How often do people get these? What is it signaling? I just got a request at 2PM western time today.
I got that too and I’d like to know the same thing! The little supplemental spaces instruct you to elaborate on “extraordinary academic achievement” and challenging circumstances (I know what they’re talking about for this). But for the achievement thing, I’m not sure if they’re referring to a specific part of the application because I have a few “big” awards or making a general overall statement? I’ll probably email them and ask.
I also received this request at like 8:47 PM Western Time. I’ve read that this sort of thing(supplement about talent and special circumstances) gets sent out to the borderline students. I take it as a good sign because my gpa wasn’t exactly the best and I also got an average ACT. I thought my essays were pretty good so I guess they really turned it around for me.
Do these all come out on the same day? I need to know whether to hope for UCLA or just accept NYU’s offer lol 
It is definitly a good sign if you can provide a proper and strong response to their request!
I got one of these too. Hopefully it is a good sign.
The prompts are:
Question #1:
In your application you may have mentioned an extraordinary talent/skill or academic achievement. This may include participation in Junior Olympics, national debate competitions, recognition for musical talent, etc. Please take this opportunity to share with us more detailed information about the level of your achievement, depth of participation, and passion for this particular area.
Question #2:
Please describe any special circumstances that you would like us to consider that may have affected your ability to achieve academically. This may include personal circumstances, family experiences, and opportunities that were or were not available at your school or home. If you participated in an educational preparation program (i.e, EAOP, Talent Search, Upward Bound, PUENTE, etc.) please describe your level of involvement and how each program was beneficial to you.
At the bottom there is a request for fall and spring grades/schedule. This is very rare considering that UC’s don’t consider senior year grades. Glad I did well
@wingear Same here. I’m glad my GPA was 4.8 W and 4.0 UW first Semester of Senior year.
Does anybody know the acceptance rate of applicants who get a supplemental request from previous years?
I got mine from UCLA and USD yesterday. My GPA and scores are crap, but I hope my essays will somewhat convince them I have the potential to strive at their schools. If not, I’m just incredibly happy I wasn’t considered a reject right away.
@RHSclassof16 I’ve heard it was 50% accepted from some on here, 20% from others. I have no idea but my fingers are crossed for the former! I feel like either way our chances are at least a little better than before.
And does anyone know if it’s wise to just answer one of the questions if you feel only one of them applies to your application? Or do you think I should try to answer both anyway?
I’m pretty sure they’re asking me for a supplement because I vaguely mentioned some adversity in the additional comments section, so I’m definitely answering the question about that. But I already talked about a talent of mine in one of my essays and I think I was pretty thorough. I mean I guess I could elaborate more but the new information wouldn’t really give much more insight. And I can’t think of any other significant talent to write about.
So is it acceptable to only answer one if only one applies or is that a death wish?
@theumiofisa I did not get one so you can take my opinion with a grain of salt, but I don’t see why they would want you to answer anything that doesn’t apply to you. In another thread I saw someone say you should try to keep your answers relatively short and sweet, so I figure it’s best to just answer what applies to you and skip the extra stuff.
@bosnian thank you!
This is called a Supplemental Questionnaire or Augmented Review if you would like to Google it. It means the campus was not yet able to make a decision about your admission without more information. You were not an easy “Yes” or “No” to the reviewers without further information. Answer the questions that apply to you, carefully and thoughtfully. This is an opportunity to provide more information about yourself including your first semester grades. Good luck to you all. Roughly 6% of all UC applicants receive this.
Do you guys know if the limit is 4000 characters or 600 words or both? I’m confused because the counter on the essay page counts characters.
Are all the supplements the same? I heard these questionnaires get sent out to students who are on the borderline, have a disability or talent. I don’t know whether I got it because I’m borderline or because of extraordinary hardships/unusual circumstances(which might be considered as a disability??). The questions I got were the same ones that wingear listed above.
@RHclassof16 I’m pretty certain it’s 4000 characters. I think 600 words is just an estimate.
@CalHopeful2016 you got talent and hardship. I believe the disability supplement is different from hardship.
What is confusing to me is that I keep hearing that anybody who reported a disability got a supplemental application. I reported a disability on my personal statement for my UC App and sent it to all 8 of the UC’s I applied to. UCLA is the only UC to request a supplemental questionnaire from me. So that means that the other UC’s (All of which are less selective than UCLA with the exception of Cal) have been able to make a decision about whether or not to admit/deny me with the information that was provided on my UC App.