So I know that UCs never accepted any letters of recommendation, and I’ve even researched online to make sure. However, my AP lit teacher, who’s pretty well-versed in college apps told seniors that UC Berkeley will start accepting letters of rec. Is this true???
Yes, this is true.
From the website:
In April 2015, UC Berkeley adopted a new freshman admission policy. Starting in fall 2015, some applicants to UC Berkeley will be invited to submit two letters of recommendation. This will be optional and not required.
The info is here: http://admissions.berkeley.edu/freshmanpolicy
Note that only some will be “invited” to submit letters. So you may want to have people ready and willing to write a letter, but let them know you may not need it. Requests will be made in Nov. and letters due Jan 1.
It interesting what criteria will be used for those invitations. Will it be send the borderline or to the top applicants?
I don’t know, but my guess would be borderline. It would give them one more piece of the puzzle if someone isn’t a definite “yes” or “no”.