How do out-of-state kids do in the application process?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Berkeley
1

<p>Compared to in-state applicants, is it more or less competitive for an out-of-state to gain admission to Berkeley? </p>

<p>I've heard that public universities set quotas on the number of out-of-state kids that can get in, but I've also heard they rely on out-of-state applicants for money, so it is relatively easier.</p>

2

<p>OOS kids have a much harder criteria than in-state kids, but it’s gotten easier since the budget crisis. Still not as easy as in-staters have it, though. I hope that makes sense.</p>

3

<p>You will see here that for last Fall’s entering class, Berkeley accepted 39.4% of OOS applicants, but only 24% of instate:</p>

<p><a href=“http://students.berkeley.edu/admissions/freshmen.asp[/url]”>http://students.berkeley.edu/admissions/freshmen.asp&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>This is a big change from the past, but due to the budget crisis, the extra $22,878 that OOS pay must be very appealing to the school.</p>

<p>However, I think the word has gotten out about this 39.4% acceptance rate for OOS last year, as I believe I read that OOS applications were up 50% this year.</p>

4

<p>I don’t think the percentage really matters. Generally, OOS applicants have much higher stats than most in-state applicants. But I do believe that OOS applicants are held to a higher standard when the admission officers review their applications.</p>

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<p>Do they have OOS admit stats published anywhere?</p>

6

<p>Not that I have seen, just number of OOS applicants and number accepted.</p>

<p>The number of OOS students attending Berkeley has increased signficantly in the past few years - from 1,615 in Fall 2009 to 2,374 in the Fall of 2011 (see page 16 in both reports):</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.ucop.edu/ucophome/uwnews/stat/statsum/fall2009/statsumm2009.pdf[/url]”>http://www.ucop.edu/ucophome/uwnews/stat/statsum/fall2009/statsumm2009.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://www.ucop.edu/ucophome/uwnews/stat/statsum/fall2011/statsumm2011.pdf[/url]”>http://www.ucop.edu/ucophome/uwnews/stat/statsum/fall2011/statsumm2011.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Also, the number of OOS admitted students has also increased signficantly, from 1,000 in 2009 to 2,900 in 2011:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.ucop.edu/news/factsheets/2011/fall_2011_admissions_table_2.pdf[/url]”>http://www.ucop.edu/news/factsheets/2011/fall_2011_admissions_table_2.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Also, found this mention that may be of interest:</p>

<p>[For Fall 2011] UC Berkeley accepted the highest percentage of out-of-state and international freshmen at 31.2%, up from just 13.6% two years ago. </p>

<p>From this article:</p>

<p><a href=“HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. and World News | HuffPost”>HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. and World News | HuffPost;

7

<p>Thank you! Do you think they will continue the trend?</p>

8

<p>Also, if you use statfinder, it shows that for the Fall of 2009, just 14.2% of OOS applicants were accepted at Berkeley (compared to 39.4% for the Fall of 2011):</p>

<p>[University</a> of California: StatFinder](<a href=“http://statfinder.ucop.edu/statfinder/drawtable.aspx?track=1]University”>http://statfinder.ucop.edu/statfinder/drawtable.aspx?track=1)</p>

9

<p>With 50% increase in OOS applicants, 39.4% will be more like 25% if the admit numbers stay the same. That is not very high.</p>

10

<p>Agreed, may be closer to 25% OOS acceptance rate this year, then.</p>

<p>But 25% is still a lot higher than where Berkeley used to be for OOS applicants.</p>

<p>Said another way - 25% is still a lot higher than the 14.2% from two years ago.</p>

<p>(How’s that for putting an optimistic spin on things?)</p>

11

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<p>Not true, and never has been. Once you carve out the UC tips for low income applicants – who generally have lower test scores – the numbers for wealthy OOS and instate are similar and have been for a long time. I would guess however, based on a few anecdotes posted on cc, that it has recently gotten even easier for OOS’ers, now that UC is chasing those wealthy students.</p>

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<p>While it is true that OOS’ers have to meet a higher minimum requirement than instaters, few from OOS even apply with a 3.1 gpa.</p>

12

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<p>That’s interesting to hear, do you have a source for this?</p>

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<p>bluebayou - Do you have to say “wealthy” with OOS? We just like California., lovely weather, relaxed people:)</p>

14

<p>So I have a question. Do UCLA and Cal accept the same calibre of students? I am a prospective '16er and applied for Mechanical Engineering at both UCLA and Cal. I received a likely letter from the former and was wondering about my decision at the latter.</p>

<p>Would you say that an OOS student’s full pay ability is a big factor in the decision process?</p>

<p>Any other general opinions on the topic of this thread? I am interested in seeing how this plays out.</p>

15

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<p>Do the math. Use UC Statfinder. Compare apples to apples.</p>

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<p>It is a factor, albeit probably not “big.” And the Colleges of Engineering are extremely competitive, much moreso than Letters & Sciences, even for instaters.</p>

<p>The campus decisions are independent.</p>

16

<p>[University</a> of California: StatFinder](<a href=“http://statfinder.ucop.edu%5DUniversity”>http://statfinder.ucop.edu) can show freshman admissions statistics for either California residents only or all. You can check characteristics like GPA, test scores, etc. to see if the “all” category is different enough from the “California residents only” category that OOS applicants are significantly different in those characteristics.</p>

<p>It can also be used to compare different campuses.</p>

<p>Unfortunately, they have not updated it since 2009.</p>