Let's talk about TAP baby

smith415 · 12-04-2006, 12:12 AM

Most of us know about the Transfer Alliance Program with UCLA aka the Honors Program where certification gives you priority consideration in being admitted into UCLA. Some websites say 90% of TAP students are admitted. Here is one site that has a chart of acceptance rates for UCLA of TAP students.

http://www.redwoods.edu/departments/honors/TAP.asp

Personally I am a TAP student

How much does this program really help you?

pellman · 12-04-2006, 12:15 AM

That link is pretty self explanatory.

UCLAri · 12-04-2006, 12:54 AM

My opinion is that TAP helps, but only on the margin. Most people with the academic will to complete a TAP program usually have high GPAs anyway, somewhat reducing its value.

But still, if you are one of the marginal applicants, you want everything you can get.

smith415 · 12-04-2006, 01:38 AM

i think how much it helps will always be unclear... because the people with 15 honors units are the serious students with high GPAs usually like you said UCLAri... 90% of TAP students are admitted, but who knows what percentage of thse students would be admitted without TAP.. a lot of people with 3.9 GPAs have TAP and they would get in either way.

dhl3 · 12-04-2006, 01:47 AM

Look.
People who are serious about getting into UCLA will join the TAP anyway, whether they think it'll be helpful or not.

People who have to think about joining TAP based on what other people say must not be that serious about attending UCLA.

UCLAri · 12-04-2006, 01:51 AM

Quote:

People who are serious about getting into UCLA will join the TAP anyway, whether they think it'll be helpful or not.

Not necessarily. Some people simply see the opportunity costs as too high. Many science transfers I met saw little reason to deal with a TAP.

dhl3 · 12-04-2006, 01:55 AM

There really isn't much opportunity cost for joining TAP O.o
You just have to work extra hard, that's it.
I mean, unless the person's really busy who works 40+ hours a week and is a full-time student, I see TAP has more benefits than the cost.

UCLAri · 12-04-2006, 01:57 AM

The TAP oftentimes requires that students take extra, sometimes superfluous courses. For someone who already has labs and science lectures to deal with, having to take some honors course that doesn't meet your needs can mean a high opportunity cost.

smith415 · 12-04-2006, 01:58 AM

tap definitely takes extra time. i have 2 honors projects to do now by the end of the semester. with finals coming up, and UC applications due last week, im definitely stressed as it is. if i wasnt going to ECON or if i had a higher GPA, i wouldnt bother with TAP and id focus on calculus!

dhl3 · 12-04-2006, 01:58 AM

oh i duno about other schools but my school works quite differently.
TAP is nothing more than extra hours of community service and some additional class project like writing 5-10 page essay or giving a presentation.

there's no such thing as "honors course" in my school's TAP :P

dhl3 · 12-04-2006, 02:02 AM

Look, it took me a day each to complete honors project for each courses.
Total Three projects.. Three days.

out of what.. 100 days you have to complete?
It's not really time consuming if you stay focused and manage your time well.
That's part of being in honors. Time Management.

You are bound to run into trouble if you save all your projects till last couple weeks of semesters left when you have the heaviest load of homework and test to study.

smith415 · 12-04-2006, 02:03 AM

for my school... being part of TAP means you have 15 units of honors courses, and over a 3.0 GPA. thats it. and any course, even a PE course can be taken for honors units as long as the teacher agrees to sign an honors contract that outlines project guidelines, usually a 1200 word paper that is done in additional to regular class work NOT for extra credit.

UCLAri · 12-04-2006, 02:03 AM

Well, many TAPs actually require specialized courses.

That's a pretty high opportunity cost for many.

smith415 · 12-04-2006, 02:05 AM

ya the extra papers arent what took most of the time. most of the time it took me was convincing my lazy teachers to accept the additional work of simply looking over my project, and hunting down the honors coidinator and the head of each department to get their signatures and get their approval of my projects.

dhl3 · 12-04-2006, 02:07 AM

I dunno about your profs, but all it took me to "convince" my profs was a short formal email asking for the project in a well-mannered tone. Got their replies within two days, and I got my project the next class session.

The whole process tooke me less than 5 days.