***Official Berkeley Class of 2018 Discussions/Decisions***

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Berkeley
181

<p>Decision: Waitlisted</p>

<p>Stats:
[ *] College/Major Applied To: CoC (College of Chemistry)
[ *] SAT I (by section): -
[ *] SAT IIs: Chemistry 700 and Math Level 2 650 (not very good)
[ *] GPA, Weighted and Unweighted: Weighted 4.16, Unweighted 4.00
[ *] Rank: 1/506
[ *] ACT: 33
[ *] APs (including this year’s): English Lang 4, Physics B 4, Microeconomics 4, Calculus BC 3 (AB subscore of 4), Psych haven’t taken yet
[ *] IBs (including this year’s:
[ *] Senior Yr Courseload: Organic Chemistry and Organic Chemistry lab (dual-enrollment at local college), Jazz Band, Independent Music Study, Advanced Expository Writing, Symphony Band, AP Psychology
[ *] Other stats (Awards, etc.): Inaugural recipient of the Joyce Ivy Foundation Frank Minolli Science and Technology Award, 2012 Michigan Youth Arts Distinguished Scholar, Michigan Youth Arts Jazz Ensemble Honorable Mention, (Alto) Saxophone 1st chair section leader in every musical group</p>

<p>Subjective:
[ *] ECs listed on app: Musical Theater/Drama, Symphony Band, Jazz Band I, Science Olympiad, Ballet/Pointe/Tap Dance
[ *] Job/Work Experience: Run my own business, Jaz Organics (organic body care products, i.e. lip balm, lotion, etc.)
[ *] Essays (subject and responses): Main essay about my twin sister’s rare, degenerative neurological disease and how it led to my interest in Chemistry and how it drives me to help people like her one day; very well-written and unique. Community essay about acknowledging the negative aspects of my community and how I use them to show me how to live my life differently and defy the norm where I live; also very well-written and unique, I think.
[ *] Hook (TASP, RSI, Research, etc.): Attended Stanford University High School Summer College 2013 and got all A’s in Chemical Principles I & II; only senior in high school dual-enrolling in Organic Chemistry </p>

<p>Location/Person:
[ *] State or Country: Michigan
[ *] School Type, Average Stats of School (if available): Public
[ *] Ethnicity: White
[ *] Gender: Female
[ *] Income Bracket: >100,000
[ *] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Female in science
[ *] Strengths: Great GPA/ranking and mostly great test scores; lots of leadership in a diverse range of activities
[ *] Weaknesses: Slightly below avg. SAT II’s and AP scores; senior year course-load could have been misinterpreted because of dual-enrollment (might have thought not challenging enough; for example, I was also going to dual-enroll in Calculus III and IV, but my schedule would not allow for it)
[ *] Why you think you were wait listed: Some test scores weren’t quite good enough; see above</p>

<p>Other Factors:
General Comments: Accepted to U of I at Urbana-Champaign with James Scholar Honors and the University of Michigan with LSA Honors; waitlisted at UChicago and Berkeley; rejected to Columbia, Princeton, and Yale; finding out about Stanford today. Really, really hope I can get off the waitlist at Berkeley! Anyone know any more stats about the waitlist this year and/or chances to still get admitted? Also, does anyone know when people in years past have received notifications that they got off the waitlist (I know Berkeley officially says after May 1 but before June 1, but I’ve seen other threads from years past where a couple people found out in mid-April)?</p>

182

<p>@Rekozh: Same here… I have a 35 ACT, two 800 SAT II scores, and a 3.9 UW GPA. Meanwhile, I see some of my classmates with similar stats get accepted. What gives with the admissions officers, eh?</p>

183

<p>Decision: Accepted</p>

<p>Stats:[ul]
[<em>] College/Major Applied To: College of Letters and Sciences / Music
[</em>] SAT I (by section): 720 CR / 660 Math / 700 Writing (2080 cumulative)
[<em>] SAT IIs: N/A
[</em>] GPA, Weighted and Unweighted: 4.2857, 3.8810
[<em>] Rank: 8 of 480
[</em>] ACT: N/A
[<em>] APs (including this year’s): 2012: Euro (5) / 2013: US History (5), Calc (5), Lang. & Comp (5) / 2014: Taking 5 tests
[</em>] IBs (including this year’s: N/A
[<em>] Senior Yr Courseload: Marching Band, AP Macroecon, AP US Gov, Anat & Phys Honors, AP Stats, AP Lit. & Comp., AP Art History
[</em>] Other stats (Awards, etc.): AP Scholar with Honor, Drumline MVP, Water Polo awards, Swim Team awards, Jazz Band awards, All-Northern California & All-State Honor Bands</p>

