<p>Here is a small, humble question for all of you Berkeley experts. What would you say, GPA-wise, EC wise, etc. etc., are the "prerequisites" for getting into grad school here? As in, what combination of stats would make Berkeley a reasonable, plausible goal. I have a friend, a junior now, at University of Illinois. Math major. Just doing a little friendly investigating for him (unbeknownst to him). I thought asking on this forum would be a good place to start; I mean why not.</p>
<p>Thanks for any input. </p>
<p>: )</p>
<p>EDIT: Don't want this to be a "Chances" thread (ew), just a friendly sort of curious discussion. Eh?</p>
<p>I do know GPA wise they expect pretty much all A's in math courses. I'm a math student at UC Davis and I went down to meet a prof. at UC San Diego to ask about the math department there for grad. school. I eventually asked him what it took to be admitted and he said A's in your math classes, fairly good GRE scores and good letters of recomendation from well known professors. I expect Berkeley is harder in that you need to have really good letters of recommendation and have done research. </p>
<p>Berkeley is the best graduate math department in the US so it's reasonable to expect that the grad. students either come from places like Cal Tech. MIT, Harvard or were the top student at lesser schools.</p>
<p>UC doctoral programs don't care about instate vs. out-of-state. Furthermore, Berkeley doctoral programs are on par with the best doctoral programs in the country, and so to get into Berkeley would require the same sort of qualifications you would need to get into a doctoral program at MIT, Stanford, Harvard, etc. Hence, that means, most importantly, demonstrated research potential (especially publications of which you are a key author), followed by faculty recommendations. Next would be grades, GREs scores, and that sort of thing. EC's don't matter unless they have to do with your research. </p>
<p>Again, keep in mind that doctoral programs are nothing like undergrad. You go to a doctoral program to do research, so adcoms want to see that you can actually do research, not just get high grades.</p>
<p>Echoing sakky's comments: Advise your friend to get his/her name on some papers (conference papers count less, but they still count!) and work closely with some big name professors. A praising paragraph from a Fields/Nobel medalist or a page from a National Academedian would be great. Some say that grades and GREs don't matter after a certain point.</p>
<p>Yep, low grades and GMAT scores can, by themselves, keep you out of a top doctoral program, but high grades/GMAT scores will not, by themselves, get you in. In other words, decent grades and GMAT scores are necessary, but not sufficient, requirements to get you in.</p>