PCA Selection

Process

From September through November, college counselors administer their own competitions internally to select five candidates for nomination. Interested students should contact their college counselor. By mid November 2009, those candidates' preliminary applications are forwarded to the Incentive Awards Pre-collegiate Academy Office. Completed applications are due by December 11, 2009. Two finalists will be selected from each school and those finalists will be interviewed in Los Angeles in April of 2010. One Academy Scholar will be selected from each school by the end of April 2010. An orientation for Scholars and their families will be held in mid May of 2010. The Academy starts on June 26, 2010, with a six-week Summer Residential Academic Program on the Berkeley campus.

Selection Criteria

1. Candidates must be in the 10th grade at a participating high school in the Los Angeles Unified School District.
2. Candidates should demonstrate strong academic achievement, leadership potential, and community involvement despite adverse socioeconomic circumstances.
3. Candidates should show evidence of ability to participate in extensive peer counseling activities and mentoring programs in their high schools that will inspire fellow students to greater achievements.
4. Candidates must be excellent role models for younger students. Pre-collegiate Academy Scholars have the responsibility of being ambassadors of higher education. Candidates must be committed to encouraging and assisting other high school students in pursuing higher education.
5. Candidates must be on track to fulfill UC admission requirements with a current, cumulative GPA of 3.5 or greater, with no grade below a “C”.
6. Candidates must be prepared to apply for admission to a four-year college in the fall of their senior year of high school, including UC Berkeley.
7. Candidates must demonstrate significant financial need as determined by the financial aid portion of the application.
8. Candidates must be nominated by their high school and generally should have been in attendance at the high school from the beginning of their freshman year, though extenuating circumstances may be considered.
9. Candidates must be U.S. citizens or eligible non-citizens. Generally, eligible non-citizens are: (1) U.S. permanent residents and have an Alien Registration Receipt Card (I-551); (2) conditional permanent residents (I-551C); or (3) other eligible non-citizens with an Arrival-Departure Record (I-94) from the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service showing any one of the following designations: “Refugee,” “Asylum Granted,” “Indefinite Parole,” “Humanitarian Parole,” or “Cuban-Haitian Entrant.”

Selection Committees

Teresita Alvarez
PCA Alumna
IAP Alumna 2005

Alex De Guia
Assistant Director.
Student Learning Center, UC Berkeley

Victoria Foote
Winwood Ventures

Jon Funk
Managing Director
Allegis Capital

Diana Grijalva
PCA Alumna
IAP Alumna 2006

Mark Howorth
Partner
Bain & Company

Greg Kato
Assistant Vice President
Caldwell Flores Winters, Inc.

Nichole Perkins
College-BID Coordinator
Children Youth and Family Collaborative

Joel Portillo
PCA Alumnus
IAP Alumnus 2006

Sheila Sanchez
Student Services Advisor/ Research Assistant
USC, Rossier School of Education, Master’s Program Office

Thai Trinh
PCA Alumna
IAP Alumnus 2006

Christine Vega
College & Career Program Specialist
Youth Policy Institute

Selection Committee Emeriti for Los Angeles

Roxanne Andersen
Rabiah Burks
Claytie Davis III
Craig Enenstein
Russ Ellis
Jerlena Griffin
Majeeda Hakeem
Pat Hayashi
Alfred Jocson
Robert Jorgensen
Phillip Loya
Maximino Martinez
Ana Luisa Mota
Armando Ochoa
Win Rhodes
Roberto Rivera
O’Neal Spicer
David Tokofsky
My Duyen Tran
Katherine Isobel Urbanski
Lorena Valdez

More Information about the Pre-collegiate Academy:

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