<p>[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[<em>] ECs listed on app: Water Polo, Swim Team, Marching Band, Jazz Band, Drumline, Jazz Choir, Jazz Combo
[</em>] Job/Work Experience: Solo pianist at various regular gigs
[<em>] Essays (subject and responses): One essay was about unsteady family background, the other was about cliff-jumping over the years
[</em>] Hook (TASP, RSI, Research, etc.): ECs and AP scores, and I liked my essays too</p>

<p>[/ul]Location/Person:[ul]
[<em>] State or Country: California
[</em>] Classified in-state? Yeah
[<em>] School Type, Average Stats of School (if available): Public, largeish (2000-2500 students)
[</em>] Ethnicity: Caucasian
[<em>] Gender: Male
[</em>] Income Bracket: < 60,000
[<em>] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):
[</em>] Strengths: AP scores and ECs?
[<em>] Weaknesses: Unweighted GPA was hurt by a bad start to high school, SAT wasn’t spectacular and I only took it once
[</em>] Why you think you were accepted/wait listed/denied: Not an impacted major
[/ul]Other Factors:
General Comments
Rejected by Stanford, accepted to here and Davis. Staying local!</p>

184

<p>I got waitlisted :frowning: :frowning: :frowning: any advice? should i send in extra materials (e.g. essays, letters of recommendations) i really want to go to Berkeley! :frowning: :(</p>

185

<p>For My D, REJECTED.</p>

<p>Stats
: •College/Major Applied To: BIOENGINEERING
•SAT I (by section): 2290
•SAT IIs: Math 2 780, BIO 770
•GPA, Weighted and Unweighted: 4.3, 3.9
•Rank: 3% of 1500
•ACT: 35
•APs (including this year’s):
•IBs (including this year’s): Diploma with 10 Subjects equivalent to APs
•Other stats (Awards, etc.):National Merit Finalist.</p>

<p>Subjective:
•ECs listed on app: NHS, Arts club etc…
•Job/Work Experience: NONE
•Essays (subject and responses): Average
•Hook (TASP, RSI, Research, etc.): Nope.
Summers: EPGY Stanford, Physics and MATH, DUKE TIP Biology.</p>

<p>Location/Person: •State or Country: Texas
•Classified in-state?
•School Type, Average Stats of School (if available): Public
•Ethnicity: Asian
•Gender: Female
•Income Bracket: >200K
•Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): NONE</p>

<p>•Strengths:
•Weaknesses: Extra Curricular
•Why you think you were accepted/wait listed/denied: I think my stats qualify well. I don`t really know.
Other Factors:
General Comments: </p>

<p>Rejected: Duke, Cornell, MIT, Princeton, Stanford
Waitlisted: RICE, U of Chicago
Accepted: UT Austin, UT Dallas (Full Ride)</p>

186

<p>[ size=+2][ color=green][ b]Decision: Accepted[ /b][ /color][ /size] </p>

<p>[ b]Stats:[ /b][ list]
[ *] College/Major Applied To: College of Engineering for EECS (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science)
[ *] SAT I (by section): n/a
[ *] SAT IIs: Math 2 760, 700 Physics (After only 1 semester of my first physics class ever)
[ *] GPA, Weighted and Unweighted: 4.0 UW, 5.36 W
[ *] Rank: Top 1%
[ *] ACT: 33 composite
[ *] APs (including this year’s): 16 AP’s taken (including the 7 I am taking this year) 5’s on AP Calc AB, AP Psychology, AP US History, and AP Human Geography, 4’s/3’s on rest
[ *] IBs (including this year’s: n/a
[ *] Senior Yr Courseload: AP Physics B, AP Calculus BC, AP Macroeconomics, AP US Government, AP Spanish Language, AP Statistics, AP English Lit, and Web Programming Honors
[ *] Other stats (Awards, etc.): AP Scholar with Distinction, Harvard Book Award, JFK Profiles in Courage Essay Contest Finalist, Attendance Award(x3), Basketball Coaches’ Awards, Varsity Letter in Basketball (x2), Varsity, JV, and Freshman Athletic Awards, etc. </p>

