<p>no ive been against the system ever since the beginning, well not against, but my eyebrow was raised when i first heard that they gave out LOTS of points for poverty. </p>
<p>i acknowledge that i would probably not be so adamant about complaining about SD if i had gotten in. but i didnt get in with stats that were above average for sd (and with people with much lower stats, ecs getting in). also , many people on this board also acknowledge sd's flawed system and have been accepted.</p>
<p>Well the administrators at UCSD are obviously not going to be a bunch of idiots. I'm sure they realize that their system has flaws and that it is in no way perfect. There are going to be people like the ones John Le mentioned that take advantage of the flaws, but there are a lot of deserving people who benefit from it as well.</p>
<p>Assuming that you are from a middle-income family where one or both parents work white collar jobs, there's really no way you can begin to comprehend your benefits. You can't just dismiss it with a sarcastic apology that you weren't "born impoverished". Just like Jhead2000LHS and xopattiecakeox said in their earlier posts, the difference between having that sense of security about your family's economic situation and not having it is incredibly huge.</p>
<p>Waking up in the middle of the night to watch your one family car get repossessed, having to take care of your siblings because both of your parents work 15-hour days just to put food on your table, having to stay home while all your friends hang out because you don't have enough money for that ten dollar movie, having to work on top of all of that, and the list goes on and on.</p>
<p>I really can't help but think, at this point, that you're just a self-righteous jackass who can't think of anyone except himself-- except you're even worse because you believe that you're fighting some great unjustness in the world. And seriously, who told you you got rejected by a 100 point margin? If you're so confident about that, why don't you appeal? Or are you just betting on Cal or LA and this is more of a "principles" thing?</p>
<p>It's also possible to argue that kids of rich families are less motivated since they don't see or don't have the need to work as hard since they'll always have money to fall back on. Still, a poor person who wants to do something but can't pay for it is on a different level than a rich person who doesn't do something because they don't feel like doing it. I suppose that's the point of the essays; those with less can write about how they wanted to do something, but because they didn't have the money, they either worked for it or found another way to further their interests.</p>
<p>About the club president thing: it may also depend on which club it is. For example, the Berkeley applicant evaluation system explicitly says that no credit is given for being president of anime club (although it also says that being the (co-)founder of it will net you something). You can find the Berkeley papers at the end of the PDF (page 71 of 76) that was released by a professor who analyzed the system: <a href="http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2005/05/16_houtreport.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2005/05/16_houtreport.pdf</a></p>
<p>ha it's funny that berkeley is taking anime clubs seriously, if only a little.</p>
<p>and I'll drink to what jm0407 said.</p>
<p>Yeah, spending loads of money of those expensive classes ($1000 Kaplan classes, btw my dad used to teach a kaplan LSAT class, they pay the teachers very little, they just want lots of money) will help a good deal. I got in but i totally agree that the point system is not fair; the idea that you get 300 points for being the first in your family to go to college is equivalent to having a 0.3 higher gpa is ludicrous. On the flip side, i do think UCSD should consider things like that (1st to college, poor), but not weigh them as heavily as they do. People with ~3.6 and 1600's should NOT be beating out people with ~4.1 and 2000+.</p>
<p>I don't get their points system either. How many points do you get for clubs in general?</p>
<p>You can get around 250~500 points for clubs, depending on your position and how many clubs you held positions for.</p>
<p>Um...to refute what somebody said about only bitter people don't like the point system. </p>
<p>I got in, and I also think it's severely flawed.</p>
<p>I'm not going to start on why (though many legitimate reasons are already being discussed) because I could go on this forever. :-) </p>
<p>PM me if you're really bored and you want my reasons...and I just might respond if I have time.</p>
<p>UCSD uses point system and a bell curve cut off. if you dont make the cutoff you don't get in its simple as that. Also if u havent taken 40+ A-G courses u lose a big chunk of points, 500 to be exact. Heres a link
<a href="http://www.geocities.com/kisasong/UCSDComprehensive.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.geocities.com/kisasong/UCSDComprehensive.htm</a></p>
<p>also, i don't believe its flawed. If ur SAT and GPA were really that great and you didnt take as many courses as needed, didn't have the effort to get a club position etc, thats your own fault. The point system outlines everything that makes you a "well rounded" student. You have to be well rounded to get the points.</p>
<p>wahh wahh cry more please</p>
<p>clubs can give you either 150 or 300, depending on how much involvement</p>
<p>and even if you don't get the 500 for the 40 a-g you can still get 250 for 33-39 or whatever...</p>
<p>Well, just play with what you get, sometimes it's a blessing in disguise to not get into a certain college. Who knows...but there's no sense in really complaining about it now. If UCSD is your first choice, appeal for sure.</p>
<p>haha it's funny how UCSD rejectees AND the admitted students are much more vocal about the (unfair) admissions process whereas rejectees from other colleges are completely resigned to their fate b/c admissions @ other colleges aren't nearly so erratic/unpredictable as SD's this year.
