Application readers: gatekeepers to UCLA
By Daily Bruin Staff
March 7, 2002 9:00 p.m.
 NICOLE MILLER/ Daily Bruin Admissions director Vu
Tran reads through one of thousands of applications UCLA
receives each year.
By Wendy Su
Daily Bruin Contributor
High school seniors are anxiously waiting for those big
envelopes telling them they were accepted to the colleges they
applied to. Many are waiting to see if they have been accepted at
UCLA.
Admissions reader Fremont Chang is one of 136 readers on the
other side of the process who gets to make the final calls as he
helps review approximately 55,000 applications from UCLA
hopefuls.
Chang previously read applications for five years at UC Irvine.
This is his first year reading for UCLA.
Contrary to the misconception that admissions readers gather
around a table discussing each application, admissions readers can
read anytime and anywhere.
“The majority of the time, I read at home because
it’s quieter without distractions,” Chang said.
Initially it took eight to 10 minutes to read each application,
but as time progressed Chang reduced the reading time down to five
to six minutes, he said.
On an ambitious day he’ll ask for a batch of another 100
to work on.
“My wife says I’m a bit of a workaholic. I’d
read past my 40 hours a week,” Chang said, adding “(My
wife and I) still make a date Friday nights, and Monday
night’s basketball.”
There are approximately 43,000 freshman applications, and 12,000
transfer applications ““all of which are being evaluated under
a new method called the comprehensive review, which was instituted
in November.
At UCLA, 61 new readers were hired to carry out the
comprehensive review, which evaluates each applicant in terms of
life challenges and personal achievements. Academic achievement is
still a primary factor. Since each application must be read
according to this criteria, the review process is more
intensive.
The old tier system used to admit 50-75 percent of applicants on
academic criteria alone.
According to admissions director and applications reader Vu
Tran, there are three groups of admissions readers.
The first group is the admissions staff; the second group is
composed of other faculty and staff on campus; and the third group
is outside readers, who are high school and college community
counselors or retired Undergraduate Admissions and Relations with
Schools staff.
Paid staff are expected to read a minimum quota of 500
applications, and volunteers a minimum of 300. Outside readers can
opt to be paid staff or volunteers.
During comprehensive review, two admissions readers review the
academic section of the application and rank it. A third reader
does the dossier review, which is composed of the life challenges
and personal achievements review.
If two different rankings are given to the academic review, the
application goes through “quality control,” Tran said.
Each application is read a minimum of three times, but most are
read more to make sure “hard” and “easy”
readers are ranking at the same level, he added.
Readers began reviewing the applications in December.
According to Tran, Admissions expects to admit 10,800 into the
freshman class and 3,800 transfers. These predictions are all based
on past numbers, he said.
