<p>Okay, remember when I said I hoped that none of my kids would want to graduate early and leave home to go to college at age 16?</p>
<p>Changed my mind.</p>
<p>From the Comprehensive Review in Freshman Admissions Fall 2003:</p>
<p>San Diego Campus Description Overview</p>
<p>UCSDs review of each application for undergraduate admission included a review of academic, personal characteristics and achievement factors. Each applicant received two reviews by independent readers. At least one of the reviews was conducted by an admissions officer. Second reviews were conducted by either an admissions officer or an external reader. If the consideration of any factor varied more than one point value, a third review was conducted by a senior admissions officer.</p>
<p>The comprehensive review score was calculated using fixed weights for twelve factors: GPA, test scores, courses beyond minimum a-g requirements, ELC status, educational environment, low income, first-generation college attendance, demonstrated leadership, special talents/achievement/awards, community service, personal circumstances, and participation in pre-collegiate programs. Academic achievement factors comprised 75 percent of the total maximum possible points of the comprehensive review score.</p>
<p>Applicants were ranked based on the comprehensive review score, and the top 17,616 (16,280 fall and 1,336 winter) were admitted.</p>
<p>Future Directions</p>
<p>For the next admissions cycle and per the direction of the Committee on Admissions, the San Diego campus will not conduct two reviews of applicants in the highest and lowest bands of academic achievement, but will conduct a single review by a senior admissions officer. In addition, the Office of Admissions and Relations with Schools will continue to implement additional technological advancements to streamline the review process and
provide additional data to reviewers.</p>
<br>
<blockquote> <p>ellemenope- it is NOT by the numbers. It goes by a system called "comprehensive review".<<</p> </blockquote>
<br>
<p>calmom--I have volunteered for 5 years in the college center at our local high school and have had my own D go through the UC application process. Trust me, I am VERY familiar with the UC application and the "comprehensive review" construct. Although each UC goes through the comprehensive review process, it is most certainly not done the same way at each college.</p>
<p>Some of the UCs (like Berkeley and UCLA) treat the application "holistically"--like an LAC would. They read the app and give you a rating. A wonderfully written essay can really make a difference here. To me, this is true comprehensive review. They don't plug the GPA and SAT into a formula nor do they have a point system for ECs--all with the goal of coming up with a point total.</p>
<p>Others treat the application more "by the numbers"--like UC Davis and UCSD. There are fixed rates for certain factors--you get 300 points for being a drum major or student body president, 100 points for participating in AVID, 100 points for being ELC, 300 points for overcoming hardship, etc. I think at UCD, you got a certain number of points for being an Eagle Scout. (What was interesting about the UC Davis criteria was what activities the admissions committe did NOT give extra points for.) </p>
<p>When my daughter was applying, my recollection was that 70% of the overall points from an applicant's score at UCSD could come from academic factors (a-g, ELC, National Merit, GPA) and testing (SAT 1 and 2s). UCSD undergoes comprehensive review (in that it considers more things than SAT scores and GPA). But they are very clear as to where their priorities lay. And their treatment of comprehensive review is very formulaic--unlike Berkeley.</p>
<p>What I found interesting about the Berkeley info on the site mentioned above is that the admissions committee had a target enrollment for each college in the university. Choosing the "right" major can be a factor in being admitted at certain universities, including the UCs. OP's daughter benefitted from that, I am sure, at UCSD--a science-heavy school. And the university benefits from having students in all major departments at the university.</p>
<p>To add to LMNOP's discussion on the points at UCD, here's the detailed list oh who gets points and does not. Some EC activities are really pointless in such as system: being a tutor, a mere member of club or team, or building house for Habitat, does not mean much at UC-Davis! </p>
<p>UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA EC SCORING GUIDELINES</p>
<p>LEADERSHIP PROMISE: </p>
<p>Leadership promise is measured by an applicant's involvement in extracurricular activities at their school, community or home. Three or more are required. </p>
<p>Points: Three or more leadership roles that demonstrate one's capacity to direct or influence the course of an activity/organization or the action of others -- in activities at school, in the community or at home. Must show consistent participation (i.e., A school year or sport season) or some indication of achievement. Examples:
Chief or section editor of school newspaper or yearbook
Team captain
Section leader in the school band, drum major, conductor
Director, stage manager or choreographer of a school play
Student body or class officer
President or vice president of team/club or volunteer organization
Representative to the school board, city council or area representative for a community organization