just because the bigwigs in the admissions office say something is right/fair, doesn't mean that it is. great advances/breakthroughs were attained via discontent, the common people versus the elite establishment.
makes you really wonder if something really is indeed wrong w/ the whole logic behind SD admissions this year...</p>
<p>Its not just this year, and the admissions office has certainly made an educated attempt at equalizing the playing field for applicants. What they do might not seem fair to rejectees, but to the first generation college student from a severely disadvantaged background, it's a godsend. As applicants, we're unable to see the big picture per se, because as much as we are diverse, we still retain a bubble. The admissions officers have been doing this for far more than just one season, so while their judgement might not be entirely "fair", it is backed by the wisdom of time.</p>
<p>agreed...even tho i still don't like the process (and i got in)</p>
<p>wow sonic boom you are being very ignorant. they obviously are extremely subjective when it comes to their points. </p>
<p>i could get into sd with just my gpa and sat alone. and yet i didnt. how is that possible. i also have many clubs in which i am either an officer/cabinet (each club with over 100 people) and many awards.</p>
<p>also i did not spend any money on sat and do not appreciate people making the generalization that just because some of us have money, we are less motivated. i study my butt off in school, which is what i have learned from my parents. they got to this country soley based on their hard work.</p>
<p>it ridiculous how us middle class kids are essentially being discriminated against because of our blessed lives.</p>
<p>gogogo, i entirely sympathize w/ your situation --it's very similar to mine.
i have a pretty decent sat score (2210) that i never paid for (no expensive sat prep whatsoever, it was all up to myself)
furthermore, my parents started out as your typical chinese immigrant and thanks to the american dream, we are now living a comfortably middle class existence. although my family's story isn't nearly as dramatic as yours, gogogo (if i remember correctly, your dad had to scrape up enough money to pay for your mother to come to america), we defenitely worked our way up. my family is most certainly not wealthy, yet not living in abject poverty.. is there something so terribly wrong with that?!</p>
<p>rofl im sorry but im middle class, my stats are probably lower than yours gogogo
but i probably had a lot more EC than you. And how do you know if ur SAT and GPA alone got you in? you dont even know the cutoff points. So YOU are ignorant when you think you should have gotten in.</p>
<p>officers dont even matter read the link its President or VP no one cares about a petty officer position. I didnt spend money on SAT either. u don't need to go around calling people ignorant. oh btw i got in anddd lets see oh yeah you didnt.</p>
<p>well im assuming that the cutoff point was around the same as last years? give or take 100 points. </p>
<p>and i wasnt even putting you down honestly. just calling you ignorant. </p>
<p>"oh btw i got in anddd lets see oh yeah you didnt."</p>
<p>wow thats really immature. with people like that getting accepted to sd, im glad i was rejected. honestly sonic boom, that was uncalled for- be mature.</p>
<p>btw my ECs were excellent. in fact, i recieved an award at my school for being the most well rounded- given to me by teachers, etc. i am strong in academics, and strong in EC's. i am in 2 varsity sports, marching band, 5 clubs with over 100 members, had an internship in a hospital out of the country, etc etc. so please i hold my position when stating that you are being extremely ignorant.</p>