<p>I’m honestly surprised that so many people are saying Berkeley is ‘easy’ to get into. I have always thought of it as a very prestigious school.</p>
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<p>There are plenty of such cases getting into Ivy League schools and other private schools. They incite many of the flame wars on CC. Truth is that if you want a good chance at any very good school, you should have high stats. It is possible to get in without them, as admissions does make exceptions for various reasons, some good and some bad. </p>
<p>You may have seen more ‘low stats’ acceptances at Berkeley because, as someone stated, this is a big school, and it also caters largely to California students, meaning it is more forgiving of worse students from California than, say, an Ivy League may be. Additionally, public school admissions is numbers-centered as compared to private school admissions (at least generally), and as a result, the strength of high school of origin for a student can be neglected (e.g. a high GPA is almost always better, whether the high school was insanely competitive and strong or kind of mediocre to not so great).</p>
<p>Cal is on par with every Ivy as far as difficulty in being admitted. So ‘easy’ is a relevant term. That being said, if you have special circumstances and/or provide some unique ability and/or can add to the ‘diversity’ that Berkeley likes so much. Cal has tons of students with a 4.0+ GPA and perfect SAT’s…you will have a better shot if you stand out with community service or talent.</p>
<p>The people that believe that Berkeley is on par with the Ivies “as far as difficulty in being admitted” are delusional. </p>
<p>Getting into Berkeley, especially for in state, is far far easier in terms of academics and extracurriculars, especially if you went to an easy high school, because Berkeley weights GPA heavily in its admissions process.</p>
<p>Hahahaha…not delusional, just not buying into the hype of “The Ivies” as being mythical, superior and worth the extra $25k a year their branding costs…Cal is one of the top universities in the world and can compete head-to-head with Harvard or Yale and any of the ‘others’ in that ‘special’ club. That includes difficulty getting in and success upon graduation.</p>
<p>“Basically, if you have good grades and a good SAT score, you’re in.”</p>
<p>Not so.</p>
<p>Twenty years ago this was more or less true. I know for a fact this has not been the case since Berkeley’s admissions went “holistic.”
In the last five years, at least, Berkeley has turned down students with stellar stats. It has also admitted some who do not have such.</p>
<p>In fact, the idiosyncratic way the admissions have been parceled resembles the private most selective universities more and more. I say this with sadness at the loss of rational criteria and the increased subjectivity we’ve seen with students whose profiles we know.</p>
<p>And also sadly, UCSD has decided to go the same way next year.
Students with atypical merits can be happy about this, but beware of what you wish for. It really turns out to mean that great students are not admitted.</p>
<p>There are a lot more people who get into Berkeley but are rejected by the Ivies than those who get into Ivies and are rejected by Berkeley.</p>
<p>The vast majority of kids that are accepted to Berkeley and an Ivy League school chose the Ivy. This has been proven year after year by cross yield rate statistics.</p>
<p>205mom I remember reading/watching a video by Berkeley administrative people who talked about admissions. They mentioned that 50% of the undergrad class is admitted just on academics alone (GPA/SAT, not like IMO medals or anything). The other 50% is holistic.</p>
<p>The process is now similar to private Universities: two readers, if they are at odds- then a third (and sometimes a fourth-) and essays have taken a front seat to the stats.</p>
<p>In other words: how the application “feels” plays a larger role than the old (point) system.</p>
<p>DS got into all the UCs he’d applied to including UCB. But some of his VERY TALENTED friends, fantastic SAT & GPA, did not make it to UCB.</p>
<p>i think caiacs has it right. i should know since i went to one of these ridiculously easy schools and was valedictorian and grossly underestimated berkeley’s difficulty (again, in my opinion). while i did take every AP course that was offered, it was no where near the number of classes some schools offer their students. i even concurrently took my HS classes at a CC all while juggling a 500 hour clinical internship, but i definitely was overwhelmed my first two years at berkeley. it may be easy to get in when you are in a situation like i was, but its a whole other beast when you are sitting in a class like bio 1a (or even physics 8 which some consider “easy”) and haven’t taken a single ap bio or decent physics course and have to to compete with the same kids who earned 5’s due to their blue ribbon schools and teaching quality.</p>
<p>^^^Very good point. My son mentioned to me right at the beginning that he felt very well prepared for his classes at Cal due to all the AP courses he took (13). He definitely noticed the difference in his study groups and discussions between those who came to Cal well prepared and those who did not have the same options. The classes were much tougher for those who did not have access to all the AP classes (or similar level) that he did.</p>
<p>If you are competitive for Ivy League, then it isn’t bad for berk admissions. When I tell people I am going to Penn, they are more in awe than when I tell them I go to Cal</p>
<p>Grades and SAT are critical for cal admissions. My school is a Cal feeder; we send 40ish to berk every year. So anyone with a high gpa is accepted.</p>
<p>No offense to anyone but the undergrad student body at Berkeley just isn’t that strong overall. Sure there are a handful of godly smart people (who came here for money reasons, etc), but overall I’m having a much easier time than I did in high school, despite taking CS classes and upper div math classes.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/11909433-post1.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/11909433-post1.html</a></p>
<p>aside from replacing there’s with there’re, why are you under the continuous impression that cal undergrads are unintelligent? also, are you really comparing the academic rigor of your high school to that of your “upper div” math classes?</p>
<p>I’m under the continuous impression that Berkeley undergrads are not intelligent because of personal experience. </p>
<p>Yes, I am comparing the academic rigor of my high school to that of my upper div math classes, granted I’ve only experienced 104. What’s wrong with that?</p>
<p>cal students constitute a diverse “intellectual” student body
you have the smart students who were rejected by all other places, the students who choose berkeley over certain schools (ex: i’m choosing cal over yale/(maybe caltech) and a few of my friends are choosing cal over princeton/mit/caltech)
then you have the average student (people who are smart in high school, but nothing special), and then you have the “lucky” admit</p>
<p>obviously, there will be a huge difference in distribution of intelligence
yes, a lot of the students are struggling to succeed, but there are many who are easily strolling through the “hard” classes</p>
<p>and many upper division math classes are pretty much a joke (to get an A in) for anyone seriously interested in math</p>