<p>ah yes, berkeley... the sadists who wait til dead last.</p>
<p>good luck!</p>
<p>thanks for the responses guys >w< i feel so much better now.</p>
<p>EKS, if money's not a problem, I would advise you to go to UCLA even if you want to transfer to Berkeley later. What if you don't do so hot in JC and can't get into berkeley? A UCLA degree is IMO on par with berkeley for most things. And I think transfers between UCs are not that hard either (easier than OOS or from privates)</p>
<p>Berkeley has a slightly lower acceptance rate (and comparable # of applicants -- UCLA is bombarded with underqualified applicants from LA), higher average stats, etc.</p>
<p>Last year Cal actually came out before UCLA, on the same day though.</p>
<p>to be honest, there doesn't seem to be ANY correlation between UCLA/Cal admissions. I highly doubt the admissions committees have to time to start collaborating on who takes who....</p>
<p>Higher admit rate at my school. 117 admitted to Cal from a pool of 380 and 99 admitted to UCLA from a pool of 389. Might be one or two off because of my poor memory but 30% and 25% respectively. But this is just my school and I hope it bodes well for me as I got rejected from UCLA. -_- Failure.</p>
<p>haha I'm with pamplemousse, I always loved UCLA but the rejection hasn't really hit me yet. It's weird to see kids rejected that got into Cornell. Like the whole admissions criteria really baffles me sometimes.</p>
<p>Either way I do think it's odd how many cases there have been where people get into one or the other. In all reality though you have to realize that there is no back and forth communication, it just goes to show how much of a crapshot it is to get into either school (esp. for oos)... Or how much the two vary in admission criteria. Like Berkeley seems to be more grades/SAT driven, while UCLA is more into life experiences/challenges. </p>
<p>I have to say though that one reason why this is so easy to get over is because my essay dealt with sailing, sperry topsiders, and boarding school. I thought it was a great essay but whatever they didn't like it. I just hope UCB does...</p>
<p>:(</p>
<p>
[quote]
Like Berkeley seems to be more grades/SAT driven, while UCLA is more into life experiences/challenges.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>How can you make such a comparison? Berkeley's admissions decisions haven't even come out yet.</p>
<p>And I'd argue the exact opposite. Berkeley has been emphasizing holistic admissions much longer than UCLA has (thus more into experiences/challenges). In the common data sets, UCLA considers GPA and SAT to be "very important" (thus more into numbers), whereas Berkeley considers GPA to be "very important" and standardized test scores to be just "important." In addition, both consider essays and such to be "very important."</p>
<p>^Obviously I'm not comparing it to this year. Just from what I've seen for oos applicants, kids with perfect SATs/GPA but absolutely nothing special about them (few ECs and no challenges) get into Berkeley a bit easier than UCLA. </p>
<p>In either case, these are kids who also get into Ivy league schools... Obviously they're over qualified but they have different reasons for standing out which is why they get into one school or the other. </p>
<p>I probably shouldn't of made the original post, given the extremely small pool of people that I know about but whatever. It seems to be a common theme from what I've seen, and obviously there's different ways of evaluating applicants or else there would not be so many cases of this. I wouldn't though go so far as to say the majority get into one or the other.</p>
<p>Last year, 6 people got in to Berkeley. NONE in to UCLA (which is closer to our vicinity). </p>
<p>Then again, I got rejected from UCLA. I was kind of distressed(considering that I was requested to complete a Supplemental Questionnaire) at first but now relieved and careless. There's still hope for Berkeley...=)</p>
<p>Berkeley likes high SAT and ACT scores and rank mostly. UCLA focuses on essays and personality.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Berkeley likes high SAT and ACT scores and rank mostly.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Rank is not considered at Berkeley.</p>
<p>p.6</p>
<p>Simply because Berkeley has higher average SAT/ACT scores doesn't mean that it focuses more on them. It merely means that a) it's slightly harder to get in, and/or b) the applicant pool is slightly stronger. This is supported by the applicant/admit data:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/undergrad_adm/selecting/camp_profiles/chart_ucb.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/undergrad_adm/selecting/camp_profiles/chart_ucb.pdf</a>
<a href="http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/undergrad_adm/selecting/camp_profiles/chart_ucla.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/undergrad_adm/selecting/camp_profiles/chart_ucla.pdf</a></p>
<p>
[quote]
UCLA focuses on essays and personality.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>As does Berkeley. From its common data set:</p>
<p>Essays -- very important
Talent/ability -- important
Character/personal qualities -- important</p>
<p>p.6</p>
<p>And UCLA:</p>
<p>Essays -- very important
Talent/ability -- important
Character/personal qualities -- important</p>
<p>p. 9</p>
<p>But notice, also, that UCLA lists standardized test scores as "very important," on par with GPA, rigor of course load, and essays. Berkeley, on the other hand, lists standardized test scores as just "important." Thus, it appears that UCLA has on average lower SAT scores than Berkeley, despite the fact that UCLA emphasizes them more. This, again, is supported by the comparison of the strength of the applicant pools.</p>
<p>I was surprised to learn that literally none of my friends were accepted. And some of my friends are like mega-geniuses. One girl was accepted, but with a really low SAT score (below a 1600 - low for UCLA, I mean). I'm not sure how she got in, but c'est la vie.</p>