Hi everyone. Thanks for your patience. I have an official answer to the alumni scholarship and regents questions many of you have been posting. I will post this in a separate thread as well so it won’t get buried.
Alumni Scholarship
UCLA invites top applicants to apply for the scholarship. Anyone can apply so it will show up on the portal for everyone. The people who are invited to apply are the most likely to receive it because they have been identified by UCLA already. Its worth trying though. Applying or not applying does not change your chances of admission. Winners are informed after interviews happen which occur after admission. There is a correlation but not causation with being invited to apply and getting admitted. The invitation email specifically invites you to apply. Any emails reminding you of the deadline to apply is generic.
Regents Scholarship
In years past UCLA did not have a regents app. Instead based on the UC app they would select regents winners and inform them at the time of admission.
This year UCLA has implemented a system for a regents application.
A few weeks ago top applicants were invited to apply for regents. Those invited have a correlation of getting in as regents is for the top 1-2% of applicants.
Anyone is allowed to apply for regents which is why it is on everyones portals. Any glitches that wouldn’t allow someone to submit has since been corrected.
It is highly unlikely to get the regents scholarship if you were not invited. However there is still a chance.
Applying or not applying has no bearing on your admission.
If you are invited to apply for regents you can expect to eventually be admitted.
Emails inviting you to apply constitute an invitation. Emails reminding you of the deadline are generic.
I hope this helps and puts to rest all the rumors. Note this is directly from staff in undergraduate admissions. Anything contradictory going around is just a rumor. Best of luck. Decision release is right around the corner!!
thanks for the info 10s4life. feels good to get both the alumni and regents invite as an engineering applicant. decision day is almost around the corner.
quick question: if i do not see anything about regents on my financial aid letter does that mean i did not get it. Because I logegd into my acc rn for the scholarship application and they made me update it with some new question? On ucla website they said scholarships may be posted later?
@10s4life Hey man I appreciate the hard work you’ve done on all these threads!!
I have a dilemma and need help…I was accepted to UCLA and was invited to apply for the alumni scholarship (currently waiting for the interview) but I was also given Regents at UCSD…what should I do?? -PreMed Btw
Transfer admit here, hoping to get some advice if you’re willing @10s4life . I was invited to apply for Regents and Alumni. I just submitted my Regents app last night (they only gave us 1 week to write a 500-word essay, so I don’t feel extremely great about it). Of course I’m also applying for Alumni, but I have a little bit more time for those essays.
I’m non-traditional, first-gen, 11 years of work experience, and I really focussed on my desire to be an advocate for education equality and income equality. I also plan to do grad school and minor in math. Do you think I should continue to focus on those key aspects, or is the committee looking for something different? I assume that what I wrote so far is what got me the invites, now I’m just not sure if they want more of that, or something completely different?
@uclaletmeinpls The alumni essays don’t really ask about future plans. They usually want you to focus on something that recently happened that show an obstacle, a leadership trait, etc. Mentioning your interest in education is fine but ideally tie it in to something you’re writing about. That would be my suggestion anyway.
Also I believe alumni invites based on GPA. I don’t think they have access to the entire application, at least not in early stages, if at all.