<p>I just received this e-mail from CAL today, but it's weird because my stats are WAY below the average of cal applicants.</p>
<p>caliplaya:</p>
<p>it means you are on the bubble, and they are taking into account your less-than-stellar HS....send 'em whatever you can to boost your chances bcos they are looking for reasons to say YES.</p>
<p>I am glad to see that I am not the only one to have gotten the message. </p>
<p>The funny thing is that I don't consider myself a below average applicant, but since I come from a really ****ty school, I guess they are looking real close at me.</p>
<p>Here is the scary thing, if I am borderline with these stats I have listed below, imagine what is takes to get into Berkeley for fall 2006.</p>
<p>4.11 UC GPA
1950 SAT I (650 M, 630 V, 670 W)
720 U.S. History/ 640 Ecological Biology </p>
<p>I hate to have to say this but I know exactly why I received the letter and I know exactly what Berkeley wants to hear from me. (Personal Circumstance) I sat on the UCSD High School Governing Board for a year and I found out that Berkeley uses "Augmented Review" for students that are borderline. </p>
<p>But here is where it gets tricky and where I think it gets really competitive amongst the AR applicants. Since there are almost 2,000 AR applicants for 2006, only 486 spots will be granted to these applicants. Usually your competition are people who come from low income families, schools with low API, first generation student, have had hardships, have parents that are sick, or come from immigrant families. </p>
<p>All I can say is that you need to make sure those 13 responses that Berkeley has asked you to fill out are well put together. I know of students who were in my shoes last year that received AR and felt that there GPA and SATs were good enough but got rejected because they didnt put in the time and effort into their responses.</p>
<p>Here is your one chance caliplay to get into the best public institution in the nation. Even if you feel you are a below average applicant Berkeley feels that you are competitive enough where they are giving strong consideration.</p>
<p>All you have to do now is put in some real effort into those responses and get a killer recommendation and you will be set.</p>
<p>If you need any help with how to address the 13 responses let me know.</p>
<p>I'm not sure if this is the augmented review that everyone keeps on talking about. I don't know about the rest of you guys, but the questionnaire that I had to fill out sounds like they want to know more about my learning environment. I think this is because I'm technically low income. Or maybe this questionnaire is sent out based on your major? I don't know but here are my stats...well above the Berkeley averages...</p>
<p>SAT I-2140
SAT II-770/680
GPA-4.620 (I haven't gotten a B in high school)
EC-Everything from school clubs, sports, community service, and editor in chief of the school paper
Declared Major-Mechanical Engineering</p>
<p>If this isn't enough to get into Berkeley I don't know what is...</p>
<p>This might help you all understand Berkeley's "augmented review." If you go to the original link at the bottom of the press release you will find a link to the pdf of Professor Hout's report. </p>
<p>UC Berkeley releases new report on freshman admissions</p>
<p>By Marie Felde and Janet Gilmore, Media Relations | 16 May 2005</p>
<p>BERKELEY A new study that offers an in-depth quantitative analysis of the University of California, Berkeley, freshman admissions process confirms that the process is working as intended with academic considerations carrying the most weight in virtually all admissions decisions.</p>
<p>The report, which was released to the public today (Monday, May 16), was conducted by UC Berkeley sociology professor Michael Hout at the request of campus officials. Hout is a world leader in the use of innovative quantitative methods to study the sociological and demographic changes that have taken place in the United States.</p>
<p>While there have been several quantitative analyses in the last few years of the campus's freshman admission process, this new study provides the most comprehensive assessment of the factors that play a role in admissions decisions.</p>
<p>Hout reviewed a sample of almost 8,000 applications that includes not only the standard data clearly noted in admissions documents - grades, SAT scores, coursework and information about individual high schools - but also 59 additional factors considered by the professional evaluators, referred to as "readers," when assessing all of the information in the admissions packet. Such factors were not previously considered in prior quantitative analyses of comprehensive review. They include matters such as leadership roles in major organizations, hours worked each week, and the strength of the student's academic program his or her senior year.</p>
<p>UC Berkeley officials commissioned the study in early 2004 to provide an assessment of comprehensive review. Under that process, readers consider not only grades, test scores and coursework in assessing student applications but also personal traits such as leadership and the challenges and opportunities students encountered during their high school careers. The assessment was done in response to questions about the admissions process raised by UC Regent John Moores.</p>
<p>In his report, Hout wrote, "My statistical results reveal that comprehensive review conformed to most aspects of policy guidelines. Academic considerations predominated. Readers gave applicants' grades the most weight in assigning read scores. They also considered how difficult the courses were and scores on SATs. Readers also fulfilled the policy guidelines that instruct them to consider applicants in their local context by giving some weight (less than the weight they gave to academics) to the barriers to achievement that some applicants face."</p>
<p>UC Berkeley officials had asked Hout to assess how the campus's comprehensive review process for freshman admissions was operating, with a special focus on estimating whether outcomes at any stage of the process were correlated with ethnic identity when all other available information was taken into account. The study analyses the admissions process in place for high school applicants seeking freshman admission to the campus for the 2004-05 academic year.</p>
<p>His report found the following:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Readers gave applicants' grades the most weight in assigning read scores. They also considered how difficult the courses were and scores on SATs.</p></li>
