Welcome prospective Anteaters. It’s that time of year again as the UC application has now opened and submission starts October 1 through November 30. I am @Gumbymom one of the two UC Forum Champions/Moderators. My Co-Forum Champion is @lkg4answers and we are knowledgeable on the increasingly complicated UC admissions process and hopefully we can help any prospective UC applicants with their questions.
UC Irvine like all the UC’s are test blind and will use 13 areas of criteria to review Freshman applicants. Each campus will weight the various areas of criteria differently so one size does not fit all. The UC application website has plenty of information that can help determine if UC Irvine is a good option when applying. Below is some admit information specific to the school.
Very important : Academic GPA, Personal Insight questions, Extracurricular activities, Rigor of secondary school record, Talent/ability, Volunteer work, Work experience
Important : Character/personal qualities
Considered : First Generation, Geographical residence, State residency, AP/IB test scores
Note: Demonstrated record of academic preparation, educational engagement, talent and skills important.
UCI into the major. In the case that UCI is unable to accommodate all qualified applicants in their first-choice major, those students who indicate a valid alternate major may be offered admission in that major or Undeclared.
UCI’s most popular applied majors. It was stated that 56% of the applicants chose these majors:
Biological Sciences
Business Administration
Computer Science
Psychology
BS Nursing
Undecided/Undeclared
Mechanical Engineering
Computer Science and Engineering
Criminology
Economics
First, thank you for all your insights on UC admissions!
I wanted to ask for your source regarding one statement (and I know another poster raised this point in a previous thread).
You mentioned that “UCI admits students to the University first, then the major.” However, UCI representatives have stated that major selection is important for admission. And if the applicant does not get accepted into their first choice major, they would then be considered for their alternate major or undecided.
If students were admitted to the university first, then why would the chosen major impact admission chances? That seems a bit inconsistent to me. If you could provide that source, I’d greatly appreciate it.
Yes major selection is important in the admission process. Each applicant is evaluated to make sure they meet a specific campus threshold before they are evaluated for their primary and alternate choice majors. If the student is competitive/exceptional enough for UCI as a whole but not for the majors they listed, they will be admitted as Undeclared.
Yes, UCI tries to offer what they consider exceptional students either their primary or alternate major, but still many are admitted as Undeclared so UCI deems them qualified but unable to admit into their specified majors due to capacity limits.
Some quotes for Dale Leaman Podcast last year:
We consider every aspect of the application, including the responses to the personal insight questions, and the major you’re applying to can make a huge difference in your chances of being admitted. Almost 60% of our first year applicants apply to only 10 majors, and none of those majors have anywhere close to the capacity needed to admit all of the exceptional applicants who apply.
Because we’re trying to identify fantastic students and exceptionally talented students, no matter what their area of interest. We ask students to apply to specific majors, but we also ask students to enter an alternate major. So, if they’re not able to be admitted to their first choice major, we are always going to try to find a way to admit exceptional students.
UCSD has a similar approach but they gave applicants a chance to change their alternate majors last year, if the applicant applied to 2 Capped majors as Primary and Alternate. Again, many students were admitted Undeclared even though listing both a Primary and Alternate major. They were competitive but not able to be admitted into their choice majors.
Thank you for the response. Wouldn’t the way UCI is considering students is by major first, then whether to accept them to the university through their alternate major or “undecided”? I guess I’m still stuck as to why a student’s admission chances to UCI are impacted by the major the student chooses if UCI first decides that they are already qualified for the school. To me, then it seems the student’s major choice only impacts whether they are admitted into their preferred major.
Ms Sun’s website gives a good overall explanation of how applications are reviewed.
The UC’s all have the same criteria but will weight each area differently. As mentioned on her website the applications are usually read by 2 different people but certain sections of the application may have only 1 reader and other sections use computers for screening. When you have a huge number of qualified applicants, there has to be a tiered process on how to determine due to capacity limits, which applicants get admitted into the primary major, whom will get into their alternate and still whom are still very qualified but will be admitted Undeclared.
The UC’s are fairly transparent about several aspects of the admissions process, but unless you work in admissions, many people including myself are not privy to nuances that go into these decisions.
Some updates from the UC Counselor Conference:
55% of all applicants applied to these 10 majors:
Biology, Business Administration, Computer Science, Nursing, Psychology, Undeclared, Mechanical Engineering, Criminology, Computer Science and Engineering, Political Science
Regents scholarship offers were made to 482 students.
The UC’s have their own timeline and the email for student portal setup is not instantaneous so some campuses take longer than others. If you have not received an email by Mid-December, then I would contact admissions.
How long ago did you submit? UCSB’s and UCLA’s student portals will not be available until Mid-December.
In general give it a couple of weeks and check your Spam/Junk folders.
My son just submitted his application. He received an email confirming UC application was sent and listed the schools he applied to. Under UCI it asks if he wants to apply to all campus honors. When he click on the link it says deadline has past? Is this true? Would love some info on honors program.
Thanks
Campuswide Honors Collegium (CHC) is usually offered at the time of admissions. I haven’t heard of it being offered at the time of application submission.
Do I need to apply to join the Campuswide Honors Collegium?
Admission to the Campuswide Honors Collegium for incoming first years is by invitation. No additional application beyond the UCI Admissions Application is necessary. Selection for incoming first years is based on your UCI application.
How will I know if I am invited to join the Campuswide Honors Collegium?
Incoming first years will receive an invitation email from Honors in the spring. UCI first year student admission notices will take place during the month of March in 2023. Along with the UCI admission decision, selection for Campuswide Honors will be indicated in your UCI Applicant Portal.
S24 got email from UCI saying they got the application 24 hours after applying (Nov 3rd).
Email with portal access information came 10 days after that.
Also applied to UCSC, and no emails until today (almost a month later) with portal access.
So each UC has their own time line, but UCI was the fastest for S24.
@Wendochop it looks like the webpage has been updated for student to submit if there are interested in learning more. It says specifically that this is not an application or invitation.
UCI Office of Undergraduate Admissions