So…California is awesome. And everyone want to go to a California university. Clear skies, beautiful weather, great beaches, cool things to do. If you want to spend four glorious years at university in this wonderful state, you need to get your sh*t together…AND FAST!
The best and easiest way to get into a university in Cali is to apply to all the UC schools. The UC schools are 9 undergraduate universities in different locations in California that use the same (ONE!) application for all the universities. It’s like the Common App for California universities. Here are the universities you can apply to, all at the same time:
One application sounds great, right? Here’s the catch: You only have 1 month left to apply. Not one month to plan or write or get recommendations. One month for the whole thing. The application for the UC schools closes on November 30th.
We repeat, the application deadline for UC schools is November 30…and they want ALL of your stuff by then. No sending recommendations and scores later. You should submit everything by November 30th to have the best chances of acceptance. Check out the application guidelines and deadlines here.
How are you going to get this done? Here’s our plan. We hope you’re ready to work.
Prerequisites to Get Into a California University
You need to have already done the things below. If you haven’t, you should do some serious thinking. You can either not apply to these universities (choose others in California with and apply with the Common App) or you can risk your application money by sending documents later:
Taken the SAT and have your scores OR be registered for the exam.
If you have taken the SAT already or will take it in November, go online to the College Board’s site and select to have your official scores sent to each UC school. There are instructions for doing this here. Be sure to choose your best SAT scores. If these came from sections on different tests, send both sets of score because some universities will create a new composite score of your highest scores.
Taken the SAT Subject Tests.
These tests will be recommended but not necessarily required. However, that means you need to take them. Pick tests that coordinate with your major. Click here for the SAT Subject Test recommendations by UC and major. For example, if you’re applying for engineering, you should take Math Level 2C and either Physics, Chemistry, or Biology. For more general information on the SAT Subject Tests, check out our post. If you haven’t taken them but want to see how involved the preparation is (Spoiler alert! It IS INVOLVED!), read our posts on SAT Math Level 2C and SAT Chemistry.
Taken the TOEFL or IELTS.
Most universities will accept either score, although the IELTS is easier (see our take on this here). If you haven’t taken one of the tests yet, you may still be able to register because, unlike the SAT, they are offered EVERY Saturday. Go to ielts.org or toefl.org to get started. UC universities require a minimum of 80 on the TOEFL iBT or 6.5 on the IELTS.
Have a minimum 3.4 GPA (or international equivalent).
This requirement is new-ish and quite high. Note that this is also a MINIMUM. If you don’t know your GPA and you’re not in the American system, you can play around with this GPA conversion tool to figure it out. If you’re IB, use the weighted chart found here.
Pre-work to Get Into a California University
Before you start asking people for stuff, take a day and go through the websites of all the UC schools. If you already know your intended major, apply to all the universities with your major. If you’re not sure about your major, read this blog post and start thinking!
Be sure to review the different requirements of each university and try to choose one stretch, one match, and one safety university. (If you’re not sure what we’re talking about, read more about selecting universities here.) If UC Berekley is on your list, that’s your stretch. It’s a stretch school for everyone because it’s one of the best universities in the world. Generally, we’d classify the universities as the following for the typical student in Dubai:
- Berkeley: stretch (great reputation, incredibly competitive to get in)
- LA : stretch (good reputation, incredibly competitive)
- Davis: match (decent reputation, somewhat competitive)
- Irvine: match (decent reputation, somewhat competitive)
​All the rest are match or safety because they have decent reputations but are less competitive.
Week 1: Gather Supplementary Docs
This week is all about gathering supplementary documentation that relies on other people. ​
Task 1: Go to your high school front office or guidance counselor, beg for help, and get a high school transcript.
You don’t have to submit transcripts yet to the universities you apply to. You need this transcript so that you know the exact grades and courses. PDF if need be. Universities will ask for a transcript if they need one.
Task 2: Put together your Student Activity Resume’ to organize your activities.
Check out these posts for help and a template. Some quick tips:
- Take only 2 days to pull the resume’ together. You don’t have time to waste on this minor part of your application.
- List activities starting from 9th grade (UK year 10). It’s great if you awesome in 6th grade but college’s don’t care.
- Ask your parents what activities they remember you participating in. If your mom (or dad) is anything like ours, she (he) has a long memory and a bunch certificates and trophies from your achievements. They will remember what you won’t. Use them as resources.