<p>[ /list][ b]Subjective:[ /b][ list]
[ *] ECs listed on app: Basketball (all 4 years, captain for 2 years, varsity for 2 years), National Honor Society for 2 years (Vice-President), Spanish Honor Society for 2 years (Vice-President), Mu Alpha Theta all 4 years (President), Green Group all 4 years (Treasurer and President), Robotics Club for 2 years (Co-Founder), Engineering Club for 2 years (Co-Founder), Chess Club, Academic Team for all 4 years (Co-Captain), Key Club for all 4 years, Kids CAN Club for 2 years, Social Studies Honor Society for 1 year, and some others.
[ *] Job/Work Experience: N/A
[ *] Essays (subject and responses): Very personal (9 or 10/10 about challenging situation and how I handled it and about my background and my personality)
[ *] Hook (TASP, RSI, Research, etc.): None</p>

<p>[ /list][ b]Location/Person:[ /b][ list]
[ *] State or Country: FL
[ *] Classified in-state?
[ *] School Type, Average Stats of School (if available): Public
[ *] Ethnicity: White
[ *] Gender: Male
[ *] Income Bracket: Upper middle class
[ *] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None
[ *] Strengths: Academics, ECs, Essays, Out of state possibly? Innovated an iPhone application to help people find jobs, internships, and volunteering
[ *] Weaknesses: Out of state possibly? White male, didn’t cure cancer, didn’t create hedge fund, etc.
[ *] Why you think you were accepted/wait listed/denied: Probably a combination of competence and luck, especially the luck because college admission are such a crapshoot, especially at top schools like Berkeley.
[ /list][ b]Other Factors:[ /b]
[ b]General Comments[ /b] Congrats to everyone else accepted and good luck to all future applicants! Really grateful and excited to have this opportunity to study at Berkeley! :)</p>

187

<p>Decision: Accepted</p>

<p>Stats:
College/Major Applied To: College of Letters and Sciences, Undeclared
SAT I (by section): 590 CR / 500 Math / 620 Writing (1760 cumulative)
SAT IIs: Math 2 570, US History 760, world history 600
GPA, Weighted and Unweighted: 4.21, 3.8
Rank: 9 of 570
ACT: 29
APs (including this year’s): APUSH, AP Euro, APES, AP macroeconomics
IBs (including this year’s: full IB diploma
Senior Yr Courseload: IB math SL, IB history, IB lit, IB Chinese, Journalism II, IB Bio, IB TOK (first semester)
Other stats (Awards, etc.): AP Scholar with Honor, NSPA literary poem award of excellence, NSPA best of show newspaper 2nd and 4th place two consecutive years, national history day state finalist
Subjective:
ECs listed on app: editor-in-chief of award winning school newspaper, editor-in-chief of award-winning school literary magazine, part of signed band Sister Wife, co-public relations of Link Crew chapter, co-founder and president of club that tutors foreign students in English through Skype.
Job/Work Experience: n/a
Essays (subject and responses): not as strong as I wanted them to be, my common app essay was better. First essay, I talked about how I celebrate over 40 holidays. Second essay, I talked about how I have strong intuition.
Hook (TASP, RSI, Research, etc.): probably essays and background and being signed to a record label.
Location/Person: Riverside
State or Country: California
Classified in-state? Yep
School Type, Average Stats of School (if available): Public, big competitive IB school, about 2500 students
Ethnicity: Black
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: 100,000+ (my parents pulled out their retirement for us to survive, which makes it look like our income is big)
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM
Weaknesses: competitive classmates with better SATs and grades
Why you think you were accepted/wait listed/denied: I honestly have no idea, I’m really shocked. So many other people in my school didn’t get in and I thought they would and I wouldn’t!
Other Factors:
General Comments
Rejected by UCLA, waitlisted to UCSD, accepted to USC, UCSB, UCR and Boston University. Soooo excited to have some great choices!</p>

