<p>Darthpwner, my friend was rejected by the engineering department with >3.9 gpa and a 2360 SAT score. It is far from guaranteed.</p>
<p>Was your friend out of state? I find that really surprising because I only had a 3.93 uw and 2190 SAT and I got into HSSEAS for CSE. I don’t have too many EC’s either but I’m in-state so it was a lot easier for me fortunately. Did your friend apply to Berkeley and get in? That would have been a better option than UCLA I think.</p>
<p>I apologize for exaggerating a bit, but I mean UCLA is far more stats-based than the top privates which makes admissions more predictable.</p>
<p>He was in state, applied for bioengineering. I get what you mean; UCLA and the UC system in general seem to focus on stats more than HYPSM do, which is why I was so surprised when he was rejected. A good deal of people I know who I thought were locks to get in were rejected this year, perhaps just due to the large volume of applicants. I thought UCLA admissions would be more predictable as well, but the results this year seem to prove me wrong.</p>
<p>Cal rejected him as well 
Sadly he’s going to USC now, I have to root against him for the next four years :P</p>
<p>Funny thing was he and I had almost identical stats, which made it all the more surprising to find out he was rejected. Maybe it had to do with ECs, but I thought his were good.</p>
<p>UC has a general application for all of its schools. Students simply fill out the standard UC application, then check which schools they want to send it to ($70 fee per school).</p>
<p>Most of the people I know applied to at least 4 of the 9 undergrad schools. LA and Berkeley were always included. UCLA receives the most applications of any undergrad school in the country.</p>
<p>HYPSM bias? I think, as a whole, the UC system does not care about wealth, legacy status, or a family’s “prestige” in accepting students. UCs are meant for CA residents, and a large part of their unofficial goals is to accept those students that live in poverty and that have amazing life stories (battling cancer, supporting children, etc). Many impoverished students do not have the time or means necessary to cure cancer, raise funds for Nigeria, intern at their Senator dad’s office, etc and the UC system realizes this. Find me an argument that wealth does not help in SAT, ACT, GPA, and extracurriculars. UCs care more about stats and URMs- HYPSM cares more about extracurriculars such as saving the world (in addition to the HS transcript)- which predominately favors the wealthy. </p>
<p>PS, I’ll be attending UCLA next fall (even with my name)</p>
<p>Evilcow asks, “What is the deciding factor in admission?”</p>
<p>Because of the large number of applicants, grades are absolutely the most important factor to be admitted to UCLA as a freshman. Especially your academic performance in 10th & 11th grade. </p>
<p>See UCLA’s Profile of Admitted Freshmen for Fall 2013 [Profile</a> of Admitted Freshmen - UCLA Undergraduate Admissions](<a href=“http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/prospect/adm_fr/frosh_prof.htm]Profile”>http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/prospect/adm_fr/frosh_prof.htm)</p>
<p> 94% of all freshmen admitted to UCLA had fully weighted GPAs above 4.0 in 10th 11th grade with the average being a 4.4 GPA.
89% of all freshmen admitted to UCLA had unweighted 3.70 4.0 GPAs in 10th 11th grade with a 70% admit rate for students with unweighted GPAs of 4.0.</p>
<p>UCLA sees grades as the primary predictor of college success. So if a high school student is meeting these marks in 10-11th grade years and has a decent SAT or ACT test score (>1800+), that student will be seen as a strong applicant for UCLA.</p>
<p>However, because UCLA attracts thousands of these “strong applicants” there is no doubt the “deciding factor” is writing an excellect personal statement.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t say UCLA is a stats based school. I was accepted with a 1590 SAT/24 ACT. lol I believe UCLA looks closely at the personal statements and EC’s, which I truly believe got me in UCLA. I had classmates who were ranked above me and who had higher stats than me get rejected. It’s not all about a 2400 SAT and a 4.0 GPA.</p>