High school college counselor Joel Tankenson had a special incentive for wanting to assist UCLA in its admissions process. Since only a handful of his students from Woodrow Wilson High in Long Beach could get into UCLA, Tankenson wanted to better prepare them to compete.

"I wanted to see from the inside how a major university like UCLA selects its students," he said.

So five years ago, Tankerson became a reader -- a task unbeknownst to many, but critical to the admissions process. Today, he is one of 136 readers selecting UCLA students for the first time under a comprehensive review policy adopted by the UC regents last November.

Under this broader approach to evaluate the nearly 44,000 freshman applications for fall 2002, UCLA's readers are weighing a wide range of academic, personal and socioeconomic factors into the admissions decision for all students. The old UC admissions policy required that between 50%-75% of students must be admitted based on academic criteria only, and the balance (25%-50%) must be admitted by academic standards plus additional criteria.

Comprised of UCLA admissions staff, faculty, volunteers and educators, readers must have at least a bachelor's degree, be associated with higher education or K-12 learning and commit to reading between 300 to 1,000 applications.

"It's a very serious commitment for someone to become a reader," said Vu Tran, UCLA's director of the Office of Undergraduate Admissions and Relations with Schools.

Readers -- regardless of whether they are returning or new -- are required to attend two four-hour intensive training sessions to discuss criteria, admissions policies and review sample applications.

Every single application is read at least three times by three different individuals. The dossier review -- read by one reader -- examines the applicants' life challenges and personal achievements by looking at various factors such as students' family situation, personal obstacles, available learning opportunities, leadership skills and extracurricular activities.

The academic review -- undertaken by two readers -- looks at academic measurements such as grade point average, high school curriculum, test scores and the number of advanced placement courses taken.

Three rankings are given, one each for academics, life challenges and personal achievement. The combined ranking of each applicant determines who gets admitted.

"In making admissions decisions, UCLA does not formulate a specific weight on the three assessment categories," said Tran. "Instead, we balance these three factors under the principle that students with lower academic ranking, who are still excellent students, must have demonstrated a high level of personal achievement and/or accomplishments in spite of the significant life challenges they have experienced."

Said first-time reader Lisa Garcia, a UCLA admissions staff member: "Short of interviewing each applicant, this method is probably the fairest way to assess an individual. We are trying to ask the questions that are going to define and give us a portrait of who this student really is."