Over 5,000 admits gather at UCLA for Bruin Day 2014

Janice Dilgert flew in from North Carolina with her father to walk through the booths sprawled across Royce Quad on Saturday, a bright yellow UCLA bag in hand.

“UCLA was my dream school. I knew I wanted to go here for the past four years,” said Dilgert, a R-S Central High School senior, with a nod and a smile.

But she was still struggling to find adequate financial aid.

Dilgert already jumped the hurdle of getting into her school of choice – an accomplishment that has grown increasingly difficult for students wanting to attend University of California schools.

Dilgert is one of 5,013 students who attended Bruin Day, a $468,000 event that filled the grounds of UCLA with bright yellow and blue to welcome newly admitted students and their families.

Bruin Day is meant to help newly admitted students and their families make an informed decision about attending UCLA, said Betty Glick, the associate vice provost of undergraduate education who helped plan Bruin Day. The event includes campus tours, meetings with financial aid counselors, fairs on academic and student life and a variety of workshops and lectures.

The day is also an opportunity open to a smaller and smaller percentage of hopeful Bruins each year.

For the fall of 2014, UCLA had one of the lowest admission rates among the UC schools, accepting about 18 percent of applicants to UCLA, down from about 20 percent last year.

UCLA continues to receive the most applications out of any school in the nation, with about 87,000 freshman applications filling its mailboxs this past fall.

The increasingly fierce competition has stirred up mixed feelings in admitted students.

“I think it’s unfair,” said Luis Hernandez, a high school senior at APEX Academy. “There are a lot of high school students that are qualified, but not enough spots for them.”

Hernandez said he was shocked to find that a lot of his friends weren’t accepted, including the salutatorian of his school.

Other students only felt the joy and relief of being accepted.

“It’s a prestigious university, and the lower acceptance rate makes it more of an accomplishment that I got in,” said James Power, a senior at Woodside High School.

Power said he was deciding between UC Berkeley, UCLA and Duke, but he was leaning toward enrolling at UCLA after the day’s events.

For other students, Bruin Day was enough to confirm their loyalty to UCLA.

After debating between attending UCLA and New York University for weeks, Sookie Kwok, a senior from Meadowdale High School set her foot on campus and rang the Victory Bell, announcing her final choice on Bruin Day.

As a fine arts student, Kwok knew that both schools had strong programs and, although financial aid was her first concern, she said she could still afford to attend the school she wanted.

When it came down to her final decision, Kwok said she felt at home at UCLA.

“I came torn and undecided. I felt so welcome here and I decided, ‘Yes, this is it.’ My decision was very spontaneous,” she said.

Kelsey Borenzweig, a senior at Malibu High School, said she felt honored to be accepted to UCLA because of the increasing competition in the college admissions process, but she was still on the fence about attending the university.

She added that she was choosing between UCLA and USC. Even though she received a full ride to USC, she hadn’t made up her mind.

As Bruin Day wrapped up and tents were taken down, admitted students and their parents gathered around the Bruin Bear to snap a few final pictures.

For Dilgert, who was walking back from the financial aid office, her ability to afford UCLA was the sole factor in her college decision.

“We stopped by to see if there was anything we can do. Anything at all,” Dilgert said, looking at her father as her smile faded.

At Bruin Day, Dilgert found out there was no way she could get the financial aid she needed. She said she plans to attend a different college in the fall, though she hasn’t decided which one.