<p>Good luck to everyone!</p>

188

<p>Decision: Accepted </p>

<p>[ b]Stats:[ /b][ list]
[ *] College/Major Applied To: Pre-Business (Entrepreneurship)
[ *] SAT I (by section): 2030 total
[ *] SAT IIs: 540 (Spanish) 740 (U.S. History)
[ *] GPA, Weighted and Unweighted: 3.5/3.8
[ *] Rank: N/A
[ *] ACT: N/A
[ *] APs (including this year’s): AP Lit, AP Lang, AP Spanish, AP Gov, AP Econ, AP Statistics, AP US History, AP World History
[ *] IBs (including this year’s: Certificate in Business Management
[ *] Senior Yr Courseload: AP Stat, AP Span, AP Lit, Anatomy, Leadership
[ *] Other stats (Awards, etc.):</p>

<p>[ /list][ b]Subjective:[ /b][ list]
[ *] ECs listed on app: Founder of Shark Savers (club on campus to save sharks), Business Leader’s Society for 4 years, ASB, volunteering at a mental health clinic
[ *] Job/Work Experience: Cox Communications, Wells Fargo, Kumon, South Orange County Community College District
[ *] Essays (subject and responses): Not having a real family in a family-oriented utopia, my mother’s suicide, poverty
[ *] Hook (TASP, RSI, Research, etc.): Not sure what this is </p>

<p>[ /list][ b]Location/Person:[ /b][ list]
[ *] State or Country: CA
[ *] Classified in-state? Yes
[ *] School Type, Average Stats of School (if available): Good school, good school district
[ *] Ethnicity: Slavic
[ *] Gender: Female
[ *] Income Bracket: below 50,000
[ *] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): First gen, low income, deceased parent
[ *] Strengths: Did a TON of community college work throughout high school, am an intellectually rebellious person
[ *] Weaknesses: spread myself too thin, low GPA
[ *] Why you think you were accepted/wait listed/denied: My story is one of coming out of the flames, I’m genuinely passionate about changing the world. That’s the kind of people Berkeley wants.
[ /list][ b]Other Factors:[ /b]
[ b]General Comments[ /b] Also got into Cal Poly Slo, Rochester, Univ of San Fran (honors), Oregon (honors), UCSB (honors), University of Washington (honors), fordham, rejected from: Boston U, Boston C, Stanford, Columbia, Northeastern (well waitlist), USC, UCLA, UCSD </p>

<p>Good luck! :slight_smile: Be passionate, but remember than Berkeley is a wild-card, you can’t get your hopes up until you’re in! Go Bears! </p>

189

<p>Also I got the supplemental questionnaire and poured my heart into it! </p>

190

<p>Decision: Accepted</p>

<p>[ b]Stats:[ /b][ list]
[ *] College/Major Applied To: Environmental Design/Architecture
[ *] SAT I (by section): (2180) M(800) CR(700) WR(680)
[ *] SAT IIs: Math I (760) Math II (760) US Hist. (760)
[ *] GPA, Weighted: N/A Unweighted: 4.00
[ *] Rank: 1 (of 480)
[ *] ACT: 33 Composite
[ *] APs (including this year’s): World History, Calc AB, Spanish Lang, English Lit, Physics, US History, Calc BC, Environmental Science, English Lang, Psychology, Economics (Macro & Micro)
[ *] IBs (including this year’s: N/A
[ *] Senior Yr Courseload: AP Calc II, AP Environmental Science, AP English Lang, Law & Justice, AP Psychology, AP Economics
[ *] Other stats (Awards, etc.): Nat. Merit Commended Student, AP Scholar with Distinction, Scholar Athlete</p>

<p>[ /list][ b]Subjective:[ /b][ list]
[ *] ECs listed on app: NHS, Knowledge Bowl, Varsity Golf, Science-Math-Technology Magnet, etc
[ *] Job/Work Experience: 2 Jobs, one summer one current
[ *] Essays (subject and responses): Building things/Habitat for humanity
[ *] Hook (TASP, RSI, Research, etc.): I don’t know</p>

