<p>I've always heard about Berkley's "prestige" and what not but I know alot of kids accepted this year who are frankly, less than what one would expect a student at Berkley to be. I'm serious, some real bozo idiots got in. And its not the lazy but intelligent people, its the hardworking but dumb people and the not-so-hardworking and dumb people. What is going on with you guys?</p>
<p>well, how do you define intelligence? You can't just say someone is an "idiot" because they aren't great in math, lit, etc. For example, I think your lack of understanding makes you idiotic in this subject.</p>
<p>Maybe it would help if you describe them more, like GPA, SATs, etc.</p>
<p>You sound way more like a rationalist than an existentialist. Does it matter that much to you? Does it define your existence?</p>
<p>I dunno, maybe they are athletes or URM, or they have some special background circumstance.</p>
<p>I can agree a bit with the sentiment. Some kids at my high school, who had much lower gpa, much lower sat's, and much lower ap's, were admitted to Princeton, MIT, and Harvard, while I got the rejection. Without exception, Athletes and URM's. Berkeley's probably the same for some other ppl.</p>
<p>Cal also has economic diversity admits who have slightly lower, but still impressive, stats. Just like you might be successful at Harvard, but might not be able to get in- the admissions people at Cal feel like those students will be successful at their school. It's about building a class that is representative in some small way of the state's population.</p>
<p>Yeah, it's true of some students here. <em>shrug</em> I think it does happen elsewhere, although perhaps a bit more at Berkeley than you'd expect- my friends at Penn and UCLA, for instance, say the same thing.</p>
<p>folks, take a look at some of the OP's other posts.</p>
<p>I actually did just take a look at the previous poster's other posts. Nice rec.
his/her stats:
new sat: 2110 (97th percentile), 3.7 gpa, and mexican-american, and a 4,4, and 3 on AP's. </p>
<p>If you had gotten into Cal (or maybe you did?..), you would have been a shining example of the same people you laugh at who did get in. Or at least a large portion of students at UC Berkeley would be saying the same about you. No offense.</p>
<p>And if you're interested, my stats:
old SAT: 1560 (99.7 percentile) -this was also my first time without a class before this becomes an issue.
Sat IIs: all mid 700s.
hs gpa: 4.3
ap's: 5 on all 6 ap's i took.
Oh, and not URM, which is a very large factor in berkeley admissions.</p>
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</p>
<p>Son, USC has about as much prestige as the abercrombie tee I use to wipe my ass after the hard ****s.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I dunno, maybe they are athletes or URM, or they have some special background circumstance.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>URM doesn't matter since Berkeley doesn't use AA. Although, if you come from a "disadvantaged background" they might let you in with subpar stats.</p>
<p>Supposedly Cal doesn't use AA, but people can put stuff in the personal statement to reveal that they are URM. (Common practice, even for grad school applications.) Plus sometimes surnames can also reveal that you are URM.</p>
<p>Maybe, but by law (some Proposition, I forgot which one), the University of California cannot use race to discriminate in any way. If they are giving preferences to URMs, they are doing so illegally. If you look at the stats (Asian 40%, White 50%, URMs 10%), I don't believe that they are considering race (otherwise there would probably be more than 1% African-Americans).</p>
<p>lol my doctor (who went to cal for undergrad) told me if I wanted to go to a good school, I should've changed my name to Runnywater, Crazyhose, or Tomohawk</p>
<p>XD</p>
<p>@lostincode
I guess that's true for a lot of good schools (pretty much all the ivies + Stanford + MIT), since all of those do practice AA. Say that you're NA to them and they'll admit you even if you SAT score is 300 points below the mean and you have a 3.0 GPA.</p>
<p>"by law" yes, but by practice? who knows. I don't work for admissions, so I don't know either, but word is, if you are URM put it in your personal statement or have a distinct surname.</p>
<p>prior to the abolishment of AA, there was a similar demographic composition of the Cal undergrad.</p>
<p>Kobe1feder1: I was admitted to Berkeley this year, and I'm both hardworking and intelligent, so I don't know which students you are referring to.</p>