Mock trial officer or delegate to a regional or larger conference
Girls/boys state or national delegate
Model UN head delegate or junior statesman delegate to regional or higher level conference; undersecretary or general secretary
Leadership role in Girl/Boys Scouts, Sea Scout, Quarter Master
Life Scout/Silver Award, Eagle Scout/Gold Award (received or in progress)
4-H Diamond Star or All-star; 4-H Teen Leader, national conference team member; state ambassador
Link crew team leader
Peer trainer or mediator
Lead person in a major activity, such as a fund-raising drive, cultural activity or tutoring program
Youth educator in community activities such as Sunday school teacher or coach
Participation in highly selective leadership program
Parental role at home as primary care giver or major wage earner</p>
<p>No points
Member of club, organization or sport team
Lower officer of non-selective club
Volunteer for community organization
Tutor
Junior Statesman participant
Future Business Leaders of America
Model UN participant
Teaching assistant
Habitat for Humanity volunteer
School Accreditation Review Team
Link Crew member
Mexicali Missions project volunteer
4-H star ranks bronze-gold
Umpire, referee or lifeguard (unless description in personal statement satisfies leadership definition)</p>
<p>SPECIAL TALENTS AND SKILLS:
A special talent or skill involves substantial participation or exceptional performance in the arts, sciences, languages, athletics, etc. that demonstrates hard work and accomplishment. </p>
<p>Points: Persistent involvement in two activities for 3 years each, resulting in distinguished recognition at the school or higher level or representing outstanding effort and dedication in the community; or long-term involvement in one activity resulting in recognition at the state level or the right to compete at the national level. Examples:
Debate tournament winner
Speech or essay contest winner (Forensic awards)
Dance/music award winner
Lead in school play
1st chair in school band/orchestra or beyond
Sports -- All league 1st team, athlete of the year, league MVP; state or national
State or national level championship team
Academic Decathlon winner
National Merit semifinalist or finalist
4-H Emerald Star; Presentation Day winner in regional or state competition
FFA champion or reserve champion award
FFA regional, state or national proficiency awards
Model UN best delegate
Mock trial individual award at regional level; team award at state level
Participation in a highly selective program such as the National Science Foundation Young Scholar's Program, COSMOS, etc.
Extended involvement or experience in another culture or one's own culture, representing outstanding effort and enabling the student to contribute knowledge to the educational experience. Examples: Proficiency in a language other than English that is used to serve the community or study in non-English speaking communities or countries where the student plans to work. Proficiency in traditional cultural skills and talents.
Year-round employment or volunteer work of 12+ hours per week where work is skilled and demonstrates responsibility such as writing articles for newspaper, computer programming, Web design, etc.</p>
<p>No points: Continuous involvement in activities but no distinguished recognition is received.
Continuous long-term music lessons
Awards for Golden State Academic Exams
Who's Who
CSF
Presidential award for academic and physical fitness
National Merit commended or scholar
Model UN commended performance
Honorable mention awards
Participation in non-selective summer programs
Academic decathlon participant
Recognition for good performance
Honor roll
School most valuable player
Most improved player
Coach's award
Varsity letter(s)
Congressional award
Member of a championship team unless at state or higher level
Pages for state or national senate or assembly</p>
<p>PERSONAL DIFFICULTIES & PERSEVERANCE:
This is based on a reading of the personal statement for documentation of the applicant's ability to persist and overcome unusual, seemingly insurmountable difficulties or challenges which may have affected the applicant's ability to achieve full academic potential during middle or high school. </p>
<p>Points
We strongly consider factors over which the student has little or no control and which are inevitably linked to the student's academic achievement. Difficulties and challenges usually involve multiple factors, such as:
A history of low income
Adverse home environment
Unusual family disruption
Drug, physical and mental abuse
Unusual medical/emotional problems
Frequent change of schools (3 or more high schools)
Lack of exposure to appropriate role models
Adverse immigration experience within the past five years
English as a second language
Assumption of role as primary caretaker of the family
Unusual disruption in school, residential or tribal community (e.g., long-term school strikes, widespread natural disasters, etc.)
Active discouragement or severe lack of support from family or school personnel</p>
<p>No points
Isolated events of short duration that have little or no effect on the student's academic development, such as:
Short-term illness such as a broken leg, flu
Short-term adverse incidents (e.g., short-term closure of school due to inclement weather, short-term absences from school to care for a family member, etc.)
Situations or circumstances that the student is capable of changing but did not do so.
