2008-2009 UCLA Secondary Application Thread

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Hi all,

I know it's a bit late in the cycle, but I have an upcoming interview. I've gone through the interview database in preparation, but was wondering if anyone else who has already interviewed may have some tips about the interview/interview day (to calm my nerves!)?

Thanks in advance!
 
Have something to keep yourself busy -- UCLA likes to, err, let you "explore the campus on your own."
 
What thegetupkid is referring to is that the interview day leaves a lot of unstructured time with no activities planned. You basically arrive, eat lunch, get a very short tour, and interview. But there can be 2/3/even 4 hour spaces of time with nothing to do. I spent this time going through the art journal thing they give you, and luckily my interviewer was responsible for one of the pieces in there. I cleverly brought this up in the interview and this opened up a 30 minute conversation about art/students at UCLA/collaboration/etc.

BTW, I recommend you spend some of your time in the biomedical library researching your interviewer and "finding angles" -- so to speak.
 
MJ is KING said:
What thegetupkid is referring to is that the interview day leaves a lot of unstructured time with no activities planned. You basically arrive, eat lunch, get a very short tour, and interview. But there can be 2/3/even 4 hour spaces of time with nothing to do. I spent this time going through the art journal thing they give you, and luckily my interviewer was responsible for one of the pieces in there. I cleverly brought this up in the interview and this opened up a 30 minute conversation about art/students at UCLA/collaboration/etc.

BTW, I recommend you spend some of your time in the biomedical library researching your interviewer and "finding angles" -- so to speak.
Click to expand...

Ohhh right...I didn't even think about the interview, I was thinking he was referring to being a student there.
 
MJ is KING said:
What thegetupkid is referring to is that the interview day leaves a lot of unstructured time with no activities planned. You basically arrive, eat lunch, get a very short tour, and interview. But there can be 2/3/even 4 hour spaces of time with nothing to do. I spent this time going through the art journal thing they give you, and luckily my interviewer was responsible for one of the pieces in there. I cleverly brought this up in the interview and this opened up a 30 minute conversation about art/students at UCLA/collaboration/etc.

BTW, I recommend you spend some of your time in the biomedical library researching your interviewer and "finding angles" -- so to speak.
Click to expand...

thanks for the advice! is the library in the same building as the interviews? also, what time will the interview day end (at the very latest)?
 
justabear said:
thanks for the advice! is the library in the same building as the interviews? also, what time will the interview day end (at the very latest)?
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Hey justabear,

The library is actually down the hall from the room where you check in and interview. The time when you finish will depend on what time your interview is scheduled to be. I was supposed to check in at 11:45am and didn't finish the day until after my 4pm interview. My interviewer was a little bit late so I didn't finish until after 5pm. Hope that answers your questions. Good luck with your interview.
 
justabear said:
thanks for the advice! is the library in the same building as the interviews? also, what time will the interview day end (at the very latest)?
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Sorry. At the very latest would probably be after 5pm since the last interview should be scheduled for 4pm.
 
aquamarine said:
I'm with you on doubting that they've handed out only 40% of acceptances, but I doubt they've filled the whole class because the guy I talked to in the admissions office said they would be interviewing well into April, and I have a couple of friends at UCLA who got in with very late interviews (no waitlist). Maybe it's a projection based on previous years.

Or maybe this is wishful thinking because my interview is in March 🙂
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I hope so~ Wishful thinking is good 🙂
 
Waitlist (18): n3opologist, enjoydrywax, Regley, mzchristee, BluntSurgeon, funkydrmonkey, chessknt87, surfinghaole, blowmeupjon, Ibirish, gl0baltrader, JuliaGulia2789, Dreampills, koalabear9, not2smarto, Dulcina, blah126, Penguick

Hold (8) ladeda, kwyjibo, hrunting, august3, ShoutMeOut, Medicine22, WaterBird, cSnowfoxd
 
got a surprise in my email box today... an interview invite from ucla! my last interview invite came in early october, so i've been thinking i've been done for a while... time to brush off my suit and get ready to interview again i guess
 
nerdy1 said:
got a surprise in my email box today... an interview invite from ucla! my last interview invite came in early october, so i've been thinking i've been done for a while... time to brush off my suit and get ready to interview again i guess
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Nice 🙂 congrats.
 
i'm guessing the "in writing" that they require to accept the WL is snailmail?
 
Waitlist (19): n3opologist, enjoydrywax, Regley, mzchristee, BluntSurgeon, funkydrmonkey, chessknt87, surfinghaole, blowmeupjon, Ibirish, gl0baltrader, JuliaGulia2789, Dreampills, koalabear9, not2smarto, Dulcina, blah126, Penguick, wontonman86

Hold (8) ladeda, kwyjibo, hrunting, august3, ShoutMeOut, Medicine22, WaterBird, cSnowfoxd

=(
 
Anyone know if there have been any more letters sent since last week's 2/18 batch?
 
I know for a fact that people have been rejected post interview. They probably are just too shy to post.
 
Interview 12/9, Waitlist 2/18..............God, I wish I had done research in college rather than working.
 
Yeah I wish i had done some research too T_T;;

Does last year's UCLA thread like this one still exist somewhere?
 
those of us who interviewed way back in the day lolllllll (oct/nov.) and haven't heard back yet are either in line for rejections (this last wave seems to be ALOT of WLs and holds) or we truly haven't been looked at (i was told this) but whoooooo knows
 
davis9267 said:
Yeah I wish i had done some research too T_T;;

Does last year's UCLA thread like this one still exist somewhere?
Click to expand...

