I see that this post is nearly a year old but hopefully this will still be checked. My son is currently a junior and is very excited about applying to CCS Chemistry or biochemistry. He loves science and outside of his usual extracurricular, spends his time watching chemistry videos, reading about the immune system, etc etc. He loves to learn and is already focused on PHd.
How important is the work in evidence of talent? We have seen a few summer research programs but he has not applied as they are out of our price range. He would love to do research this summer but is struggling to find opportunities that don’t cost a lot of $. This far, his only experience outside of his own learning is AP Chem and AP Bio.
I’m not sure how often @ccsfaculty logs onto College Confidential. You might have your son reach out to the College of Creative Studies. It is a small department with only a couple of designated employees. In my experience, they were very helpful and very candid about what they were looking for in applicants.
They probably won’t answer the phone, so have him leave a message and see if he can arrange a time to talk.
I agree with @lkg4answers in that they were also helpful to us when we reached out. In fact, they were kind enough to set up a zoom with one of their staff to answer questions.
For reference our D23 was accepted into CCS and her ‘evidence of talent,’ aside from some special courses she had taken, was one summer week-long residential research program through a local university’s partnership with a science museum. There was some cost involved, but she did get real, hands-on research experience. I don’t think it is a deal breaker not to have a similar experience, in fact, I remember the application mentioning that it could be most anything that shows their interest. Our student also submitted some personal notebook entries she had kept with research she’d done on her own.
She also has had a long time passion for her subject, which was reflected in her essays when she applied to the program. I’m sure each department has their own criteria, so YMMV. Good luck to your son! It’s a fantastic program for some kids!
Good answers so far. I will add that each major is somewhat different and I can only speak for the biology major. However I do believe the Bio and Chem majors have quite similar approaches.
We are increasingly aware of the different opportunities HS students may have had. If you HAVE been fortunate enough to have some research experiences then the work in evidence of talent is an opportunity to submit something. If you HAVEN’T been this fortunate then is there something else you can include to show you are ready to dive into research (ie how do they even know that they want to do a PhD?). In the letter of intent then it might be worth mentioning getting as far as researching research programs. Watching Chemistry videos is good but does it go beyond this - making them, or at least scripting them, or maybe critiquing them or organizing discussions of them.
You can also reach out to the Chemistry program coordinator directly, his contact information will be on the CCS website.
Thank you, I will share this information with my son! my description of him “watching videos” is def underselling him. He reads extensively on scientific subjects of interest, most of which are far beyond my understanding at this point. it sounds like he should be going deeper than this and I feel inadequate in helping him find opportunities that aren’t simply classes.
I was actually thinking about this and the issue here is that ‘watching videos’ is the sort of thing anyone can say but can cover a huge range from virtually nothing to devouring everything! If your son is toward the latter end then what additional things would the search committee be looking for? Well for me some things might be:
Going beyond YouTube, or at least finding University level lectures or research seminars.
Completing courses online (I know some cost but plenty are free and only cost if you need a certificate of completion eg Stanford online or Coursera).
Engaging with the material, eg starting or engaging with a club or blog, to discuss with others.
And similarly with ‘reading extensively’. What? If this is primary literature then that would be impressive for a HS student. But even if more popular material then actually naming some typical sources would be helpful I think.
Thank you for your feedback. He actually emailed a few professors at a nearby univ with his resume after my last post and received a email back immediately that he can join their lab this summer. I prepared him for rejections but so happy he found something so quickly and hope that he will be able to participate in something meaningful in this lab. He wrote a simple emailing sharing what he has done, his areas of interest, and why he’d like to participate in research.
How much interaction do you see between CCS students/faculty and those with interests in music and physics who are not CCS students/faculty? I see that music majors are allowed to sign up for upper-level CCS classes, but more generally, do you see the colleges mixing freely for a lot of classes and activities?
It is going to vary quite a bit from major to major and from student to student. CCS is a small college in the center of a large University and so CCS students would have to try pretty hard to not interact outside of CCS. Most of the classes students take are in the College of Letters and Science (L&S) and not CCS. Most CCS faculty have joint appointments (50% in CCS and 50% in a cognate department) so they interact with their cognate department and the University as a whole.
