UC Application Verification
Below is the official information regarding the application verification (audit) from the UC Counselors and Advisers Bulletin – December 2020, received on December 8, 2020 (source):
Pre-admission verification
In December, a random sampling of applicants are selected to verify information in their application. Applicants are asked to provide documentation to verify one item from sections on the UC application including academic history, honors and awards, extracurricular activities, volunteer work and community service, special program participation, employment, or information contained in the personal insight responses.
Within the emailed instructions for verification, applicants are provided a list of appropriate documentation. Appropriate documentation could include official transcripts, a letter from a counselor or coach on letterhead, or a copy of a certificate or award. The deadline to respond is January 31, 2021. Failure to respond to the request by the deadline will result in withdrawal of the application.
Check the email address associated with your UC Application frequently (the spam/junk folder too!) so you don’t miss the verification notification in case you are selected. According to one source (from 2010; includes description of the verification process), verification requests go out to approximately 1% of the applicant pool (randomly selected freshman and transfer applicants).
If you receive a request, respond before the stated deadline; not responding will cause your UC Application to be canceled with no refund. Carefully review the instructions for examples of acceptable verification documents. If you are unable to provide proof for the selected item, reply to the request with a clear explanation of the reason(s). If the explanation is deemed acceptable, the UCs will choose a different item to verify.
The verification process does NOT delay review of your UC Application. Your application is being reviewed separately by each UC campus. The verification results are checked before admission decisions are sent out.
Remember that this is a data verification request; anything that can definitively prove your participation will do (within the parameters of the instructions). There’s no need to go out of your way to get glowing recommendation letters since the people reviewing the verification forms do NOT make admission decisions.
Know someone who can benefit from this information? Share the page with family and friends using a button below!
Help support this blog by making a contribution today! Any amount is greatly appreciated!
15 Comments
Join the discussion and tell us your opinion.
Can I forward my eTranscript via email in this case?
If the item selected for verification is a course you took and unofficial transcript is indicated as an “acceptable documentation.”
Thanks for your detailed and informative blog. Can I ask my counselor to verify my volunteer hrs. Is there anything specific she needs to include for verification other than the information requested.
If your school keeps a record of your volunteer hours, you can just request a copy and send that. If your counselor is directly in charge of the volunteer hours in question, then the counselor can just regurgitate the information stated in your activities list in a letter on school letterhead.
When emailing UC Verification what should be the subject should it just be “UC Verification” or should we also put our applicant number?
I think “UC Verification” plus your UC Application ID Number should work well.
Thank you!
Can the admissions office see what information we had verified?
The short answer is no.
Last I heard, the verification was done outside of the admissions office (it used to be contracted out to third-party vendor; I’m not sure if that’s changed given the scrutiny UCs have come under for some of their processes) and the admissions office at each UC campus is simply provided with a list of the students who did NOT satisfy the verification process so that, if applicable, those students’ acceptance offers are changed to rejections.
just got an email.
I’m a transfer student!
What is the deadline?
it says to respond within 5 days of the received email. Do transfer students usually have a different deadline? The email is from ”
admissions-review@ucop.edu”
btw, thank you so much for an incredibly informative site!
I think what you received is different from the random verification (those are sent with a template email from ucinfo@applyucsupport.net).
Your comments are posted after I manually approve them (to prevent spam or inappropriate messages); that is why your comments “disappear” after you post them (they go into a moderation queue).
Hi Ms. Sun, so I was wondering about the UC application. Do UC’s only look at freshman year to see if you got a C- or better in the A-G courses? Do they use them for anything else? I know you have answered this question before so this is more of a clarification
The UCs are looking at coursework and grades for all four years of high school (freshman through junior years for grades since you would input your planned schedule for senior year but not grades) in context of what is available and for trends/patterns. Most UCs will review applications in context of school resources; what that translates to is, if your coursework and grades across semesters or years are less rigorous or worse than most of your peers who are also applying to that UC campus, you should probably offer an explanation. You should also offer an explanation for any grade fluctuation (for example, lower grades in sophomore year compared to other years), change in short-term or long-term grade trend (for example, better grades in fall than spring each year or improving grade trend from 9th to 11th), and/or grade/schedule anomalies (for example, one or two C or non-passing grades or not taking AP/Honor courses in junior year).