Hey I’m feeling kind of discouraged right now on if I would even have a chance at going into UCLA. I’m a sophmore and all my friends seem to have things figured out and they also want to apply to UCLA. I’ve seen some people get denied and it seemed like they really had a good chance of getting in which terrifies me. If anyone could give me some pointers on what I should do that would be amazing! Thanks!
Yes, UCLA turns away many qualified students because they do not have room to take everyone who applies and is qualified. They only admt 18 pct of applicants, so of course you can’t bank on it.
Terrifies you? First, I’d get a grip on that. That is a very strange reaction. You should be terrified if you have cancer. You should not be terrified of getting into a specific competitive college or not. Why don’t you just assume that you will not get in, that all you can do is make yourself prepared should you get lucky. Now process the reaction of not getting in. After you get over it, think what situation will be in. Will you have other good options that you have investigated and applied to to choose from? Will you open your eyes to other opportunities? Or will you just be out of luck? Luckily you can plan for this now.
There is nothing you can do to get into UCLA in particular that you don’t do for every other college. So all you can do is focus on your academics and whatever extracurricular activities you do. If you have any special talent or interests really develop and explore that area. Make yourself an interesting person who contributes to your school, community or whatever you get involved in. Keep your grades up and push yourself to take hard classes. Do well on your standardized testing. If your psat isn’t that strong then you will need to undertake some test prep. When application time comes around, Start your essays in the summer as the UC applications are due fairly early. If you are instate, apply widely through the UC system.
Meanwhile explore other options because you need a list of schools to apply to, and you need a safety school that you are going to do well at, can afford and can for sure get in.
Since it sounds like you live in CA you ought to make an appointment with your GC to go over the selection criteria at UCLA.
It’s all in the balance with the essays which need to be spectacular , the grades 4.0 and up and the sat scores which from my own experience with only a (1550) can be outweighed by other factors but since you’re only a sophomore , I’d re commend taking a sat preparatory class . Good luck !
@robbie816 I was admitted pre political science with a 3.23 UCGPA and 2040 SAT score. I would just say to keep your gpa above a 4.0, study hard to get a decent score on the sat, pick meaningful or major-oriented ec’s and work very hard on your personal statements. I thought that i had no chance of getting in with my stats, but apparently personal statements make that much of a difference. Good luck.
I think what got me into UCLA was that I had a plan on what I wanted to do. I applied to be a Pre Political Science major to eventually become a corporate lawyer, and my high school course loads and my extracurriculars all reflected that. AP US/Comparative Government, AP Macroeconomics, Model UN, Mock Trial, etc. UCLA is very much holistic in their review process and if you can really show yourself through your essays, your extracurriculars, and definitely your GPA, then you should have a good chance of getting in. One thing to note would definitely be leadership positions too; it’s become a trite thing to be said by universities as of late, but they’re definitely looking for leaders.
As always, the college admissions process is based partially on luck and chance as well, so if in two years’ time you find yourself not admitted to the Class of 2021, don’t worry. You’ll end up somewhere that you want to go to (I’d assume so at least, since you’d have had to apply to that school, haha). Best of luck in your endeavors.