAP so I took it into my own hands to get them done. Sometimes its more of your own instinct rather than what people tell you. </p>
<p>As far as the people who are saying “how did he get accepted and not me?” Stop hating and be happy for them. There was obviously something admissions officers saw in he/she and not yourself. Even if there wasn’t, it isn’t anyones fault so don’t blame.</p>
<p>@SFK The counselors at your CC might not have cases similar to yours where a student was auto-rejected from UCSB for not completing the required English course prior to the Spring semester, which is why they might have kept reassuring you. UC admission criteria is constantly changing every year and I wouldn’t be surprised if UCSB came out and stated that English and Math have to be done before/during the app process.</p>
<p>@bearterritory- Don’t worry, I understand where you’re coming from. I’m also a 1 year CCC (previously from an OOS institution) and while I was OOS, I did not have it in my mind whatsoever to finish IGETC pre-reqs for a UC because at that time I didn’t know I was going to transfer out, only at the end of my freshman year did I decide on this (personal reasons). Like you, I’ve been fighting with my CCC here in order to get the English requirements completed. I desperately tried to register for the Critical Thinking portion of IGETC in the Fall but couldn’t get in- Tried waitlisting, crashing, etc., and nothing worked. I was lucky enough to grab a fast track course this semester!</p>
<p>In any case, I did call UCSB admissions to report my finalized grade in my Critical Thinking course this Spring and the woman on the phone did verify that they do NOT want to see Critical Thinking completed in Spring, and that it does weigh against you. She did not say it will be an automatic reject, just that it goes against you. UCSB is strange…</p>
<p>A quick note about counselors: At (most) CC’s, counselors are unaware of the UC transfer process because they don’t deal with many students who are looking to take that route, instead they are dealing with hundreds of students who are looking to transfer to the local CSU campus. </p>
<p>Now, obviously they aren’t going to know every minute detail of the UC transfer process, nor should we expect them to. It’s basically the responsibility of the UC bound transfer student to keep up with all of ever-changing process known as UC admissions. </p>
<p>BTW: I go to a small CC, about 3,000 students, and I corrected my counselor about a TAG requirement in early September, so she honestly admitted that I was only the second student that is even applying to a UC campus and she hadn’t even looked at the new requirements in depth.</p>
<p>well i acted in good faith and planned my classes according to counselor’s recommendation and UCSB’s guideline. If UCSB placed english/math at such a high level - higher than the 60 unit requirements and pre-reqs - they should have emphasized this. </p>
<p>the lack of english/math was not out of laziness.</p>
<p>@rDPurpleHaze</p>
<p>it makes more <em>common sense</em> from my perspective to complete classes more related to your major than basic courses like math and english. as far as claims that schools cannot tell if you have “college-level” english skills, AP tests are far more accurate than CC courses. anyone can pass an english college level class but how many can get 5s on AP english? </p>
<p>and if students are taking classes closely related to english, or classes that require lots of research-type writing (15 page lab reports, 20 page philosophy synthesis) i don’t see how that is not comparable to a basic english 200+ course.</p>
<p>they simply want you to take more classes. math is something totally different. i mean seriously, how can PHIL 115 be placed in the same category as general english when no serious writing is involved? and why are other english classes like european literature placed in the humanities section and not language requirement for IGETC?</p>
<p>it’s so arbitrary.</p>
<p>This is what y’all get for underestimating UCSB haha.</p>
<p>It’s refreshing to see other people feel the same way about some of the thread topics being posted, I thought I was the only one.</p>
<p>Ill tell you this about the 6 schools i applied to in regard to my CC’s counselors. Its like they’re out to sabotage u. I was missing a Calc major pre req and my counselor told me i shouldnt even apply. “Yeah they’re not gonna take you without your major pre-reqs done. Just stay here another semester and knock it out.” I gave him a “your’re an idiot look” Yeah like im going to stay at CC (for techinically another year because schools dont usually do a Spring/Winter admission process) for 1 class. Thats when i knew i had to do all the work for myself. Also my CC makes you believe that you either have to go the CSU route with your curriculum choices or the UC route. They act like its impossible to fulfill the requirements for CSU’s and UC’s with the same courses. I take everything from them with a grain of salt. From a counselor telling me i wouldn’t be accepted to not seeing a rejection yet and im already half way through. 3 down 3 to go.</p>
