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An article from a student on a website:Yes,Ucla had very tough standard with homeworks flying where. An A- now count less than a 4.0! The competiton between student is very intense; they won;t even help each other due to the insane curve!!! The Professor are hard grader and so are the TA's who might or might not liek you. Even more so the parking is 6 mins for 25 cents! In a school of 45,000 with only 419 acres to travel you are just a pure number. UCLA is overcrowded and way too expensive. -------So what do you guy think?

By Brd (Brd) on Monday, May 05, 2003 - 09:13 pm: Edit

I'll be a TA there next Fall -- I promise to like you.

By Thedad (Thedad) on Monday, May 05, 2003 - 09:33 pm: Edit

The person who wrote that is so illiterate that I don't wonder they find UCLA too hard.

It is true that using public parking at UCLA is insanely expensive...though it's actually 7-1/2 minutes for 25 cents.

Now that I look at the spelling and grammar, it occurs to me that it was written by a usc student.

By Johnnyd (Johnnyd) on Monday, May 05, 2003 - 09:50 pm: Edit

Hey Thedad, why do you care so much about spelling and grammar? It's not like she was writing an english paper or something. I think you should answer the question instead of criticizing grammar and spelling. I don't mean to be offensive towards you because you usually write good posts but don't be such a hardhat about little stuff like that on a frickin college posting board.


Prettynail-
UCLA is competitive so it's expected. That sort of environment makes people competitive and more hard-working which is usually a good thing.

By Thedad (Thedad) on Monday, May 05, 2003 - 10:47 pm: Edit

The post was an "article" on a website elsewhere.
As for caring, I'm a half-caste writer and it's impossible not to care. It's not just a typo or an isolated error; there are at *least* nine mistakes in those seven lines.

An A- counts as less than 4.0 many places, including throughout the whole UC system. The bit about the parking is interesting but irrelevant as is the physical size of the campus. You slice away the underbrush and what's left is a whine about Profs grading hard, TA's maybe not liking you, and intense competition. A whine, especially one this hard to focus on, doesn't generally deserve much of a response, do you think?

Notice that you got more of a response than the original poster.

By Johnnyd (Johnnyd) on Monday, May 05, 2003 - 10:52 pm: Edit

Haha.. that I did. Hey, let's make a truce. Anyways, I see your point Thedad but I still don't see why you care about typos and grammar on this site.


I'm not an expert on parking prices so I'm wondering: is it usually close to that high on elite college campuses?

By Lethalfang (Lethalfang) on Monday, May 05, 2003 - 11:01 pm: Edit

"is it usually close to that high on elite college campuses?"
No. As far as I know, only in LA, SF, and NY.

Being tough is good. You'll be well prepared for post-graduate school even with a less-than-spectacular GPA. People coming from competitive undergraduate institutions (as supposed to grade inflation schools) usually do well in graduate school.

By Thedad (Thedad) on Tuesday, May 06, 2003 - 12:03 am: Edit

JohnnyD, consider it like dress: make it appear as if it matters to you. There are alumni interviewers, folks like Dave Berry, and others on this board...consider it as if you're a professional (student) asking about professional information.

Quite a different level of diction, etc., from a "POS BRB" IM or chat room.

Note: I'd be the history teacher from hell: spelling, grammar, and structure would all count.
But you'd be prepared for college when you got there.

By Hautbois (Hautbois) on Tuesday, May 06, 2003 - 01:26 am: Edit

UCLA isn't TOO hard. UCLA is hard. It's supposed to be! Considering how picky they can be, they should expect the highest caliber of student there. They should (and do, I hope) expect students to study and take their work seriously. I don't think anyone who wants "easy" should bother with any UC.

As to grammar and spelling: first impressions do count, and usually they give me an idea of how seriously to take an individual. This may be sad (I don't believe it is, but I guess some of you might!) but it's true. I'm certainly not a great writer, but I do at least read over what I've sent in to try and catch my mistakes, even while knowing a few might still make it through. But really ... correcting errors is a good idea! You never know who might read your posts, and I don't trust that all of us will remain fully anonymous, much as we might think so. (Perhaps I'm just a bit over the top on that though!)

By Sluggbugg (Sluggbugg) on Tuesday, May 06, 2003 - 03:03 pm: Edit

JohnnyD, I admit it! I've got a grammar-spelling-punctuation hardhat on, too! I'm a dork, a hardhat-wearing parent dork, when it comes to the elements of writing, and I'll tell you why.

When I graduated from UC Berkeley, employers were not lined up at my door waiting to hire me. I don't know why...Afterall, I had a bachelor's degree in Linguistics, for f--- sake! What more could they want? It turned out that what they wanted were potential employees who could communicate intelligently, both orally and in writing. So, I went back to school for year and took business writing, business English, typing, word processing, résumé writing, and a bunch of other crap that sounds real boring, but got me my first good job.

To this day, when I read something from a principal, an executive, a physician, or anyone else in a position of authority who should know how to write correctly, I think less of their credibility if it's a poorly written document. On the other hand, my heart goes pitty-pat if they have a great command of the language, even if it is from the cable company telling us they're raising our rates again.

