Fall Counselor Newsletter

A Word from Ffiona Rees

I trust you were able to find opportunities to rest and recharge this summer, since we’re beginning another year! It has been a pleasure to reconnect with many of you, both in person and virtually, over the last few weeks at the UC Counselor Conferences and Ensuring Transfer Success (ETS). Finding meaningful ways to connect is as important as ever as we navigate through these choppy waters.

I’ll start with a quick recap on the past cycle… Our incoming class is coming in strong, and we are excited to welcome our new students to campus later this month. We had more waitlist activity this year (which always makes us happy), although it did go later into the summer than usual due to the uncertainty of predicting enrollment this year. We have also seen an increasing trend of students taking dual enrollment courses that are left out of the application and/or students finishing with poor grades. We ask for your help in reminding students to include all coursework when applying, including courses taken at community colleges during high school. It can have a detrimental impact on final enrollment when we discover that a student has neglected to include their Dual Enrollment courses.

Now, we recognize that the University of California, and UCLA in particular, has been in the news as of late. While the external landscape seems to shift daily, our internal belief in our mission and the importance of our work in college access and inclusive excellence remains steadfast. Our students from California come from a wide variety of socioeconomic, cultural, religious and geographic backgrounds. Each brings perspectives with them on their educational journeys that contribute to our vibrant campus environment. Our identity as a world-renowned public university exists because of this ongoing commitment to inclusive excellence.

Lastly, like many other universities at this time, we are being mindful of budget expenditures. Our commitment to students and families remains the same, and we wish we could be in more places in person but, unfortunately, we can’t, and our availability is more limited. We are focusing on attending as many key events throughout the year as possible (including NACAC), and we have updated our communications and website to include local fairs and presentations. We also encourage you to reach out to us if you are interested in scheduling virtual events (I can’t promise we can say yes to everything, but I can promise you we will do our best!). This newsletter includes key information, opportunities for connection, and our events page, which will be updated regularly for your students.

Thank you for your continued partnership, and I look forward to seeing many of you at the annual NACAC Conference next week!

With compassion,

Ffiona Rees
Executive Director
UCLA Undergraduate Admission