<p>[ /list][ b]Location/Person:[ /b][ list]
[ *] State or Country: Washington
[ *] Classified in-state? No
[ *] School Type, Average Stats of School (if available): Math-Science-Technology Magnet, Good School
[ *] Ethnicity: White/Hispanic
[ *] Gender: Male
[ *] Income Bracket: 100,000-125,000
[ *] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Hispanic
[ *] Strengths: Math, GPA, Standardized test scores, lots of ECs, AP classes
[ *] Weaknesses: writing, not being a very interesting person in general
[ *] Why you think you were accepted/wait listed/denied: Luck more than anything, less competitive major
[ b]General Comments[ /b] Also accepted to Washington State University, University of Washington
Rejected from: Stanford, Harvard, Princeton</p>

191

<p>*Please READ and APPLY next YEAR or YEARS After!;D
ALWAYS Believe in yourself :slight_smile: <3! Honestly, I did horrible junior year with 3 B’S first semester and 2 B’S second semester!:frowning: But, however I GOT IN! :smiley: :wink: :). So will you guys if you try! POUR your heart out and write honestly. Talk about your problems and how your overcame them. They will understand like they understood me.
*My dad is a 7-Eleven cashier and my mom is a housewife. I struggled and found myself by understanding and believing that I will have to help other disadvantaged students like me!

  • I couldn’t afford any help for getting my essays written nor for my SAT. It’s all individual work, so believe in yourself! Just believe in yourself!
    *AWESOME Supplement questionairre! Definitely write about EVERYTHING…And possibly you will get an acceptance!:slight_smile: ;D :smiley:
    NOTE:There are so many smart people this year who worked really hard and put their everything into their applications,but got denied. I know so many smart people from my school who didn’t make it,so admission decisions are pretty RANDOM! So, don’t be sad,but be HAPPY for what you guys all have and done so far!You all will do well in life and something good and great is going to happen that you are not aware of. I thought my life was never going to take a u-turn,but it did for GOOD! After, so much bullying and criticisms and hardwork, I’ve finally made it and will continue to work hard, and so will YOU!<3 :wink: :slight_smile: Love yourself and BELIEVE!;D</p>

<p>[ ][ ][ ]Decision: Accepted for Fall 2014 :slight_smile: :wink: ;D :smiley: <3[ ][ ][ ] </p>

<p>[ b]Stats:[ /b][ list]
[ ] College/Major Applied To: College of Letters and Sciences/ Public Health :slight_smile:
[ ] SAT I (by section): HORRIBLE. Scored 500’s and 600’s on first two,but this is super scored :D610 ( Reading), 620 (Math), (740 Writing)
[ ] SAT IIs:670 U.S. History
[ ] GPA, Weighted and Unweighted: 4.5 Weighted, 3.7 Unweighted
[ ] Rank: 29/900+ seniors
[ ] ACT:29 (Had 30’s in all sections besides science :stuck_out_tongue: )
[ ] APs (including this year’s): AP World History (4), AP U.S. History(5), AP Physics B , AP Language and Composition (4) , Honors Spanish 3, Honors Biology,
[ ] IBs (including this year’s:None
[ ] Senior Yr Course load:AP Biology, AP U.S. Gov., AP Macroeconomics, AP Calculus AB, AP Literature, Drawing
[ ] Other stats (Awards, etc.): Library Volunteer award, Tutoring Award, Hospital volunteer award, Questbridge College Prep Scholar
NOTE: Not a a lot of extracurriculars,so don’t criticize me! :wink:
[ /list][ b]Subjective:[ /b][ list]
[ *] ECs listed on app: VOLUNTEERING! ;D I did so many as 500+ hours in total. My volunteering experience included
*tutoring low-income, first generation students,
*volunteering at library for 3 years,
*being a summer reading buddy in which I taught young, low-income, bilingual children how to read,
*supervised a summer reading game,

  • volunteered at a hospital for the entire summer and still am volunteering for 200+ hours just there.
    *writing club for one year
    [ *] Job/Work Experience:NONE
    [ *] Essays (subject and responses):
    1st ESSAY: Talked about how my dad is a cashier who struggled to feed my family and how I didn’t take that as a weakness,but as my strength as I tried to improve myself everyday. I struggled to improve my English as I was bullied in school and how I wanted to be part of class discussions and learn,but I couldn’t. So, I overcame it by pushing myself.
    2nd ESSAY: I talked about tutoring low-income, first generation students like me and how I connected with one of my students because she seemed to reflect me when I was young. I wrote about how I helped her overcome bullying and improve herself in school.<br>
    [ *] Hook (TASP, RSI, Research, etc.): Unique essays discussing my true passion for pushing myself forward in life and about tutoring young,low-income students. Plus, I really connected with the reader by telling my essays in a story.
    *AWESOME Supplement where I wrote A LOT of paragraphs for each question. I really showed my interest in getting accepted and also about how I took care of my mom who had a surgery and how I aspire to go to medical school and help society,plus, I talked about how it was like to become more independent in my insanely large school :P</p>

