Parents of the HS Class of 2021 (Part 2)

I’ve got nothin’! I hope gumbymom can help us out…

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Sorry not a clue. Huh, I would be quite surprised if he got in there. It was a total “what the heck” add on for him after he and my husband did a walk thru while in LA. My cousin’s daughter went there and had to work her tail off but happily was successful.

Edit: just read Gumbymom’s entry below. My S does have unusual ECs and over 400 hours of uncommon STEM community service. His GPA is good but not exceptional for UCLA.

There is a discussion on the UCLA thread about the Alumni Scholarship invites.

This information was posted by another poster @Twoin18 last year which I copied and will now post. I know they expanded the # of applicants that they sent the invite to last year but it does not mean that you will be accepted by getting the invite and not all applicants will get the invite.

I suggest you look at this link: UCLA Official Regents and Alumni Scholarships FAQ 2019

UCLA Alumni Scholarships:

The vast majority of the ~150 awarded the Alumni scholarship get the standard $1500 per year, unless they receive the extra need based aid. There is a shortlisting process for video/phone based interviews (IIRC organized on a regional basis within CA) and then roughly 1 in 3 of those interviewed wins the scholarship.

The award of the scholarship is typically announced in early April and then there is a reception for awardees at Bruin Day. A small number (I think 10-20% of winners) are also invited to compete on campus the next weekend for a higher award amount. There is also a reserve list for runners up, since not all of the original winners will choose to attend UCLA.

The shortlisting process appears to be based primarily on a) did you write an essay that stands out and gets noticed by your reader and b) your community service and similar ECs. Its different from the Regents scholarship which is based more on pure academic talent (and obviously relies on the original UC application for shortlisting). So my S who was senior class president etc won an Alumni scholarship, his classmate who was the top student with 36 ACT etc won a Regents scholarship. However, I understand that some applicants can win both scholarships (and then they stack).

Its worth noting that the Regents scholarship is vastly more useful as it gives you class and housing priority (and other things like a parking permit), while the Alumni scholarship doesn’t. Nevertheless, a $6000 scholarship is worth applying for and there are some additional benefits, like access to internships, mentoring etc.

The Alumni Association is independent of UCLA admissions. There is only a one way flow of information:

  1. UCLA admissions give the Alumni Association a list of some subset of applicants for the invitation email. Then the invitation is sent out and people apply for the Alumni scholarship.

  2. After UCLA admissions have announced their admission decisions, they give the Alumni Association a list of admitted students so they can screen out any scholarship applications from those who weren’t admitted before starting to read them.

The only time information goes the other way is when the Alumni Association tell financial aid about the awarded scholarships.

So there is no impact on the admission decision from any Alumni scholarship application. The fact that there may be correlation (depending on how selective UCLA admissions were in compiling the original list for the invitation email) is in no way causation.

If it’s the same as previous years then Alumni scholarship applicants were shortlisted in late March/early April, interviewed in the first week of April and then awards made before Bruin Day. There are some awards made later to runners up depending on how many of the original awardees don’t attend UCLA but I don’t believe there is any provision for interviewing additional candidates.

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My daughter received an email for UCLA Alumni Scholarship

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Thanks for the heads up! I’m still cautiously optimistic for fall, but if it starts to look dicey I will check that out!

Funny story 1/25/03 was a Saturday. On Sunday my wife asked me to bring “the bag that clothes” for wife and baby for them to leave the hospital on Monday.

I grabbed a plastic garbage bag thinking I was getting the clothes. I get to the hospital and it turns out I the garbage bag I grabbed a was a garbage bag filled with garbage. I have been living that down since then.

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My D21 received the email for the Alumni Scholarship.

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Yes my S21 received the email

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While this is Parents of 2021 group, did anyone see this today? This is just the beginning. I am so happy this is my last kid. I don’t think I could go through another application year like this.

https://admissions.cornell.edu/news/cornell-university-has-suspended-actsat-testing-requirement-2022-first-year-applicants

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Yes my S got the email. His stats are very good, but ECs are typical.

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yes, S21 got it as well

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Thank goodness this is my last one, right? It was mind bending enough for us to have two back to back these two years but I’m so glad we’re almost done. These poor families and applicants that have to deal with so much more uncertainty next year. Hoping the outlook changes and things start looking better soon for them.

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Thank you to everyone, especially @Gumbymom as usual.

BTW, for these of you interested, someone just posted a link for to a spreadsheet on the UCLA 2025 CC thread of a poll taken last March of Reddit users who did and didn’t get the UCLA alumni email and their respective results. It’s very informative if you can rely on Reddit users being honest of course. :slight_smile:

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Hi @B2DJ2021, My D21 has some early acceptances. Can you point me to some resources which help in undergrad/graduate studies.

From the Cornell announcement: "Applicants with no test results might more often be asked after review has begun for additional evidence of continuing preparation, including grade reports from current senior year enrollment when that can be made available in time for Cornell admission review. "

This supports our discussion yesterday about the fact that senior year grades are probably more important than ever this year, particularly for those without a test score.

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It’s really nice to come here and read all the good news and updates from so many of you. :slight_smile:

My daughter got the UCLA Alumni Scholarship email fwiw.

She also got an invite to apply to the Hamel Scholarship at UNH, and that invitation is only offered to the “top 20-25 applicants.” If she got that scholarship then she’d basically have a completely free ride (she already has a big merit award from UNH, and the two would be added together). Also found out that she will have at least 27 credits transfer to both UNH and UVM (probably 37 credits after this semester) from her dual credit classes. This all takes a lot of the stress away from waiting for decisions from the ultra-selective institutions.

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In case anyone is interested in Cornell, there is a fresh podcast with admissions on the podcast “Inside College Admissions”. Yep, they consider senior fall and even spring grades and sometimes revoke offers. Hard core.

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@JanieWalker Wow! Congrats to your D on her impressive accomplishments!

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@sushiritto I’ve decided to think of it as a good sign! Could use some optimism around here. Plus of course my kid is awesome and special. :wink:. Thanks for sharing the info.

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Receiving the UCLA alumni email does increase your chances, so it’s definitely a good sign. We always thought of UCLA as a big reach for my D. Naviance and the UC’s admission stats by HS paint a bleak picture for D’s HS.

So, they’re telling us here on CC that “we have a chance.”

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