<p>The reason that the writing requirement is in place is to prove that you are able to communicate clearly in all of your courses after transfer due to there being some type of writing component in almost all classes, other than math courses. I also am using an AP score to meet the 1st semester writing requirement, and not to belittle any of you guys or anything, but if you’re a admissions officer wouldn’t you see a 5 on AP lang as a better indicator of strong writing skills than a CC PHILOSOPHY course? If not then the admissions process is definitely not hollistic.</p>
<p>@dilapidatedmind
I registered for my CC extremely late, and was admitted past the deadline for honors applications. This is due to the fact that I was originally intending to go to UCLA/UCSD but decided the money aspect and the possibility of going into CAL as a transfer was too sweet to turn down. I know that I took an extreme risk but getting a ~3.9 in 27 semester units (not to mention tough courses such as bio, chem, calc, econ, just to name a few) in 1 semester should show that I rose up to the challenge. Now if UCSB was actually as EXCLUSIVE as they think they are they would actually read the PERSONAL STATEMENT to judge my writing skills like CAL or UCLA. I just don’t want to lose the opportunity to attend my safety due to some policy that is nowhere mentioned on their website and totally unorthodox for the UC system. I mentioned this to an admissions officer at UCLA this morning and her words verbatim were “there’s no way that can be right.”</p>
<p>@bear</p>
<p>have to agree on the personal statement deal. if UCSB is so obsessed with the language requirement, an applicant’s essay is a direct testament to a student’s capabilities and understanding of mechanics and language use. aptitude tests are the best ways to assess competence outside of an essay read directly by an officer. they should consider essays in their admission’s if english is a redline for admissions. </p>
<p>but since they don’t read the essays, IMO the manic obsession with basic GE non-major related courses over serious classes that are closer to one’s major has no logic behind it. just bureaucracy. more roadblocks for students to deal with. </p>
<p>im still talking to UCSB admission’s reps and they are surprisingly blunt about what they expected this year. too bad their expectations was not public information without inquiring about it.</p>
<p>That’s what backups are for…</p>
<p>@SanFranciscoKid
I confronted the admissions rep about it over the phone and demanded for where it specifically said they want both done in the fall and she had no rebuttal. I haven’t even gotten rejected yet, I’m just baffled something like this could work against me.</p>
<p>@ayymeer
UCSB is my backup -___-</p>
<p>@bear</p>
<p>i was told the same thing. i reminded several reps that in their guidelines it says explicitly that they accept english/math as long as it is done by spring. common sense would say those who complete it prior to spring have a better chance of acceptance, but not having it done 100% was never said to be a redline.</p>
<p>maybe if rejects are more vocal they’ll update their guidelines. i would have finished english last fall if i knew it was more important than everything else.</p>
<p>@sanfran </p>
<p>I’ve been roaming on this site 24/7 for the past year and not once have I seen something like this mentioned.</p>
<p>@bearterritory
I think you missed my point. I appreciate the risk you took and I can see that you are very hard working and you do seem like an extremely worthy, motivated applicant. The point of my last post wasn’t to justify UCSB’s preferences or admissions standards, but to explain that many applicants aren’t as proactive as they could be in getting accurate information directly from admissions as to not end up in a position where they’re in their last semester just finding out there are things they could’ve done to increase their chance at acceptance. I think you were extremely proactive when it came to communicating with UCLA/Cal admissions, I think even you have to admit that you didn’t take the same approach with UCSB. If you had, who knows maybe it wouldn’t have changed anything, but at the very least you would’ve know about their preferences regarding the math/english requirement earlier on and perhaps you could’ve squeezed in that one course before Spring or chosen a different back up option. </p>
<p>And before you respond with I was taking the first semester of English in Fall so I couldn’t take the second semester course then, I meant in winter.</p>