Going the other way, CCS is small and easily overlooked by most L&S students. The CCS classes we do offer are not for a grade and this can sometimes make it hard for students to fit them into their major. But, space permitting, L&S students do take CCS classes but it varies a lot from major to major whether there are suitable classes for them to take.
Speaking for my own major, biology, where there is a lot of interaction is in research. CCS students are in labs all over campus with faculty from many different departments (mainly L&S but also some from the College of Engineering) and interacting with faculty, postdocs, grad students and other students in L&S.
My son has applied to CCS.
He has a few friends who are first year students there and really enjoying it.
It seems to me a great idea to have a small home college in the midst of such a large university.
If I recall a student has two choices for UCSB so if they are interested in multiple subjects they can pick two of three in terms of their application- School of Engineering, School of Letters and Sciences, and College of Creative Sciences.
So in his case he picked CCS in one of his favorite subject areas and then that major in the College of Letters & Sciences as his second choice. In his case he has interests in multiple STEM subjects.
If I recall correctly, if admitted to College of L&S he can still apply to CCS in a future semester.
We found the UCSB campus to be stunningly gorgeous and the environment to be very fun. To be at an innovative and prestigious smaller program inside such a large university seems like a great option.
While I hesitated to post since I know so little about CCS and UCSB, I thought I’d chime in bc it seems really exciting.
Hello all - my child was just accepted and very excited. our child is very bright and a self-starter, but i’m trying to think through the nature of the school and structuring your own program (to an extent), versus having more structure (in theory) as a Freshman. Can any parents of current students or ccsfaculty speak to the experience for incoming students and the types of students who thrive? my child is very passionate about science and math, but what if they change their mind, for instance? also curious about learning in the larger school and moving b/w both worlds (which seems like an amazing opportunity).
They are also going to reach out directly to CCS as the professors have been welcoming and have invited questions, but any parents/faculty real world experience would be wonderful. thanks in advance.
My son is a freshman in CCS majoring in math and he loves it. He lives in the CCS LLC and has made a good group of friends. He meets with his advisor every quarter and he likes the freedom to take the courses he wants - they have reduced general ed requirements and don’t have to worry too much about prerequisites. The first quarter he took 2 CCS math classes plus an upper division math course and a philosophy course in the college of L&S. Second quarter he took 2 CCS math courses, 2 upper division L&S math courses, a philosophy course, and a physics seminar. He has also started a research project through one of his courses that he plans to continue next quarter. I would encourage your student to go to one of the CCS open houses for admitted students.
Congratulations. Which major were they admitted to? The answers to some of your questions are rather major specific. For example in some majors, for a student who isn’t 100% sure, they could start in L&S and then transfer to CCS if appropriate. In other ,majors it would be better the other way around.
Hello!
My son has been accepted to CCS!
We are wondering about housing at UCSB.
And a good program for someone like him that has a lot of interests in multiple subject areas- I think he would do well to have the CCS advisor guide them through the channels of the larger university in terms of accessing classes in the various schools. His interests lie in STEM, such as Physics, Math, AI, & Robotics. He also loves theater.
He has also been accepted to schools that provide housing all four years, but don’t have the same focus on creating unique or innovative projects or I imagine, the same benefits of a smaller learning community like CCS.
Is housing so difficult in SB that that is a reason to accept elsewhere?
In learning about CCS it seems like such a unique and fabulous opportunity that I am wondering if we are wrong to weight housing issues so highly on the decision?
Do the CCS students tend to band together and rent apartments together in Isla Vista?
For those who have not yet visited, the UCSB campus is stunning and is filled with students riding bikes, with access to beautiful nature paths by the Pacific Ocean with views of the Channel Islands and large gorgeous mountains above Santa Barbara. Isla Vista is a student town right next to campus where many/ most? of the students live off campus, but it feels as close to campus as some parts of campus, it is right there in terms of walkability/ bikability to classes.