First and foremost, we hope you all are safe and healthy. Whether your work with students continues to be virtual or you have returned to in-person classes or advising, know that we are thinking of you and continue to wish you, your students and their families the best of health as we continue to battle this cruel pandemic.
In a usual year, we’d be travelling to visit schools and engage with counselors and students face-to-face. But as we all know, this year is anything but typical! Although an email doesn’t replace our in-person interactions, we would like to take this opportunity to keep in touch and share some updates from UCLA as the new school year starts.
Engagement Opportunities
We will offer a number of virtual events for counselors and students throughout the fall including Counselor Coffee Chats, info sessions and tours, and our Open House. We hope that you and your students are able to take advantage of some of these programs to learn more about our process and all of the opportunities available to students at UCLA. We will send more information before each event, but key resources and events are listed below:
- Fall Open House is Monday, October 5, 2020 to Saturday, October 10, 2020 (virtual sessions are on weekday evenings and early afternoon on Saturday)
- Attend any of our virtual tours, information sessions, and events
- Visit our counselor page
- Meet Your Admission Representative if you have any questions
- You're receiving this email because we have you in our counselor network. However, please encourage other colleagues to join here to stay connected with the latest information.
Admission Requirements
In light of COVID-19 and the move to remote instruction, the University of California has made adjustments to admission requirements. Detailed information about these changes, such as consideration of Pass/No Pass and Credit/No Credit grades, can be found online.
Application Advice
Based on questions and feedback from you, we’ve compiled advice and tips for all applicants. We recognize the impact of COVID on all aspects of the admission process, and we’d encourage you to share this document with your students and families.
Standardized Testing
In March, the University of California system announced it would be test optional for fall 2021. However, a recent preliminary court ruling precluded use of SAT or ACT in admission decisions. However, legal counsel at UC is actively responding to this case. As of publication of this newsletter, UCLA remains test optional, including all subject tests (even for Engineering students), and the essay/writing section is no longer required. We want to reiterate that submission of a test score is NOT required, and optional means optional! Safety of students is more important to us than a test score. We have highlighted this on our website for all students, families, and counselors to see.
We will continue to review all applications holistically, and testing has always been one of many factors considered in our review process. No applicant will be disadvantaged in any way for not submitting an SAT or ACT score.
English Proficiency Note: For applicants whose language of instruction has not been English for the last three years of their high school education, an English language proficiency exam is still required. This can be demonstrated through TOEFL, IELTS or Duolingo English Test (DET). Information about English language proficiency can be found here.
New Majors and Minors
We are happy to announce a new major, B.A in Education and Social Transformation, which prepares students to analyze current issues in education through a social justice lens and to emerge as effective advocates for positive change. In addition, we have new minors in Brain and Behavioral Health and Pilipino Studies.