<p>all the UCs will take test scores with a grain of salt, and especially so when the test taker is a recent English learner. GPA rules in UC admissions. Not the case at the elite privates.</p>
<p>lol, you must run a 4.29 40 or can head a futbol from the midline. Congrats and best of luck competing academically. My d is at UCSD and has seen two rommies get in under the elc program, only to flunk out the first quarter. She and my s are 31 act, 9 ap’s 3.77 gpa’s (29th%) from a tuff orange county h.s. They will have no problem at a UC. My d will graduate in 3.3 years with 2 minors. They did not apply to ucb. Not enough hmmmm, issues and wrong skin color to spend the $60. But hey, if your stats are correct, go shock the world.</p>
<p>Careful now… Not everyone accepted to Berkeley has issues and the right skin color.<br>
That’s a very broad generalization. My son was a white male from an intact family in south orange county. He got accepted to Undeclared Engineering because of his grades, test scores and EC’s. He also got into UCSD (regents) and UCLA. I just want to make sure that everyone knows it is possible to get into Berkeley by doing well in school and standardized tests. :-)</p>
<p>Congrats! I also got in without expecting it. I had a 28 on my ACT, but my GPA was pretty decent at 3.7 UW and 4.33 Weighted.</p>
<p>popeyoung5, I don’t think 95% of the people that get into Cal have severely hard upbringings. I am white and come from a school where the average family income is over 90k. Probably the richest white suburb you can find outside of Beverly Hills and I still got into Cal without trying to pull the “hardship card.”</p>
<p>I think the thing is that since berkeley has no affirmative action, and is so numbers based, it favors wealthier/higher score applicants. As a result, we hear more of these exception stories.</p>
<p>popeyoung5, that was pretty mean spirited for a grownup.</p>
<p>And ELC doesn’t get you into UCSD.</p>
<p>^popeye</p>
<p>well aren’t you proud</p>
<p>are you a black, blind, amputee, legacy, special olympian!?!?</p>
<p>just because i got into UC Berkeley with a 22 ACT doesn’t mean I’m a recruited athlete or something like that. You guy have to understand that sometimes people like me despite having terrible test scores, we have our own life stories. I truly believe the reason i got into cal was because of my personal statement. Also, remember that Berkeley looks at the entire person within the context of opportunities available to that student.</p>
<p>The concept of holistic review was meant for students like you. Congratulations and I wish you the best of luck at Cal. Go Bears!</p>
<p>i dont understand how, some un open minded poeple are so judgemental that poeple with low numbers are stupid and do not deserve to be at cal…?
im pretty sure berkeley had a good reason for choosing us…i, myself had personal circumstances, and thats what that got me into berkeley.</p>
<p>Congratulations to the OP. It’s not as unusual as you might think. Cal likes unique, and likes students who have passion and drive.</p>
<p>congratulations to you! it’s always nice to hear how hardwork pays off. but…</p>
<p>i made it to cal along with 15 others fr our school. 3 of us got regents scholarship although 2 will be attending stanford. however, i find it unfair to some of my other classmates who have excellent gpas 4.3+, excellent ecs, 9+ aps, 3+ subj test with 750+ and high sat 2150+/act 31+, and did not make it to cal, ucla and even ucsd. i am fr a very competitive and conservative hs. priveleged, if i may say, though we have financial aid for students like me. trust me, we have to work really hard to get an A. the reason that our hs does not rank is bec our rank 100 could very well be top 5 in other hs. a lot of us even enroll additional courses at community colleges, state univ &/or online - on top of our very rigorous curriculum - just to be ahead of the game. we cant find just answers.</p>
<p>^got2hav</p>
<p>Your hs seems pretty insular if you all know how many students were accepted to which college. As for finding “just answers” welcome to the real world that awaits you when you get in your limo and venture off that privileged hs campus.</p>
<p>I got in with a 10 ACT and a 870 SAT.</p>
<p>^^thunder. very tight-knit, friendly, open, conservative & religious hs. very competitive & topnotch, but our biggest competitor is just our own selves. we support everyone. we cheer & root for everyone. very ideal environment that others can only imagine.</p>
<p>privileged, yes, maybe even very much. but our community service, charity work & the simplicity of our environment is unparalled. you wouldnt even identify at all who’s the big-time school patron/donor and who is a financial aid recipient.</p>
<p>After thinking about it, i decided to go to UCSD GO TRITONS!!!</p>
<p>congratulations to all of you who got it. I just want to say that those people who believe that having terrible test scores will automatically disqualify you are wrong. Please class of 2016 look at my ACT SCORE and i still got in:) believe in yourself and try to tell your life story on your personal statements, that’s how i got in:)</p>