<p>I remember reading somewhere on Berkeley's site that Regents' scholars do get first pick in dorms.</p>
<p>Untrue. Dorms are based on lottery system.
But yeah, unless you are dirt poor and can't afford Cal at all, Regents is pretty much useless. Once you get here, no one cares you are Regents. Actually, most people don't even know what a Regents scholar is.
If you can afford Cal, the amount of money they give you is real small, and no one lives in the dorms more than 2 years anyways, so Regents is not something special. If you don't get it, don't worry about it.</p>
<p>Not sure where I read it, but it was somewhere on Cal's site.</p>
<p>On another note, here's the page listing the benefits of RC.</p>
<p>RC</a> Scholars' Association</p>
<p>Funnily enough, a lot of the benefits that RCSA offers are the same things that "coddle" Stanford students, etc.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Which UC's are those?</p>
<p>
[quote=<a href="http://students.berkeley.edu/fao/Scholarships/RCSscholars.html">http://students.berkeley.edu/fao/Scholarships/RCSscholars.html</a>]
Scholarship Benefits
1. Prestige
2. Monetary Award
3. Guaranteed Housing
4. Faculty Sponsor
5. Scholars' Association
6. Financial Aid Advising
[/quote]
</p>
<ol>
<li><p>This has been alluded to before -- right</a> here, in fact.</p></li>
<li><p>Honorary Scholarship of $1000 for students without need, and full scholarship (ie, free money) award for remaining financial need. Note need. This is not a "full-ride scholarship," it merely removes the necessity to acquire outside scholarships, loans, and work-study for those who would otherwise have the burden of EFC + the rest of the cost of attendance. You are still responsible for your Expected Family Contribution as determined by the FAFSA and Cal's Financial Aid Office.</p></li>
<li><p>You get 8 semesters guaranteed housing (or 4, if you're a Transfer Scholar), rather than the 2 other Berkeley admits get. It says nothing about preferences being granted at any greater rate, BUT having a "guarantee" to have housing offered puts you in a great place in the lottery.</p></li>
<li><p>This is a great one, though it seems weird at first. At a big, impersonal university like UC Berkeley, having a professor with whom you can work on your long-term academic goals from the very beginning is an amazing opportunity. You're still going to have to work to get to know professors in your field, but this is a nice perq and makes things just a little less stressful in that part of life at Berkeley.</p></li>
<li><p>The Scholars' Association is part of the networking that makes being an R&C Scholar so great AFTER college. It also gives you one more group in which you have a common thread which, again because of Berkeley's size, is great.</p></li>
<li><p>This one really looks like a tack-on so their tables would be even. >_> But, if you need an EFC loan or some such, they can help you negotiate with the financial aid office. After all, if your need is 100% met with grant/scholarship, as Scholars' need is, you'd want to be sure you were getting the most from it.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Oh, and the past two semesters (hopefuly it'll continue) there's been a sale for Regents' scholars at the bookstore where we get 10% off books and 20% off everything else. Other groups like Cal Band and RallyComm get similar sales but it's still really cool.</p>
<p>Regents is totally worth it. I come from a lower middle class family and the scholarship covers almost 70% of the costs.</p>
<p>At UCLA, Regent's do get priority enrollment, however, so does nearly a third of the campus...seriously.</p>
<p>quirkily: Actually, UC Santa Cruz also requires an additional essay for Regents.</p>
<p>And not all UCs notify at the same time. I got it at Santa Cruz and Davis last year, and I found out that I was a finalist at Santa Cruz in mid-February, and I didn't find out about Davis until after the initial offer of admission (mid-March).</p>
<p>
[quote]
Which UC's are those?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I'm aware of UCLA giving priority enrollment (as mentioned earlier) but that's about as far as my knowledge goes; check the scholarship pages at the various UC websites; they should have that information somewhere on there.</p>
<p>
[quote]
But yeah, unless you are dirt poor and can't afford Cal at all, Regents is pretty much useless.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I wouldn't say that; if you're OOS or International, Cal can end up costing a lot, and Regents is v. useful in that regard (admittedly, the vast majority of Cal students are in-state, however there are a lot of OOS Scholars)</p>
<p>So by mid-February, they send you a letter?</p>
<p>The first notification will be an e-mail and then you get a letter. Given the past trends, it will likely happen in mid-feb but who knows. It could be different this year.</p>
<p>What is the required UC score to get the notification?</p>
<p>Unfortunately, it's not that simple. My understanding is that they go through and read all the applications entirely and offer interviews based on a whollistic reading of each application. I heard it described once as they pick everyone for interviews who they would not think twice about accepting. Hope that helps!</p>
<p>Holistic, even. =p</p>