Unfocused student
Dislike of school and teachers
Elective trips and vacations during the school year
Elective employment
Elective community, social, recreational and other extracurricular activities.</p>
<p>MARKED IMPROVEMENT:
Academic record from 9th to 11th grades shows marked improvement in grades or significant shift in academic rigor. </p>
<p>Points
From having mostly C's or less to B's and A's
From having mostly C's and B's to almost all A's
A shift from non-college preparatory course work to college preparatory
A shift from only college prep to almost all advanced courses such as advanced placement & transferable college courses with B's and A's</p>
<p>No Points
No change in course work rigor, including shift from college prep to regular honors courses
No improvement in grades received
From having mostly C's and B's to almost all B's
From having mostly A's and B's to almost all A's</p>
<p>Xiggi</p>
<p>Thanks for posting the "Points system." This is very interesting info. Guidance Counselors should let their students and parents see this list!</p>
<p>A clarification question:: Is this just for UCDavis or is this for all/most UC's or more selective UC's???</p>
<p>I think it is a bit unfair to not give a point for someone who maintains all "A's". That is quite the accomplishment. Granted, seeing improvement is great, but an A student can "improve" also, but there isn't a grade available to indicate such improvement.</p>
<p>The last list I posted is for UC-Davis only. Each campus has the freedom to assign different numerical values to the individual components of the Comprehensive Review. The report I provided a link to (a few posts above) contains a few insights into the different paths.</p>
<p>The underlying point that Xiggi and Ellemenope are making is that "comprehensive review" has different meanings at different campuses and that some are more "comprehensive" than others. </p>
<p>Elle, UCSD certainly has a rep that his more numbers driven than others. However, I'm skeptical that even UCLA/Berkeley are as holistic as LAC's and many private universities...I'm probably quibbling over degree here.</p>
<p>As I was getting ready to throw last week's papers in the bin, I reread the original LA Times article, and I was reminded why it rubbed me the wrong way.</p>
<p>Maia was an untraditional UC applicant, by any measure - she had not completed four years of high school, her GPA was lower than the norm, and her SAT scores - well, I've got a thirteen-year-old daughter who has taken no APs, no advanced courses, and no test prep, with a higher SAT verbal score, and a sophomore daughter who failed Geometry last year yet scored higher in math. But it seemed from the article that neither Maia nor her mother had considered this - there were no safety schools mentioned, no Cal States, no third-tier private schools which would have welcomed an application from a bright kid like Maia. We're extraordinarily fortunate in California to have a multi-tier system of higher education -if you take two years of honors courses at one of our excellent community colleges, you're all but guaranteed a spot as a transfer student at the UCs - but Maia's mom was horrified when some education professionals suggested that her daughter might take that route. It was the UCs or "prostitute college" for her kid. And while Ms. Seipp bristled whenever anyone questioned her plans for her daughter's education, she was quick to criticize other parents' choices (e.g., the parents of kids like "Jeremy" who enroll their children in kindergarten at a later age than she feels is appropriate, or those who choose to hire SAT tutors or private college counselors for their kids).</p>
<p>I have no doubt that Maia will do well at UCSD - but so would most of the thousands of kids whose applications to the school were rejected. And here's the real irony in this piece. Conservatives like Ms. Seipp have argued for years that the UCs should NOT use a holistic admissions process - they feel it's only fair for the public universities to admit only those kids who are demonstrably (and quantifiably) the best and brightest, those kids with "4.5 GPAs and... a dozen AP classes under their belt". I'd be willing to bet that a number of those kids got thin letters in the mail from UCSD this year, because the school's much derided "point system" gives additional weight to non-academic factors. Let's face it, based solely on Maia's stats and not at all on her ability to do college work, if the conservatives in this state had had their way Ms. Seipp would be pasting a "Prostitute U" sticker in the back window of her car right about now.</p>
<p>And, Xiggi, thanks for the Davis info. I hadn't seen that before.</p>
<br>
<blockquote> <p>I think it is a bit unfair to not give a point for someone who maintains all "A's". That is quite the accomplishment. Granted, seeing improvement is great, but an A student can "improve" also, but there isn't a grade available to indicate such improvement.<<</p> </blockquote>
<br>
<p>Don't worry. Someone who gets all As gets plenty of points for the achievement, they just get it in another section of the evaluation. The points system detailed above is only for the EXTRA points given above and beyond the academic record. As I recall these extra points make up something like 30% of the total points available, and the academic points (mostly grades, test scores and curriculum strength) are 70%. So getting straight As from the start will get you a far bigger boost in the academic section than showing improvement will in the extra point section.</p>
<p>
[quote]
But it seemed from the article that neither Maia nor her mother had considered this - there were no safety schools mentioned, no Cal States, no third-tier private schools which would have welcomed an application from a bright kid like Maia.