<p>[ ][ b]Location/Person:[ ][ ] BAY AREA! Live a bart ride away from UC Berkeley,so I will definitely be commuting;D Saving money and making parents proud ;D <3
[ *] State or Country: Liberal California!
[ *] Classified in-state: I guess this is ELC? I am definitely qualified for ELC :wink:
[ *] School Type, Average Stats of School (if available): Large public school containing 4,000 students total as only school in the city :wink:
[ *] Ethnicity: Asian Indian American :wink:
[ *] Gender: Female <3
[ *] Income Bracket: <30K
[ *] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): First generation, low-income, extremely liberal personality showed up in my essays as I tended to criticize my bullies at school and along with how my teachers tended to give up on improving me and my English skills when I was in elementary school. Plus, I really spoke like an individual and a real person in my essay which really worked :D.
[ *] Strengths:Liberal, outgoing, honest, open about my views and talked through my essays like a normal person.Good G.P.A which wasn’t that great as (JUNIOR year had 3 B’S first semester and 2 B’S second semester). Used ENTIRE Additional information section about WHY my grades dropped and how my dad’s unemployment effected the atmosphere at home!
[ *] Weaknesses: SAT SCORES! (Happy that I overcame the 500’s and showed that I am not my SAT score) :D;) <3
[ *] Why you think you were accepted/wait listed/denied: Definitely my honesty and open-ess about my life and how I struggled as a low-income individual and how I’m extremely strong willed!:slight_smile:
[ /list][ b]Other Factors:[ /b]
[ b]General Comments[ /b]
BE YOURSELF. Don’t be shy and be open about your struggles :). Honestly, the admission officers do not know how much we struggled in our lives nor about our personalities until we tell them. So, tell them if you ever had any issues with a parent, why your grades dropped and how you are a good fit for UC Berkeley (hint: talk about how you changed and matured over the years, so now you are and will be perfect for college). If I could do it, then so can you!:D</p>

192

<p>My son got Rejected.
2350+ SAT (one sitting), SAT II (all 800s Math2, biology, us history, physics), 11 APs (all 5), GPA 4/4 (UW), 4.9/5.0 (W). rank 1/400+ in very competitive public school. 4 X AIME, multiple national semifinalists in different science subjects. Multiple gold medals in state science Olympiad since 9th grade, medals in national as well. Multiple college courses in top colleges (programming, economics, organic chem), two in summer and chem in regular semester. Full-pay out of state for UCBerk.
Captain for SO team and president for one funding raising club beside other non-leadership club/volunteering. </p>

<p>Accepted by Cornell, JHU, CMU, UMich, and a state university with full ride. Wait-list Princeton, Columbia, Upenn, Brown and a few others. Rejected by MIT, Caltech, Harvard, and Berkeley. I was told by many people that he was the type of student fit for MIT and Caltech, and Berkeley is his “safe” school because it is Asian friendly. Now we know “perception” or “reputation” can be very wrong.</p>

<p>I am happy if he goes to any of 4 schools he is admitted. However, just feel the admission decisions seem so random. Also want to tell all the kids who got rejected – don’t think too much about it. The admission officers are just making “holistic” random decisions. You will do well no matter where you go as long as you keep believing in yourself and working hard.</p>

193

<p>Thanks @RandomPrayer for shedding some light on the arbitrary nature of these admissions. Your last sentence is empowering :)</p>

194

<p>

</p>

<p>What division and major did he apply for? Based on the results poster here, the more popular majors (BioE and EECS) in the College of Engineering seem to be much more selective than the College of Letters and Science or other divisions.</p>

