Representatives from University of California, Los Angeles and University of California Merced hosted an information day at Bakersfield College to give a variety of information regarding financial aid, background on their schools and requirements. The presentation took place at the Levan Center on Sept. 26.
Dustin Noji, the representative from the UC Merced, stated that the campus opened in the fall of 2005 and is currently the school for 5,600 students. UCM has three different academic schools: social science, humanities and arts, engineering, and natural science.
They offer a special program called Transfer Admissions Guarantee, or “TAG,” that guarantees your admission. For transfer students, some of the requirements are 30 units and a 2.8 GPA.
Noji explained the significance of a young school.
“You have a chance to be a pioneer,” he said. “Looking back, you can say you created that club or won that award. Being the first to create that tradition.
“There really is a sense of community because we’re so small. You can have that personal attention from the professors that other places can’t offer.”
Patricia Garcia, the representative of UCLA, stated, “We have so much history. We sent the very first email. Most of our buildings are historical and can never be torn down.”
UCLA has 125 majors, 5,000 courses, and over 900 different clubs. You can only apply under one major. Last year UCLA had 19,000 transfer students apply, and of that number, 5,281 students were accepted.
The especially competitive schools students try to get into are UCLA specialty schools: College of Letters and Science, The Henry Samuel school of Engineering and Applied Science, The School of the Arts and Architecture, Theater, Film and Television, and lastly the school of Nursing.
“One of the most important things in your application is the personal statement,” she said. “There isn’t an interview so that’s all we have to get a feel for who you are and why we should choose you.”
The purpose of a personal statement is an opportunity to provide information to better represent yourself.
In the personal statement you have to answer two questions in 1,000 words. You can write more for one question, but the other question has to be minimum of 250 words.
“I read a lot of these, and it’s surprising how many students don’t actually answer questions,” she said. “When they write about a personal struggle or tragedy, I’ll find out a lot about that situation but nothing about how it affected or changed them.
“The best way to write your personal response is to be honest. The best ones are when I finish reading it, and I feel like I just had a conversation with you.
“The personal statement workshop relieved a lot of my anxiety I had over it,” said Tony Damian, religious studies major. “I have a better idea of what I’m going to write now.”
BC student Emily Stickney agreed.
“I feel really confident now especially when they were talking about financial aid because now I know I could afford it,” she said. “I’m really glad I went.”
The event was from 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. At noon there was a lunch break with food sponsored by the BC foundation at the Renegade Park. During lunch some UC alumni made a speech on their experiences. After lunch, Garcia ended the presentation on the importance of a major.
“The hardest thing in your life will be to get an education,” she said.