[/quote]
Maia met UC eligibility standards no matter what. No matter what, she was guaranteed admission to one UC campus. What really rubs people the wrong way in this thread, I think, is that Maia managed to get admitted to UCSD. I'll bet if the column had reported Maia being rejected from San Diego but accepted to Santa Barbara, there would be a very different take. It would be, oh, well, what did they expect, anyway? </p>
<p>I don't mean to put down the Cal States, but no kid who has qualifies for UC under the "eligibility in the statewide context" rules should be expected to look for other "safety" schools, Cal States, or "third-tier" private schools. </p>
<p>And what really rubs me the wrong way is the elitism inherent in trying to raise the barricades to UC, especially to the extent that anyone is looking at test scores. The fact is, for a student with a strong GPA, the combined 5-test combination of scores required to get into UC is minimal. Maia's scores were well above what she needed. </p>
<p>No matter how you paint the picture and what excuses you make, reliance on standardized tests ends up with a discriminatory effect against most minority groups, against low-income group, and against ESL students. It is simply harder for them to demonstrate their abilities in that context. Maia is not among those groups -- but I definitely feel rubbed the wrong way when people make judgments about the aptitudes of students based on their test scores. Like many other students, Maia demonstrated her aptitude by another route.<br>
[quote]
And here's the real irony in this piece. Conservatives like Ms. Seipp have argued for....
[/quote]
I have no idea what Catherine Siepp has argued for in the past, but I don't appreciate anyone who attacks or rejects a point of view under the "conservatives like...." or "liberals like...." rationale. Conservatives harbor a very broad range of opinions, as do liberals. They are not all painted with the same brush, and so unless you can find a different article by Ms. Seipp that seems to contradict her current expression, I don't think its fair to reject her opinions because she happens to be conservative. (And if you haven't read my seventeen hundred or so posts on this board, I am a leftist). It seems that a whole lot of the irritation with Ms. Seipp is based on her political associations, and that sentiment definitely rubs me the wrong way.</p>
<p>Update to my own post #195.
[quote]
If my daughter gets into Berkeley this week, then most assuredly it will have to be the Russian. Nothing else will account for it with her test scores. If she gets into Brown, then it will be a miracle. But probably a Russian miracle.
[/quote]
My daughter has been admitted to Berkeley. There was no miracle at Brown (she was rejected).</p>
<p>Congratulations on Berkeley.</p>
<p>PS "It seems that a whole lot of the irritation with Ms. Seipp is based on her political associations, and that sentiment definitely rubs me the wrong way."</p>
<p>Can't pin that one on me. Conservatives do not irritate me. :)</p>
<p>Congratulations to your D, Calmom! Berkeley is a wonderful place - I remember visiting the campus (where my brother was a student) and listening to the bells.</p>
<p>Congrats about Berkeley!!! Thats a tough school to get into!</p>
<p>Perhaps it would help that somebody that might know Maia might get to speak here?</p>
<p>I have Stats. You've seen them, they go tme into Harvard and Yale.
However, Maia's strenghts can't be measured with test scores or with AP tests, but rather, with a strenght of character that can't be denied.</p>
<p>She is passionate about what she studies. Isn't that the most important part of college?</p>
<p>Well, unfortunately my d. will probably not go to Berkeley -- a week ago I would have been doing cartwheels. Now I'm staring at a financial aid letter from Barnard and gulping. (Maybe my own d. needs to consider that prostititute-school thing to pay the way? just kidding, she said something about a job in a law office this summer, though as a former lawyer I have to say I am not so sure whether there's all that much difference between the two professions).</p>
<p>LOL, calmom, mine picked the most expensive, too. Time to get on to the important business of obtaining tasty kraft mac and cheese recipes.</p>
<p>Calmom, congratulations to you and your daughter.
NY is a great place. However if money is an issue, well, you may have been on this board a little too long. Berkeley is a pretty good school. I just talked to a friend of mine who has a daughter that graduated from Berkeley. The daughter has been offered a nice job in the CIA and has contacts with world leaders and is making a difference in the world. She 's 26.</p>
<p>I like this post from Berkeley parent. </p>
<p>Maia, I am sure you will do well at UCSD. The school is lucky to have you as a student. Congratulations.</p>
<p>Congratulations, Calmom's D and Calmom, on Berkeley!</p>
<br>
<blockquote> <p>However, I'm skeptical that even UCLA/Berkeley are as holistic as LAC's and many private universities...<<</p> </blockquote>
<br>
<p>Thedad--probably true, mainly because of the sheer number of applications that both universities receive. Congrats to all who received good news from Berkeley this week.</p>