Everyone will have a 4.0 GPA, AP classes, decent SAT scores, volunteer hours--what makes YOUR UC application stand out?

In about a week from now on November 1st, the UC applications will be accepted online for all the UC campuses. SF Mom3 wants to make it real to you and give you one last kick before you hit "submit."

At a webinar (live seminar on the web) with UC San Diego, the admissions officer said it is best to apply broadly to all the UCs. Meaning, don't just apply to the tier 1 schools (Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD), but apply to all the other UC campuses as well. Tier 2 schools include Santa Barbara, Davis, Irvine, Santa Cruz and tier 3 schools like Merced and Riverside.

Last March 2011, many seniors were surprised they did not get acceptances to their dream UC school, in fact, they got offers to the UCs that weren't on their A-list. Even some didn't get acceptances to any UCs at all. :( That saddened me; hence, one of the reasons why I created this blog.

The rejections can be attributed to the amount of applicants to the UC system for the Fall 2011. Record freshman applicants applied to UCLA (61,500), San Diego (53,500) and Berkeley (53,000) for the same amount of admission spots as Fall 2010 (i.e. around 3,700 at San Diego to 5,383 at Irvine). At this point it becomes a numbers game; there simply isn't enough spots for the amount of applicants for an excellent public university education. So, it is important to apply to tier 1, 2 and 3 schools next month. It may cost you $70/each but at this trend, you can never tell which UC you will be offered.

According to the UC Counselor Conference last September, students should not rely on the wait list. In fact, some UCs never used them last year.

Here are the stats in which UCs used their wait-list for Fall 2011:
1. UC San Diego - 2700 on the wait-list, they admitted 753 who had to write an additional essay
2. UC Irvine - Did not utilize wait-list (in fact, UCI admitted more students than they have spots for, which might affect the Fall 2012 admission counts)
3. UC Riverside - 2500 on wait-list, they admitted 1000
4. UC Santa Barbara - 2400 on wait-list, did not use wait-list
5. UC Santa Cruz - 2000 on wait-list, did not use wait-list
6. UC Davis - utilized their wait-list
Here are the Fall 2011 UC applicant numbers:
http://www.ucop.edu/news/factsheets/2011/fall_2011_applications_table1.pdf
and the admission rates: http://www.ucop.edu/news/factsheets/2011/fall_2011_admissions_table1.pdf

The reason why I created this blog is to give you (and you tiger moms) valuable UC application tips that I learned along the way. The competition is tough--I'm not gonna lie--that's why the tips I gave you (what three things to address in your essay, why it's important to mention work experience and how you handled your wages, hardships and how you persevered, how to make your application "spark", how to describe your activities, and everything else on this blog--you can refer to older posts) are important to note.

Everyone will have a 4.0+ GPA weighted, everyone will be student body president, everyone will take AP classes, everyone will have volunteer hours, everyone is well rounded, everyone will contribute to the university---but what makes YOUR application stand out?