Avoid use of the word "irregardless." It will make you sound less stupid under all circumstances! And, the TA who is grading your term paper won't be as ticked off if you dazzle her with well-constructed paragraphs and correct punctuation (worked on me!). Bad writing can really dumb down good ideas.

Really, this stuff is important in any forum where effective communication is the objective.

By Chiangkaishrek (Chiangkaishrek) on Tuesday, May 13, 2003 - 05:01 am: Edit

prettynail:

I think it's time for you to stop slacking off. Then UCLA won't be as hard as you think it is.

By Lethalfang (Lethalfang) on Tuesday, May 13, 2003 - 11:25 am: Edit

Or you can go to USC. He says it's a good school, too!
http://www.theinformationminister.com/press.php?ID=612345358

By Susu (Susu) on Tuesday, May 13, 2003 - 02:00 pm: Edit

Would you dudes just lay off poor Prettynail? She's obviously Asian, probably Thai or Vietnamese (at least the grammar and syntax looks that way) and will, if she can get into UCLA, fit in just fine with the overwhelmingly-Asian Freshman class. She might be a Mom who's asking for confirmation from a real UCLA student (which I did NOT see a lot of on this post.) Be gentlemen, please.

By Shitakirimusume (Shitakirimusume) on Tuesday, May 13, 2003 - 11:05 pm: Edit

As thousands of eager high school seniors tour college campuses this month, administrators are looking for ways to make their schools seem more appealing.

In an attempt to attract Southern California students who might otherwise attend UCLA, UC Berkeley flew 500 admitted students to campus for a weekend of immersion in student life.

The Fly to Berkeley program, which is run by the admissions office and the vice chancellor for undergraduate affairs. Most students who participate in the program are housed by student groups. Hosts provide the visiting students with detailed information about student life, as well as a place to sleep.

Residential halls also offer some overflow housing for students who lack a student group to stay with.

Members of the program also participate in Cal Day, the university's annual open house held in the middle of April where prospective students have the opportunity to attend a lecture, see the campus and participate in student events.


She explained that the program targets Southern California students because of the large growth in the number of college-age students Eunderrepresented minorities as well as non-minorities Ein the area.

Though the program targets many would-be Bruins, UCLA Director of Admissions Vu Tran is not concerned about the threat, calling the program a "normal, standard thing."


Tran said he has confidence that UCLA will not be robbed of exceptional students.

"I think we will get a very good class of freshmen this year," Tran said.

Mariaelena Ochoa, a counselor at Sweetwater High School in San Diego said she doesn't anticipate the Cal program having a huge effect on where her students decided to enroll.


Ochoa also said she found that a lot more of her students are actually planning to attend UCLA this year than in the past.

Budget concerns, however, may have an effect on the survival of programs like Fly to Berkeley.

Last year, UCLA ran a similar program for 40 Northern California students, though the program could not continue this year due to budgetary constraints, Tran said.

Since allocations for next school year have not yet been made, Gilmore said it is too soon to tell whether Cal's program will be able to continue in its current form either.

By Carolyn (Carolyn) on Wednesday, May 14, 2003 - 11:57 am: Edit

I had to laugh when I heard the article above quoting the principal of Sweetwater H.S. in San Diego. This is one of the lowest performing school in San Diego county and I doubt they send more than one or two kids to UCLA each year. If I'm not mistaken, only a small percentage of kids even go to college from that HS.

By Shitakirimusume (Shitakirimusume) on Monday, May 19, 2003 - 01:10 am: Edit

> I had to laugh when I heard the article above quoting the principal of Sweetwater H.S. in San Diego.

It is called sour grapes.

UCLA"s acceptance rate is lower than UCB. UCLA will have higher yield than UCB.
UCB is over.

Sour grapes all over.

By Cookieandfish (Cookieandfish) on Monday, May 26, 2003 - 07:21 pm: Edit

TheDad you are hilarious...

"Now that I look at the spelling and grammar, it occurs to me that it was written by a usc student."

Well said lol

By Mattimatt (Mattimatt) on Monday, May 26, 2003 - 09:34 pm: Edit

I presonally don't think that having a lower acceptance rate means UCLA is better than UCB. Yes, this year I have seen many high school seniors getting accepted by Berkeley and rejected by UCLA and I'm not happy to be going to Berkeley, which I have done everything for it, knowing that some students with low SAT's or GPA's will be there too.
I don't know what's happenning. But I know one thing for sure, that UCB is more prestigious and has an excellent reputation no matter what happens.
It's not about who's gotten in. It's about who survives at Berkeley. Academics are very hard and challenging there and that's where you know who deserves to be in Berkeley and who doesn't.
Plus most of the people who were rejected by UCLA and accepted by UCB were admitted for Spring which is not good. Those people will get no scholarship or anyother other benefit like dorms... .

-What do you think guys?

By Chiangkaishrek (Chiangkaishrek) on Sunday, June 01, 2003 - 07:07 am: Edit

Hahahahahaha (*smiles*)

By Shitakirimusume (Shitakirimusume) on Tuesday, June 03, 2003 - 11:32 pm: Edit

Not anymore. UCLA is better .