Heh - I'm so jealous of next year's cycle for having all these threads 😛
 
Hm so apparently from reading last year's thread, you can call them, have them look up your file and give you your status on whether a decision has been made or your file is still out to committee...
 
batman1983 said:
Interview 12/9, Waitlist 2/18..............God, I wish I had done research in college rather than working.
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I wish I don't have to work full time and taking care of my parent while going to college. But what can you do about it.
 
Yay!!! I got an interview 😀😀😀
 
aquamarine said:
i thought you would! interview on the 16th, that's when i'm going 🙂
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Thanks!! You know...the 16th would work for me... I have to submit my date preferences tonight! We'll see what is my "mutually agreed upon date" :soexcited: In any case, good luck when you go!
 
nina7123 said:
Yay!!! I got an interview 😀😀😀
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That's great news! UCLA was really good at matching the interview date requested for my case, so they should match yours too. Good luck:luck:
 
What's going on waitlisteeeeeeees?

I dropped off my letter to accept the waitlist position, and the lady who took my letter said they anticipate the waitlist to be 125 people this year. She said if things go like previous years, they'll take around 30 people from that. Just thought I'd share yet another opinion from the infamous UCLA admin office.
 
...Interviewed @ Geffen on OCt. 28th and still no news... at all! No waitlist, no rejection, no hold, no email updates, no updates on the status page, nada. WTF? hmmm... oh well.
 
n3opologist said:
What's going on waitlisteeeeeeees?

I dropped off my letter to accept the waitlist position, and the lady who took my letter said they anticipate the waitlist to be 125 people this year. She said if things go like previous years, they'll take around 30 people from that. Just thought I'd share yet another opinion from the infamous UCLA admin office.
Click to expand...

Just remember that whatever you heard has a 1/8 chance of being true since each person who works in that office has a different perspective of how things work at UCLA.
 
chessknt87 said:
Just remember that whatever you heard has a 1/8 chance of being true since each person who works in that office has a different perspective of how things work at UCLA.
Click to expand...

Maybe it has something to do with how you look at the waitlist as well. I mean maybe overall 125 people are sent a letter that they've been put on the waitlist...but not everyone accepts it....so say that you end up with maybe 75 people who accept the waitlist spot and of them 30 people get in. Then...is it 30/125 or 30/75?...you end up with different odds depending on how you look at it. Might explain how they numbers seem to vary so much?
 
Actually, to best reconcile the varying information we've heard, it's most likely they extend wait list invites to around 150-200 people, and when it's all said and done, there are about 125 people on the list. That would make all the information true. If they "anticipate 125 people" for the wait list, that means they have to give out more than 125 wait list decisions.

No matter what, I've heard from 3 different people in that office that they take around 30 off the wait list every year.
 
n3opologist said:
Actually, to best reconcile the varying information we've heard, it's most likely they extend wait list invites to around 150-200 people, and when it's all said and done, there are about 125 people on the list. That would make all the information true. If they "anticipate 125 people" for the wait list, that means they have to give out more than 125 wait list decisions.

No matter what, I've heard from 3 different people in that office that they take around 30 off the wait list every year.
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Do you know how they take people off the waitlist ? Do we get some kind of rank and get pulled off according to your numbers ?
Any information would be great.
 
I believe someone said that they review every file when a spot opens up since this is an unranked waitlist.
 
davis9267 said:
I believe someone said that they review every file when a spot opens up since this is an unranked waitlist.
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Interesting, that seems like a lot of work.
I've also heard a rumor about how they review the files based on the gender/race of the open seat and try to replace them with candidate with similar background as a way to preserve their student body diversity. Is there any validity to this rumor ??
 
Just called UCLA and persuaded the guy to "hint" to me that I've been rejected post sec haha. Good luck to the rest of you waiting.
 
droshan said:
Just called UCLA and persuaded the guy to "hint" to me that I've been rejected post sec haha. Good luck to the rest of you waiting.
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sorry about the news........did he say anything about when the next "batch" would come out?
 
Haha you cheeky bastard, of course he didn't tell me. My lowly arse didn't get an interview, that information is above me!:meanie:
 
Cheem MD said:
...Interviewed @ Geffen on OCt. 28th and still no news... at all! No waitlist, no rejection, no hold, no email updates, no updates on the status page, nada. WTF? hmmm... oh well.
Click to expand...

Yeah, me too. I interviewed on Oct. 23rd and still no news. Nothing. I spoke with someone in the office on Monday (admittedly an unreliable source), and she said that they had not received a decision yet. Come on now. I have no idea what to read into this anymore.
 
n3opologist said:
Couple things:

Your interview performance at UCLA can't help you; it can only hurt you, and at best be neutral. You see, the most unfair thing about UCLA's interview process is that fact that different interviewers carry different weight on the sub-committees. If you happen to be graced with the chair of the sub-committee you're placed in, congratulations on your acceptance to UCLA. If on the other hand, you are placed with someone who has no clout, your paper app better be outstanding and pushing a lizzy score of 77.
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What if dont you don't think they were convinced?
 
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I have been pretty accurate on my performance so far. Is all hope lost?
 
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MJ is KING said:
I bet the subcommittee chair who interviewed you had the initials AF. Hahaha, nice guy isn't he?
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Haha actually it was someone else. haha nice isnt exactly what i was thinking.

have all the acceptees felt confident so far?
 
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did anyone send a letter of interest or intent after their interview? I was wondering the effectiveness of these letters for ucla. Thanks.
 
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