- Do NOT worry about finding certificates and other stuff to prove you did activities. American universities assume that if you listed it you actually did it, so they don’t require any certificates of participation. This does not mean your can lie on your application (let’s be honest!).
- Clean up the format as much as you can. We’ve provided a Student Activity Resume’ template that you should be able to type into flawlessly, but you can use any resume’ template and just change the headings.
Task 3: Start completing the application with what you have as soon as possible.
You’d be surprised how long this can take.
What about recommendations? UC schools don’t read them at the time of application but a university may ask for one in supplemental information later. Don’t get a reco at this stage.
Week 2: Start Writing
The second most time consuming part of the university application process, after studying for the SAT, is writing your essays. Keep in mind that your application essays are the ONLY personal voice they will hear from you (Your grades and test scores do quite a bit of talking). Although interviews are becoming more common, they aren’t required as part of the applications for UC schools. Therefore, for these universities to know and understand “your story,” they have to read great essays.
Task 1: Understand the essay questions
Here are the essay questions for the University of California schools with our comments to help you understand them. The max word count total is 1,000 words. We suggest you write each as about 500 word essays. Get as close to 500 as possible without going over. UC provides a personal statement worksheet to help you organize your thoughts — use it!
Essay 1: Freshman applicant prompt​: ​Describe the world you come from — for example, your family, community or school — and tell us how your world has shaped your dreams and aspirations.
The hardest part of this essay is the shaping dreams and aspirations part. It’s best to ​start here and then craft your world around it. So, think about 3 key dreams or aspirations you have (short term, after university, and long term vision) then think about three parts of your current or past world that have created those aspirations. For this essay, focus on your diversity, why you are unique. California schools want a diverse population and that’s one of your strong points as an international student. You can describe Dubai as part of the world you come from, but focus on it’s unique points: how Dubai is different from the West rather than how it is similar.
Essay 2: Prompt for all applicants​: Tell us about a personal quality, talent, accomplishment, contribution or experience that is important to you. What about this quality or accomplishment makes you proud and how does it relate to the person you are?
Essay 1 shouldn’t be a story, more of a classic five paragraph essay. Essay 2, however, should be an interesting, philosophical masterpiece. Use the personal statement worksheet as a starting point for your planning, then tell a great descriptive story.
Task 2: Write first drafts of each essay
Now that you have an understanding of the questions, start your essays with these three steps:
- Outline: There is a big difference between essays that have been outlined (organized) and those that haven’t (hot mess). Sit down, think about what you going to write about, and jot down the notes on paper.
- Just write: Roughly following that outline, write down anything that comes to mind. Pretend that you are talking to someone and write that down. That’s your writer’s voice!
- Let it breathe: After writing the first draft of one essay, go write another essay. You have to spend time on another essay or part of the application so you can come back to the first essay with fresh eyes. If you take a breather from the essay, you’ll definitely see what’s wrong with it when you come back.
Week 3: Finish Your Essays
So you’ve written first drafts of your essays and taken sufficient time away from them. This week you will finish them.
Task 1: Become an editor.
You MUST check all the little things about your essay: grammar, spelling, punctuation, capitalization, word choice, everything. Check out this funny post on How to Write Good English.
Task 2: Let someone else look at your essays.
You’ll need someone else to read your essay to help you correct errors or ask you questions (the answers should go in your essay because these are questions any reader would have). If you show your essays to a teacher, you should ask another person to review them also. Teachers are busy people. Usually, they will give your essay a quick read and tell it’s great or give you minor feedback. You NEED more analysis from someone who has time to really evaluate your essay.
Task 3: Upload your essays into the application.
One task gets crossed off the list and you can change them later if you need to.
Week 4: Finish Your Application
Hopefully, you’ve been completing the application as you go. Here’s what you need to do this week:
Task 1: Finish the application.
Task 2: Check the application very carefully.
If you missed anything, the online app will not let you save or submit a page. If anything is missing later, you will receive an email from the Admissions Departments of different universities.
Task 3: Submit the application.
Do not wait until November 30th to submit! Submit the application as soon as you are finished. It is not unusual for servers or websites to crash on application deadlines because so many people are accessing them. Avoid this and submit by November 29th.
YOU’RE DONE! >> CALIFORNIA HERE YOU COME!
Need help applying to a California university?
Let us help you with the process! We’ve sent students to the Universities of California Irvine, Southern California, and Davis among others. We’ll assist with selecting universities, gathering supplemental documents, writing essays, and more. Whatsapp us for more info!
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