<p>At Cal, the value of the Regents Scholarship depends on your financial need. In a nutshell, it replaces any loans or work study in your financial aid package with grants. If you had virtually all loans, then yes, Regents would be close to a full ride. If you have no calculated financial need, however, Regents is reduced to an anemic $500 per semester.</p>
<p>Aha. Jason, I like your use of the word "anemic." :D</p>
<p>Regents does NOT depend solely on SATs/GPA. My classmate had a 1570 and a 4.5 GPA and didn't get an offer. Another friend with a 1440 (I don't know his GPA) is a Regents.</p>
<p>My SAT scores were far from perfect and though my unweighted GPA was 4.0, my high school offered few AP classes and I wasn't able to raise my weighted GPA into the "stellar" region. Good looks, charm, and a few subliminal messages embedded into my personal statement are the only explanation I have.</p>
<p>The strangest thing about my Regent's scholarship is that I was not informed of my candidacy until about a week before my admission to Berkeley. Furthermore, I was never invited to the hifalutin Regent's and Chancellor's meeting (which I'm sure took place in a secret cave, like hifalutin meetings do) and I was not given an opportunity to be interviewed. That said, I think the scholarship sorters missed their mark, didn't fill the quota, and randomly pointed at an application on the table. And I'm grateful for it.</p>
<p>The secret meeting was actually in a smoke-filled room deep in the bowels of I-House.</p>
<p>this rich kid from my skool got rejents w an ok SAT score (1800ish) but good GPA. so i dont get how they select.</p>
<p>Regents at Berkeley isn't awarded due to GPA and test scores actually. I heard it depends on your region firstly, and various other factors that can't be quantified, which explains why people with lower test scores get the Regents and people who score near perfect don't.</p>
<p>I've never heard the regional theory before. Based on the folks I've met I really haven't seen that wide of a regional representation. </p>
<p>However, what I can certainly verify is that extra-curricular activities are very important and not easily quantified. Pat Hayashi (formerly oversaw admissions for UC Berkeley) explains the process of selection as follows:
[quote]
A faculty committee selected the students on the basis of their grades, test scores, extracurricular activities, their personal statement, and an interview by a team of faculty.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Also, especially since the entire UC system has now abandoned the national merit program in order to focus even more on the Regents' and Chancellor's scholarship program, Berkeley has been trying to place less emphasis on test scores.</p>
<p>People claiming to know what Berkeley considers when choosing to offer Regents scholarships, unless they actually are part of the process, are not speaking from any form of authority. I can give my experience on the matter: people I know with stats as good as or better than mine did not receive offers, while I did, and vice versa at UCLA (they received offers and I did not). It would certainly be reasonable to assume that GPA, SAT scores, and other academic factors play a role, but to say something like "x% of students that score highest on a, b, and c get offers" would be extremely naive, <em>especially</em> if that information is coming from a student (because we simply don't know).</p>
<p>Sorry if I came off with more authority than I should, I'm just a current R&C Scholar. I was just getting a little frustrated with some of the posts I've been seeing on the subject in other threads as well. </p>
<p>I'm currently taking a seminar on university policies and have met Pat Hayashi and some other current and former admissions officers. Pat Hayashi mentions the R&C scholarship in the following article on "The Merit of National Merit" ( <a href="http://repositories.cdlib.org/cshe/CSHE-6-05/%5B/url%5D">http://repositories.cdlib.org/cshe/CSHE-6-05/</a> ), which is where I got my quote. </p>
<p>So congrats to those who are interviewing or have interviewed. </p>
<p>There is also the alumni scholarship to apply for (although the deadline was last month for incoming freshman), which you can apply to next year that assures many benefits as well.</p>
<p>When does one find out if they've received the Regents scholarship or not?</p>
<p>Are the regents decisions posted the same time as the admissions decisions?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Yes. On-line with your admissions decision. Good Luck!</p>
<p>This doesn't quite make sense to me.
Since some candidates elect to have their interviews on Cal Day, after decisions are posted, how do they take those interviews into account?</p>
<p>There are interviews on Cal Day?</p>
<p>Ah, never mind. There's an OHP day right before Cal Day, but I must have made up stuff about interviews being on that day.</p>
<p>
[quote]
When does one find out if they've received the Regents scholarship or not?</p>
<p>Are the regents decisions posted the same time as the admissions decisions?</p>
<p>Thanks!
[/quote]
</p>
<p>um....I think some of the Regents recipients would receive the notification a few days after April 1st. Mine was on April 4th. I guess I am the lower-tier Regent Scholar. haha</p>
<p>staticsoliloquy: I'd have to disagree. The major benefits of regents are the guaranteed housing and priority in choosing classes, which is HUGE at a large public school such as berkeley. It helps eliminate two of the school's major problems.</p>
<p>Also, as stated to me when I was at the RCSA luncheon, it allows you to say "I was selected as one of the top 200 students in all of berkeley" at any job interview--so to me, it seems like a pretty big deal.</p>
<p>Regents at Berkeley does NOT give any apparent priority in class scheduling and registration. I haven't had a single semester yet so far where I got exactly the schedule I wanted, and I consider scheduling one of the most frustrating experiences I've had at Berkeley.</p>
<p>Guaranteed housing is really the only thing I'd call a significant benefit. Other than that (and the scholarship if you need it), there isn't much to being a Regents besides the distinction of being one.</p>
<p>Even if you don't get much money from it and find it a bit useless, the regents scholarship at berkeley is probably the most prestigious in the UC system, which will help you down the road.</p>