Every UC has an Honors college program. Depending upon campus, some are direct admits as a Freshman and some will invite you to apply.
UCLA: Need to be admitted to the College of L&S and apply.
UCB: Application required and based on the College ie. Engineering, Natural Resources or Department ie. Political Science, History etc…
UCSD: Direct for Regent scholars. Since UCSD is on a Residential college system, each college will invite eligible Freshman.
UCSB: Direct admit for Regent scholars. Others in the College of L&S are invited to apply.
UCD: Direct admit for all eligible applicants.
UCSC: Admission by invitation only (Fall)
UCR: Admission to apply via invite.
UCM: No specific information available.
Its been over a year since I posted. Sit back and relax. The die is cast in this covid new world!!
For historical context:
My D received her early UCI acceptance around the Feb 15-18th 2020 and that included being selected for Campus Wide Honors and got invite link. She then signed-up for her on-campus Honors Welcome conference (3/5). At that conference she had 3 letters in her package: Regents scholar ($5k/ year), Deans and Chancellor?? (Dean for sure, not sure about the 3rd scholarship) - in all it was about $10k/yr. Lucky me and her!!! She’s very happy there and pulled dean’s list since. Zot Zot
So that’s the skinny.
I anticipate that within a week the same should happen. UCI is still competing for high caliber students (and have set millions aside to attract the uber achievers as it helps with USNWR. Therefore they will smartly push to offer these to about 800-1400 (top 1-2%) of freshman applicants. Some of this info came from the on campus sessions last year. There is no hidden agenda. just have to listen for it.
Note: What is different this year though is that UCI collected over 110,000+ freshman applications. Much of the growth is being attributed to A) first generation freshman and B) a slew of applications whose SAT/ACT scores would have made it less likely to be accepted. Given the current political climate, full academic merit acceptances will be lower, in favor of ‘less academically qualified’ candidates.
This was directly observed last year and is likely to be more severe this year. My D2 is co-val at her school; maxed GPA, APs/Scores; completely self-directed in community service, leadership, and medical research - not just BS participation but actual verifiable achievements. Essays were really good, ripe with detail and humanity. Works and stockpiles money. Seems to manage it all without fray. Has built everything towards being an oncologist. This year, none of it means squat! A few of her friends have already received acceptances to top schools, many with full rides+. It helps to tick the right box if you can. And, it does fulfill a quota that makes everyone feel better.
In all, she and I agree that it does not matter. She’s only applied to good schools and one of them will accept her (it only takes one). She figures that what she does there will matter more than the name on the marquee. It’s 3-4 years, then Med School.
So the moral here, is to sit and relax. Let that 20 something admissions reader figure out where you belong. And in the end, you will end up where you belong. It is really magic.
Looks like honors emails usually go out on a weekday in the afternoon between 3-6pm. It should have been last week based on past dates, possibly delayed since the app period was extended.
Regular decisions always start on a Friday, probably 3/19 or 3/26 in the afternoon 2-6pm. Usually rolling with acceptances then WL then rejections a few days later.
But as gumbymom mentioned, it is always somewhat random and frustrating since it’s different every year with no communication from UCI admissions on what to expect.
Not sure if this is the same one, but I have been looking on reddit under r/ApplyingToCollege. There is a megathread 2021 Regular Decision Megathread. Hope that helps.
I haven’t heard back yet. I did get accepted to UC Santa Cruz today and saw multiple people get accepted to UC Santa Barbara. UC Irvine should be releasing some acceptances soon.
