 Hi everyone, my name is Ritika Kapam and I am a part of the news department here at Cal TV. But today we're gonna switch things up a bit. This video is for all you high school students out there who are falling down the endless rabbit hole of college advice and admissions reactions videos. How did I almost exactly predict what your YouTube recommended page looks like? That's because I was in your shoes last year and with this year being as whack as it is, I wanted to help you guys out and answer some questions about the Regents and Chancellor Scholarship here at UC Berkeley. Along with me to talk about this program is David Gomez-Sue, chair of internal affairs of the Regents and Chancellor Scholars Association at UC Berkeley, and Margo Bauerlein, a first year Regents scholar. But first, if you're wondering what the heck this scholarship is, you're not alone. I didn't even know what the Regents and Chancellor's program was. I had no idea that Regents and Chancellor's actually existed. The Regents and Chancellor Scholarship is given to about 200 to 250 incoming students annually, including about 30 transfer students. The scholarship provides academic and financial assistance to scholars who represent the top 2% of undergraduates on the Berkeley campus. Benefits of being a Chancellor's and Regents scholar include priority enrollment, guaranteed housing, research funding, access to a large alumni network, and more. The academic resources are incredible. There's so many opportunities to interact with faculty. I played, like, Pictionary with, like, the dean of the School of Engineering. Having the distinction of being a Regents and Chancellor scholar helped increase my chances of getting research as a freshman, which I know can be difficult. I've heard enrollment described as, like, blood sport before. It's been such a blessing to have early enrollment. Now you may be asking, how are students chosen for this scholarship? David has an answer. Students are chosen for the program based on a holistic review of all the applicants at UC Berkeley. So there's no special application to be a Regents and Scholar as there. I think there are for some other different schools or other different applications for scholarships. But every single applicant is screened to be a Regents and Chancellor Scholar by the Academic Senate Committee for the University. Growing up, I had been a part of the foster care system. I had gotten good grades in high school. I had a very interesting story about, you know, who I am and how I had been formed as a person. Like, I didn't have a super high SAT score. I didn't have an SAT score in the 1500s or 1600. That was not me as a student. Regents and Chancellors doesn't just look for an SAT score. They look for resilience, curiosity, and those factors aren't reflected in a grade. David actually spoke to me about how a lot of the specifics in selection for the scholarship are kept behind closed doors. However, he does note that students who show academic excellence and tenacity for learning give themselves the best chance of being among the couple of thousand scholars who land an interview. The interview was probably one of the scariest moments of my life. It was like in a hotel in Irvine. So I had to drive like three hours to get there. And it was, you know, they really put up the works. You get a little breakfast. You get to talk to current Regents and Chancellors scholars based off of like your major or like what you think you're interested in because you don't have to know what you're interested in to be a Regents and Chancellors scholar. But it solely wasn't just about like personal insight questions. We talked about books that we were reading. It was part, you know, informal conversation or just getting to know each other and also part like let's look at your personal insight questions and see who you are beyond those questions. When asked to give a little bit of advice to you guys, this is what our Regents scholars had to say. I think my advice would be to show in your application that you really love doing something and it doesn't matter what that something actually is. I think it's very cliche to say like show that you actually love something, right? Show who you are. But that really is what the Regents and Scholars program is looking for. It's looking for scholars who are dedicated to, you know, education, to learning, to whatever field that you're passionate about. And it's so easy to fall down that Instagram comparison hole where you spend like three hours and it feels like 30 minutes and you're looking at all these different profiles of people and they're like, oh my god, they're so much better than I am. Just don't, you know, you're great and when you, that will be reflected in your application and the readers will see that. And that's it you guys. I hope this video helped answer your questions and lower your stress levels during these crazy times. If you like this video, don't forget to give this video a like, follow CalTV and drop a comment if you have any other questions or video requests. For CalTV, this has been Ritika Kupam. See you next time.