<p>I've heard that they matter a ton and that they barely matter all. For example, Davis didn't even take essays into account for the past several years and "if you have the grades and scores for Berkeley you get in." Since the major UCs receive so many applications they need to outsource to 3rd parties, is it just luck of the draw if you get someone that likes essays or not? Could you get into Berkeley or LA with an absolutely atrocious personal statement if the third party your app got outsourced to doesn't take the essay seriously?</p>
<p>Cal and UCLA reject plenty of students “who have the scores…” The statement matters at those two colleges in particular.</p>
<p>UCLA is really nice because they provide us great statistics.
[Profile</a> of Admitted Freshmen, Fall 2012 - UCLA Undergraduate Admissions](<a href=“http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/prospect/adm_fr/Frosh_Prof13.htm]Profile”>http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/prospect/adm_fr/Frosh_Prof13.htm)
Only slightly more an 1/3rd of applicants with 4.0 and higher GPAs are accepted. Once you get to top 25-30 nation uni level, personal statement is incredibly important. Below that it is mostly just grades and test scores.</p>