UC Application, Significant Accomplishment: Starting in 6th grade, I spent every summer at Jon Lee’s East Beach volleyball camp. Most kids came and went on a weekly basis, but I just stayed. There was nowhere else I would rather have been, than at East Beach playing volleyball with my friends. I loved it so much that I sought out faster improvement, committing to more formal training with an AVP professional player. I always thought of it as fun, but...

A couple months after submitting my application to the UCs, UCLA sent me a request for additional information with the following prompt: In your application you may have mentioned an extraordinary talent/skill or academic achievement. This may include participation in Junior Olympics, national debate competitions, recognition for musical talent, etc. Please take this opportunity to share with us more detailed information about the level of your achievement, depth of participation, and passion for this particular area. This is how...

When I got placed on the wait-list by UCLA, I chose to hire a woman who specializes in wait-list and appeal statements to help guide writing my statement. Her biggest recommendations were that I cover why my grades were much worse my Freshman year, and why I was not able to continue my participation with the National Beach Volleyball Training Team. So I chose to focus my wait-list statement on covering those two topics, which I had missed entirely with...

Wait-list statement for UCLA: Fall 2013 Santa Barbara High School Calculus BC AP, Grade = A Government and Politics AP, Grade = B Math Honor Society, Grade = A TA for Calculus AB, Grade = A UC Santa Barbara German 1 – Elementary German, Grade = B+ Int 94PX – Admissions to schools of the health professions, Grade = P Santa Barbara City College English 110 – Composition and Reading, Grade = A English 120 – College Research Skills, Grade = P HE 101 – Personal Health Awareness, Grade = B+ Winter 2014: UC Santa Barbara Physics 6B – Introductory Physics, Grade = B Physics 6BL – Introductory Physics Lab, Grade = A- Spring 2014: Santa Barbara High School Calculus BC AP, Grade = IP (currently 106%)...

I used two sources of private help at different times during the...

Make good use of your time during the summer. The summers after my freshman and sophomore years were spent training with the U17 and U19 National Beach Volleyball Training Teams. Practices were held both at the Olympic...