Why ?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - GENERAL
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<p>Why is the California’s system so messed up? </p>

<h2>1. There is a child who comes from a better community, who paid 1.2 million for his/her house. He/she has the “best” education where reality is that the school he goes to is very competitive. He/she gets owned by the 920 API school and C in math. Another kid who is in a less competitive school (API 620) gets an A in math. There is still a possibility that the student who recieved a C can be more knowledgeable than the student who got the A. </h2>

<p>with that said, why is the UC system not making SAT 2 subject tests mandatory? It the only legitimate way to see which student is better in the particular subjects. </p>

<ol>
<li>Why are the UC’s requiring essays? We all know that all public schools in California are all number oriented. Is this just a way to show that they are more elite than state schools?</li>
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<ol>
<li> Subject tests will still be used by some of the UC’s for evaluation for a particular major such as engineering, etc. Particularly UCB and UCLA. It will be up to the HS students to check each school’s websites way a head of time to make sure they have taken the SAT 2’s for the major they have chosen.<br></li>
<li> UCB and UCLA have already been using a holistic admissions approach for some years now vs a point system. In other words, they look at the whole person, not just the numbers. Many people have been accepted or rejected from both UCLA and UCB and we ask ourselves, “how did that happen?” The answer, the ad com read the entire app and had to make the decision whether or not they thought this person would make a contribution to their school and would be successful (IMO). The essay plays a major role as well as leadership, awards, EC’s, etc. UCLA gives a very good description on their website. I think the regents are trying to encourage with the others UC’s as well. It will be interesting to see how this works in the coming years.</li>
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</p>

<p>And there is still a possibility that the kid who got the C in math will get into Cal. </p>

<p>Read (aka critically) the press release re: subject tests. UC has made it clear why they are dropping the mandate.</p>

<ol>
<li> Because Cal and UCLA actually READ the essays. The other campuses skim them looking for life challenges.</li>
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