@TomSrOfBoston Well I’m probably not smart enough to get into Stanford. I’m just saying UC Davis gets too much praise for what its worth…
I think people are completely misunderstanding my post. I do recognize that my title is offensive, and I would change it if I could… I don’t think I have that option. The point of this post was to show the drawbacks of holistic review.
Once again, UC Davis doesn’t do the holistic review.
@boxandwhiskers Where did you get that information?
From UC Davis. And every other counselor i’ve ever talked to for the past 3 years. Davis doesn’t read personal statements during admissions. They admit based on grades, major requirement fulfillment, GPA, etc. UC Berkeley is the only one who does the holistic review.
@boxandwhiskers
To provide a more thorough and fair evaluation of undergraduate applicants to the University of California, the UC Board of Regents’ committee on educational policy today (Jan. 19) endorsed a resolution calling for the use of single-score, individualized holistic review of each applicant as the expected admissions method at all UC campuses.
I got that straight from: University of California - UC Newsroom | Regents committee endorses single-score holistic review
Edit: The link seems to be broken, but I got it from another CC thread: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-davis/1212908-does-uc-davis-use-a-holistic-admissions-process.html
@boxandwhiskers ALL UC campuses are offer admissions under the same reviewing procedures (although the degree of intensity varies from school to school)… http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/freshman/how-applications-reviewed/index.html
@boxandwhiskers Ok, I’m not saying I don’t believe you but why does the UC website say that they all review under the same basis?
Here’s an email from my UC Davis admissions counselor that I received this morning:
“UC Davis does not do the holistic viewpoint. UC Berkeley uses holistic views when going through admissions, which is why you should make sure your personal statement is very good if you have a low GPA and want to apply to UC Berkeley. UCLA admits based on GPA. Just because UC Davis does not read personal statements for most cases, does not mean you should avoid writing one. Let me know if you have any questions.”
Also that thing you just quoted is an article through UC Santa Barbara quoting what someone from UCSB feels all UC’s should do when going through admissions, but not all of them do (which UC Davis doesn’t do). It also says in that same article, "Holistic review as practiced at Berkeley and UCLA begins with the thorough individualized ‘full file review’ employed by the nation’s most selective colleges and universities,” Rest of the article doesn’t reference UC Davis at all.
I mean, I can sit here and argue with you all day. Your issues are not with the holistic review that doesn’t exist at UC Davis, but more to do with the students in your calculus class. Just hang tough till next semester/quarter and take something else. Also, go back to your counselor and talk to them about how you feel, that you feel as if you aren’t being challenged enough and what else they can possibly do to help you - they are there to help you. Coming to this message board and ranting about how you think everyone at UC Davis is stupid is not going to help anything.
They most likely say that because they want everyone to apply the same way. If they said “Well, this school only does it this way, and this school doesn’t even read personal statements, and this school really cares about EC’s more than this other school” it would be chaotic and unbalanced. It’s also up to the individual school, and might have to do with the average GPA’s admitted, and schools like UC Berkeley who want to welcome more diversity from all different levels will use a holistic way of reviewing an applicant. It’s a diversity issue, I think. I’m not sure though, I never really asked why to be honest.
@boxandwhiskers Hmm, fair enough. I never asked an actual UC Davis counselor about this issue, so I was ill informed. But my point still stands… I don’t think its an effective method to bring such a mix of students and mesh them into such classes. I think it would be much more effective to develop public high schools and get people ahead… I like that the common core is a much more rigorous test than the previous star testing. I just don’t want to see so many people coming into college and receiving such poor marks. College isn’t the most effective place to get students to catch up on their academic gaps because professors don’t have time to help students individually.
I dont think only one class is representative of your classmate’s intelligence. For whatever reason you are doing well. You may in fact be better prepared, you click with the profs teaching style, or you may be just a math wizz kid. However, i would not make such a huge generalization from that one class. If you are unhappy and continue to feel unchallenged then look elsewhere to transfer.
@scubadive Yeah, you might be right… not meaning to be nitpicky but the same thing happens in my physics class. I probably shouldnt make any judgement yet.
What about your other classes?
@scubadive Well my other classes aren’t notoriously hard courses (they’re more of GE courses). There are Microecon and Intro to stats… both of which have high class average. However this is expected as these are intro courses and don’t really require any sort of prerequisite knowledge. The problem I see in students is that they come from poor performing high schools and don’t do well in calculus courses and other classes that build off each other because they have really poor fundamentals. Students are able to do well in courses such as stats and econ because their success in those courses is purely based on whether or not they WANT to do well in their courses, and it there aren’t too many obstacles because its relies on no fundamentals.
It isn’t going to help poorly performing students to put them in a class with high performing students… its more likely than not that smart students will study with the smart students and low performing students stick together. I think its better for the 2 groups to be separated and the classes to be taught at an individualized pace.
@boxandwhiskers Sorry for OT, but if UCD does not do holistic review, then why does their website say that they look at the “14 Factors”?
@iamjack I don’t really think it’s embarrassing to go to a college that’s Top 50 in the country. IMO, an engineering degree from ANY of the top 6 UCs guarantees you for a good career.
14 factors and holistic review is not one in the same. Uc Davis uses the 14 factors when only reviewing freshman applications, but they don’t give the same holistic review to the personal statement that UC Berkeley gives and lean more towards grades, SAT scores, and EC’s (for freshman). Transfer applications don’t receive the “14 factors” or a holistic review at all.
@boxandwhiskers But the Common Data Set for UCD says that the essay is “Very Important” (the same as grades, course rigor, and test scores). And there are things that UCD ranks higher in importance than UCB. (according to the CDS)
I think you had applied to ga tech and got denied. If you continue to hate uc davis get exceptional grades and apply to tech. I assure you that you will not be acing physics and calculus 3 without grueling hours and sleepless nights.
@scubadive well that’s the thing. I don’t WANT to ace classes I have an interest in with ease. I want to study hard to get B’s in classes that are genuinely hard and hopefully get curved up to an A. That atmosphere is nonexistent here at Davis.