<li><p>Ethnic identity had almost no correlation with scores that readers gave to applications.</p></li>
<li><p>Difficult to quantify aspects of comprehensive review - such as judgments about applicants' leadership potential and character - do matter in admissions decisions, but they do not correlate with ethnic identity.</p></li>
<li><p>Eighty-nine percent of decisions were determined entirely by the scores that professional readers gave each student applicant after considering all of the information in their application packets. Eleven percent of applicants were given additional review.</p></li>
<li><p>The probability of an application being referred for augmented review was slightly higher for African American, Chicano/Latino and Native American applicants compared to applicants who were similar in other respects. However, during the actual augmented review process of assessing and scoring applicants, there was no correlation between ethnic identity and read scores.</p></li>
<li><p>When scores were identical and a tie-breaking process was needed, African Americans were had a higher probability of being admitted when all other things were equal. But the statistical advantage of African Americans was so small that it would have been eliminated if six fewer black students had been admitted.</p></li>
<li><p>Hout's only recommendation concerned the 11 percent of admissions decisions made through tie-breaking and augmented review. He recommended that guidelines for tie breaking and referral to augmented review be more explicit. UC Berkeley's faculty committee on admissions responded to those concerns and added greater specificity in those areas.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>NOTE: The full Hout study is available online (PDF format).</p>
<p>I'm reading the Hout report (it's actually very interesting and easy to read) and here is the section on Augmented Review (page 19). Augumented Review is more easily understood if you read about Berkeley Comprehensive Review first:</p>
<hr>
<p>If a reader concludes that an applicant is close to being competitive for admission but whose application is particularly challenging or lacking essential information that would confirm for the reader that the applicant should receive a score likely to result in admission, then the reader can refer that application to Augmented Review (AR). An experienced staff member, known as a lead reader, assesses the case and decides whether the application warrants AR or not. Applicants who are getting an AR receive a detailed questionnaire that collects additional information about the students background, environment, and readiness for academic work at the level expected of Berkeley students. They are also asked to submit letters of recommendation. Most applicants who have disabilities are also referred to AR; they get a different questionnaire that focuses on their circumstances. The new material is read and scored. The AR score, which is on a different scale and uses additional criteria, is used instead of the original read score as the basis for admission or denial.</p>
<p>i dont know. this whole augmented review thing is pretty depressing for me. i worked my ass off for the past 4 years and if i need to further explain myself, i dont think i belong at berkeley</p>
<p>i really just dont get it though. i mean i thought my application was really complete...maybe im just overanalyzing this. college admissions plays with your mind</p>
<p><em>Edited</em>
Finally read through the thread.</p>
<p>So is this supplemental form definitely AR?</p>
<p>If so, that's ridiculous, because my stats are way below the Cal average too.</p>
<p>I'm curious, has everyone received the same questionnaire?</p>
<p>It basically means you're borderline. Make this shot count because if you don't make yourself absolutely sparkling, you'll be rejected.</p>
<p>Sounds wonderful. Well I guess that means I shouldn't put this off any longer.</p>
<p>i got it too..one of the above posters says it has 13 questions; thats weird. cuz mine only has 5 questions. also, the questions are almost all related to some "special talent" i listed on my app(which is music). do they give out different questionnaires to everybody?</p>
<p>This is the exact email that I was talking about in my previous thread. Anyways, I finished this thing and I pressed Submit, but the thing is still there. Since I pressed submit shouldn't it mean that it should have been sent and gone from the myBerkeleyapp site? w/e. Hopefully they get my thing because Berkeley is like my numero Uno school. w00t! O yea ummmm I had like 5 questions. I didn't get 13.</p>
<p>If you haven't had the form for more than 10 days, then it's likely that berkeley's just waiting for the deadline to pass, since there's no clear submit. It just says to submit as many times as is necessary to complete the form, right? I think that's the only way that makes sense for them to collect completed forms.</p>
<p>Ya i got the 5 "special talent" questionnaire as well. So infamy and m1st3rmarbl3s, what are your special talents? And are we competing with only the students with special talents?</p>
<p>Okay, I'm just going to flat out ask.
My nine question supplemental form pertains to learning disabilities, mental impairments, and physical disabilities.
My case is confusing. Since I doubt many of you gifted kids have learning disabilities, I don't think I can expect to find another one out there with the same questionnaire. However, any speculations on whether this learning disability AR implies the same 'borderline' status that these others do?
It feels as if it's a kind gesture more than anything.
And it's driving me insane just thinking about it.</p>
<p>actually, many gifted kids have learning disabilities....</p>
<p>my "special talent" is playing piano..i really brought up my piano in my awards list and my personal statement..</p>
<p>just to see if there are any differences with the questionnaires, this is the first question in mine..and i wanted to know if it was the same with other people's: Describe the special talent you inclded among your list of extracirricular activities as mentioned in your personal statement on the UC application.</p>
<p>all the questions are not really academic related, so i'm pretty sure berkeley wants to know more about how good at piano i actually am compared to their other applicants.</p>
<p>so is this AR thing a good sign or a bad sign?</p>