<p>i have no significant input on the matter. all i can say is, i hope to god the OP fibbed about his stats/ECs because if he’s writing an appeal and an admissions counselor from berkeley comes on here…</p>
<p>AZn is exactly correct.</p>
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<p>do the UCs even look at your SAT scores? with ucla and uc berkeley it seems they have a cutoff of around 1800 or 1900 and they’ll accept you as long as you have a really high gpa. trust me, i’ve seen it a gazillion times. i’ve never really observed any incidents where a low gpa + low sat score got in though as the OP has stated.</p>
<p>[Regents</a> Discuss Changing UC Admissions Policy in Light of ‘Toxic’ Racial Climate - The Daily Californian](<a href=“http://www.dailycal.org/article/108782/regents_discuss_changing_uc_admissions_policy_in_l]Regents”>http://www.dailycal.org/article/108782/regents_discuss_changing_uc_admissions_policy_in_l)</p>
<p>@Roboticsre4k: The rank one at my school had about a 4.8 uc gpa and pretty good sat scores(2000+) but he got rejcted from Cal.</p>
<p>I don’t know if this matters, but I found that a significant portion of people who got into UCLA tended to struggle in terms of getting into Berkeley (Spring Admit [like me] or Rejection).</p>
<p>Conversely, a lot of those who got rejected from UCLA got into Berkeley. Even people with 3.6 weighted GPA’s got in. And I had a 4.3 weighted.</p>
<p>I want to question it, and I do admit I’m kind of cheesed off that someone with a 3.6 weighted could get Fall Admit while I’m a Spring Admit, but there’s nothing I can really do. So life goes on. </p>
<p>I hope everything works out for you, Ashwin.</p>
<p>I got rejected from Berkeley with a 3.9 UW/4.2 W, a 2220 SAT, and decent EC’s.</p>
<p>Someone form my school got into Berkeley with bareley a 4.0W and less than 1500 on the SAT’s (not an exaggeration)</p>
<p>I too am wondering what in the heck is going on in California…we are out of state—
Son applied to UCB last fall but has long since realized that for various reasons it was not a match for him. ($ and personality) UCB was completely off his radar to the point that I had to ask him a few times to check his admissions decision. So, he was not phased in the least to see that he was rejected. </p>
<p>I, however, was quite surprised. In fact, I am bothered by how much that rejection is bothering me! Son’s info:
Valedictorian (274 students in class) at a highly ranked public school in our state
SAT/ACT scores both well into top 1/4 of UCB’s stats–(so 75% of admits have lower scores)
GPA: 4.0UW/4.34 UC
10 AP/Honors courses (he didn’t take AP art history)
4 years soccer (2 as team captain)
ASB Rep
multiple other small ec’s with a couple of leadership positions
Major EC was his job: 2+ years (will be 3 by the time he graduates) in very demanding (although part time 13-20hours/week) technical position for national company with substantial management reponsibilities and the title to match/substantiate his position;honestly many adults in our area would love this job; he wrote a modest essay about all the life lessons he’s learned (many from his screw-ups) on the job and got a killer recommendation from his boss who is nationally known at her company and in her field
Also got excellent recs from two teachers </p>
<p>Anyway, he was also rejected by Stanford which was somewhat expected, and he did care about getting accepted there, but I am MUCH more bothered by his rejection at UCB for some reason.</p>
<p>Are in state kids with similar qualifications getting rejected, too? </p>
<p>Was he rejected because he wasn’t academically qualified? Because he is from out of state? Because the whole process is totally random? </p>
<p>I understand that the criteria for OOS kids is/should be different, so if that is the reason he didn’t get admited, I am fine with that. But are similarly qualified kids in CA getting rejected? If so, something is fishy in Denmark, unless every admitted student is more qualified/prepared than the rejectees. College admission at a publically funded university should not be a crapshoot. Decisions should be somewhat predictable and the process should be transparent</p>
<p>Yikes! This is a totally different ball game than when I went to school (25 years ago). Pretty much anyone who wanted to write the check (which you could earn nearly enough money to cover by working in the summer) at the top public university in my state could attend. I think my application involved name/address/transcripts and a deposit…definitely was no essay involved</p>
<p>hrmm… i have a 4.5 uc gpa and 2040 sats and got spring admit and rejected from ucla. I think OOS students have a better chance this year as opposed to previous years because of the state budget cuts; the state needs money which they can get from students from oos</p>
<p>that’s what we thought too…
I should have added he applied as an engineering major. Maybe he wasn’t comptetive in that major?</p>
<p>It is a bummer that someone with considerably lower academic achievements can beat out someone with better credentials when applying to the same institution of academia. Not to undermine the importance of serving the community, but most students at my high school did hours of community service, club activities, and other extraneous activities for the sake of padding their college applications. Sometimes I feel that colleges look for the students who market themselves the best vs. the students who would most benefit from attending the school.</p>
<p>@0123456789: I’ve known very strong students get Spring offers and I see no correlation between Fall/Spring admission and success at Cal. Once you’re here there’s a good chance you’ll outshine those who got in by the skin of their necks, Spring admit or not. Perhaps the reason why Spring admission exists is so that they can post a lower Fall acceptance rate, but at any rate I agree that it’s still not as welcoming of a gesture that it could be.</p>
<p>i cant help but think major does play a difference when applying. Like i said about my previous post, the rank 1 at our school got rejected and he applied for engineering</p>
<p>I think everyone should look at this thread</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-berkeley/889678-official-uc-berkeley-decision-class-2014-a-2.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-berkeley/889678-official-uc-berkeley-decision-class-2014-a-2.html</a></p>
<p>The SAT scores look fine to me :/</p>
<p>I’ll admit that some scores did take me by surprise but you never know what the admissions people are looking for in a person ;)</p>
<p>I’m from New Jersey, but I’ve been accepted at UCSD. Is it really that easy to get in to?</p>
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<p>Agreed. I find it bothersome your son wasn’t taken also. Please remember that bothersome rejections at the UCs are generally a product of a) the fact out of state is certainly harder, b) GPA (which can be inflated) being valued over more solid academic measures, c) unfortunately, I’m finding nowadays the social engineering has crept in. </p>
<p>The factor c) can be much better understood if it’s a private university, but it is very bothersome to see it at all here.</p>
<p>Let’s not forget about the variable, the essays.</p>
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Don’t be bothered by this thread. UCSD is a decent school and there are plenty of schools easier to be admitted into. The bitter OP just took a potshot at a random university lower ranked than Berkeley.</p>
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<p>Unfortunately, that is often included under “social engineering.”</p>
<p>I think essays are a great thing in an application if used for the right things. In particular, they should be clear, straightforward questions about how someone will take advantage of the chance to go to a school. A mature sense of this is invaluable. While enthusiasm can be faked in writing, maturity and a sense of knowing actually cannot to the skilled reader. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, needless to say essays can seek to measure things in a misguided effort.</p>
<p>I don’t think essays are much of a problem for me…if it was, then I wouldn’t have even gotten admission to UCLA…I used to same essays for other privates, so I wouldn’t have gotten into UChicago or a waitlist at Caltech.</p>