Activities
What awards to list on the UC application for UCLA
How to choose honors that help a UCLA reader understand your work, and how to explain an award's level, selection and scale not relying on its name alone.
SourceBased on what we at Aristo learned from UCLA's admissions office and former UC admissions readers.
UCLA's admissions staff, explaining freshman review in the university's own magazine, made a point that deflates a good deal of application anxiety: nearly every applicant lists some honors and awards. The magazine paired two students. The denied student had honor roll and a state exam recognition, and the admitted student had a national youth leadership award and a school award for running the campus computer store.
Both lists were honest, and only one gave a reader something unusual to hold. Most families assume the problem is having too few awards, so they add more lines and hope the length impresses. The UCLA example points to a different question, and it starts with what a reader counts as distinctive.
Book a free consultation and unlock all tactics.
Book a free call