195

<p>Decision: Rejected</p>

<p>Stats:[ul]
[<em>] College/Major Applied To: Biology
[</em>] SAT I: 2250 (sorry, I don’t have access to the individual sections atm)
[<em>] IBs (including this year’s:
ITGS HL - 6
English Language and Literature HL - 6
Chemistry HL - 6
French SL - 7
Math SL - 6
Physics SL - 7
TOK - A
EE - B
Total Predicted: 41/45
[</em>] Senior Yr Courseload: see above </p>

<p>[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[<em>] ECs listed on app:
Competitive swimming, piano, lifeguarding and swim coaching (in addition to some other small volunteering experiences)
[</em>] Job/Work Experience:
Lifeguard and Swim Coach since 2011
[li] Essays (subject and responses): not worth mentioning, rushed them within 30min before the deadline</p>[/li]
<p>[/ul]Location/Person:[ul]
[<em>]Country: Canada
[</em>] School Type, Average Stats of School (if available): Public
[<em>] Ethnicity: Asian, Chinese
[</em>] Gender: Male
[<em>] Strengths: academics, if anything
[</em>] Weaknesses: essays were horrible, and possible a lack of involvement in school activities? not sure
[li] Why you think you were denied: see above[/li][/ul]</p>

<p>General Comments
To be honest, I thought I would definitely get in. Not from some self-confidence or personal experience, but from somebody else. The truth is, my mother is friends with a lady who runs an education center that specializes in facilitating and preparing Canadian students transitioning to the expectations and requirements of top-tier US universities, which primarily involves SAT prep. </p>

<p>Looking at my records and stats (the same ones I show above), she said that I would definitely, without a doubt, be accepted into Berkeley. Well, I wasn’t one to doubt her since I have no experience whatsoever in the field, and she has helped hundreds of students get into Ivy League schools and other top schools. </p>

<p>If anything, my essays were what caused me to be denied admission, because I know a friend who was admitted with a SAT I score of 1800 and an IB score of 34. </p>

<p>tl;dr somebody I trusted told me I would 100% get in, but I didn’t, and I think it’s because of my essay.</p>

<p>Hope this helped!</p>

196

<p>He applied for BioEng for all the schools as first choice. He got into BME in JHU, which is pretty selective. UMich, Cornell, and CMU all have as good undergratude eng programs as Cal.
He ranked pretty high in national Olympiads in sciences in multiple subjects since junior year, plus other BioEng research last summer. His school has mutiple students admitted into each top schools such as MIT, Upenn, Princeton, every year. He was announced as #1 by the school in local newspaper this year. And he was the only kid in his class made the national semi finals in each of these science subject Olympiads last year. Making semifinalist in multiple subjects are even more outstanding, I think. Plus he made AIME in 4 yrs now.
It is very difficulty to take AP classes in his school because of all kinds of restrictions. So having 11 AP in junior year is very rare in his school (he didn’t have any AP as freshman).
The point is, I don’t think selectiveness of the BioEng program is the reason for his rejection in Cal. I doubt Berkeley BioEng is more selective than Princeton Eng, or UPenn BioEng, or Columbia BioEng. It is pure “holistic” randomness. </p>

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<p>Bioengineering appears to be an extremely popular major among frosh at Berkeley. Selectivity depends on popularity versus capacity.</p>

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<p>Does anyone know if being incorrectly labelled as non-ELC would be a good reason to appeal my decision? I can explain more if needed (my situation is a bit complicated). I’m kind of depressed about my rejection as I have a 2280 SAT, 3.96 UW, 13 APs, decent ECs, etc, and applied to L&S (I know lots of high stats get rejected from Engineering, but haven’t seen that so much from L&S). I was hoping for at least a waitlist. Thanks for any help, and congrats to all of those who got in! </p>

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<p>@ucbalumnus, doubt UCB bioengineering is as popular as JHU BME, or as selective.
If you want to think UCB is so selective, the rejected kids are not “good enough” for Berkeley, no point to argue :-* </p>

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<p>See <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-berkeley/1632018-berkeley-frosh-class-of-2018-decision-summary.html”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-berkeley/1632018-berkeley-frosh-class-of-2018-decision-summary.html&lt;/a&gt; . Granted, the BioE sample is small, but shows 0 admits out of 3 very high stats applicants, a sharp contrast to the L&S list.</p>

<p>Of course, there is holistic uncertainty, but BioE is typically one of the most popular and selective majors.</p>