Dear Parents, Must See Video on Inside the Admission Room at UC Berkeley!

Parents Forum
1

<p>frontline:</a> secrets of the sat: inside an admissions screening session</p>

<p>This video is of an undergraduate admissions screening session at the University of California, Berkeley with top readers. Each application gets at least two reviews in the reviewing process before the final decision.</p>

<p>This session which FRONTLINE videotaped is slightly edited and focuses on how the readers assess the academic and personal strengths of each candidate. </p>

<p>You'll need RealPlayer G2 to view this clip.</p>

2

<p>I am sure that some of the parents must feel anxious at this time of the year, as they await the life-altering "verdict" in the form of admission decision for their sons and daughters. Watch through some of the decision making processes at UC Berkeley and try to get a feel for how these professionals arrive at their respective decisions. Enjoy.</p>

3

<p>Thanks for posting this. It was very interesting.</p>

4

<p>Really interesting. Thanks. I correctly called the four apps, driving home for me the importance of that essay. Amazing how much of a difference it makes.</p>

5

<p>Another striking thing was the extent to which the discussion centered on how well particular students did in the context of their family situations, schools, and course rigor. CC students should be required to watch this before being allowed to post a chances thread.</p>

6

<p>I was struck by how few AP courses there were. But that was nine years ago, and things have probably changed.</p>

<p>My son watched it with me, and it was interesting to hear him weigh SAT scores, strength of courseload, grades, etc.</p>

7

<p>This is from a really old Frontline program.</p>

8

<p>Sorry, but I disagree about this being a must see, unless one is interested in seeing an illustration of a dysfunctional system in search of an identity. </p>

<p>While it offers a glimpse at a process that leads to much speculation, there are few lessons to learn from the Berkeley video. In addition to showing its age, in this case, the admission process and the files selected hardly represent the universe of admissions at selective colleges. </p>

<p>The video of the admission process ONLY illustrates what's happening within California and shows a very peculiar system that is neither an example to follow nor a valid sample.</p>

9

<p>^ Care to clarify why you think it's "a dysfunctional system is search of an identity"?</p>

<p>Please explain how you think this admissions process is any different from other elite colleges. I remember seeing an Amherst admissions video, also from PBS, and don't see much difference.</p>

10

<p>UCB, if the mission of a state public educational system is to educate its entire constituency, one expectation is that the "system" should exercise a minimal effort to follow its own demographics. </p>

<p>Very few schools or school systems can mimic the failure of the University of California in this regard. And, for what it is worth, the example of Amherst could not be more poorly chosen, as the liberal art college's admission process and student body might very well be at the antipode of Berkeley's. Since the main job of an admission committee is to select the insitution's future classes, there are no parallels between Berkeley's and Amherst's direction and philosophies.</p>

11

<p>I echo menloparkmom, this is very old video. So outdated, it's not even funny.</p>