No experience, but here’s info we’ve found so far…
The student handbook that @lkg4answers posted is the best resource we have found. It’s 150 pages that covers just about every detail (including course descriptions of every possible course in all 7 concentrations/minors). This two page summary gives you all the courses at a glance (you could then use the link @Gumbymom posted to check out the class sizes for those courses). And, of course, if you haven’t already, I’d look at the web site for the BS in Environmental Science.
2022 Waitlist data from Common Data set:
Offers: 16979
Opt ins: 11169
Admits: 367
2021 data:
Number of qualified applicants offered a place on waiting list: 15242
Number accepting a place on the waiting list: 9897
Number of wait-listed students admitted: 214
2020 data:
Number of qualified applicants offered a place on waiting list: 14470
Number accepting a place on the waiting list: 9254
Number of wait-listed students admitted: 1779
2019:
Number accepting a place on the waiting list: 7153
Number of wait-listed students admitted: 965
My D23 was accepted to UCLA and is considering it, among other options. She would like to learn more about the College Scholars Program and College Honors Programs. She emailed NewBruins@admission.ucla.edu but her questions weren’t answered.
Does anyone know, is it possible for her to be admitted into either of these programs as an incoming freshman? If so, how would she go about doing that?
Does anyone have experience with these programs? What are the pros/cons?
I might be wrong but as a current parent of a sophomore, my sense is that whatever the Honors program is at UCLA isn’t really widely known or pervasive like it is at some other schools. Our daughter applied and was admitted to the honors college at U of O, for example, and that seems like a real thing at that college. It’s tied to a residential experience and small classes and such. I’m not even sure that is true at UCLA. When I brought it up with our son during his freshman year at UCLA, he literally knew nothing about it; had never really heard about it. I don’t know how many students do it or what the benefits are. Looks like you can’t apply for Honors until you are already there/enrolled: UCLA | Honors Programs | College Honors Program
Is there any real benefit to honors? I see there are honors version of some classes (math for example) that are harder classes. Are those restricted to those admitted to honors college? Or open to those who don’t mind struggling in honors courses?
The main benefit for most Honors colleges is priority class registration. Also smaller class sizes, better access to your professors and possible research opportunities. Below is the link from another poster in regards to UCLA’s Honors college. Honors courses at least at UCLA are restricted to the Honors college scholars. Different schools offer different benefits in their Honors college so to join is a personal decision.
I could be completely wrong about it, and to me the info on the website seems confusing, but I believe with my son’s class (entering Fall 2021) they made a change. I don’t think you can come into the program until you are already matriculated and have taken some classes. At least that’s what is suggested here: UCLA | Honors Programs | Joining the College Honors Program as an Incoming Transfer Student
The message at the bottom of the page says this:
Congratulations on your Fall admission to UCLA!
We appreciate your interest in College Honors. At this time, we are not admitting incoming freshmen into the College Honors Program. However, you will have the opportunity to apply for a spot in the program after your freshman year.
Congratulations once again and we wish you the best in your collegiate journey, wherever you decide to embark on it!
I found a similar note here when I followed a link labeled Alert for Newly Admitted Freshmen on this page. Text is almost identical, but slightly more information (highlighted in bold).
Congratulations on your Fall admission to UCLA!
We appreciate your interest in College Honors. At this time, we are not admitting incoming freshmen into our Traditional College Honors Program. However, you will have the opportunity to apply for a spot in the program after your freshman year — details for this new process shall be available this coming summer, for your potential entry as a Continuing Student participant in College Honors effective the Fall 2023 term.
Congratulations once again and we wish you the best in your collegiate journey, wherever you decide to embark on it!
The various pages on the site seem a bit out of date. Several other places seem to make mention of a change coming after Fall 2021, but it’s not clear what that change is/was.
I would agree that would make sense, but honestly I’m not sure they are admitted. The site linked above seems to have info related to 2018 and an experiment in taking in freshmen, but based on S21’s experience I think that fall it all changed and there were new rules for if you entered in Fall of 2021 or later (and I think those rules involve no freshmen are admitted – you apply later once you are there). My limited first hand experience with Regents at UCLA is that not all recipients are tippy-top kids academically. In my son’s class there were two kids from his high school who got Regents and while they were exceptionally talented in some other areas, they weren’t necessarily top scholars. So Regents may also be used to attract kids they really really want for one reason or another. All I remember is at one point I put a question about the Honors program on the UCLA Parents Facebook page (sometime last year when my son was a first-year), and most replies were like “huh, what Honors program?” I just don’t know how extensive or well-known it is or what advantages it confers. It would be great to have priority registration – in that case it would seem to be very popular! Is that really true?
Thanks for the information. To be truly honest, in all the years on CC, this is really the first time I had looked into UCLA’s Honors college. All UCLA admits are exceptional so I agree it really does seem as @8bear stated “superfluous”.
I am also not convinced that honors classes are limited to only honors college kids. Researching physics honors level classes I believe they are open to those who want to give themselves an extra headache.
Exactly. It makes some logical sense that at a school with a certain baseline selectivity, Honors may not make you that much more above-and-beyond a standout. To use the example I cited above, Honors makes a lot of sense at a state school that is NOT selective such as U of Oregon where my daughter finally heard back on her Honors application yesterday. The overall school admit rate is 93%. Honors is supposedly more in the range of 20% or less, I think. And all that is tied to a very different program than U of Oregon’s academic program overall. So at a public like UCLA that already has an 8% acceptance rate, maybe you just don’t really need a special program that’s much different from what everyone else is getting.
