Requested supplement?...

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Berkeley
1

<p>"Thank you for applying to UC Berkeley for fall 2012! PLEASE READ THIS ENTIRE MESSAGE.</p>

<p>We've begun our holistic review of your application and would like you to fill out a supplemental questionnaire(s).</p>

<p>Each year we ask a small group of students for additional information to enhance their application. We'd like to learn more about you and your academic experience, particularly in regards to specific information you have shared in your application, which will be addressed in the supplemental questionnaire.</p>

<p>We can't emphasize enough that this information can only strengthen your case. It's a unique opportunity to tell us more about your personal path to college without negatively affecting your application. In accordance with applicable privacy and other laws, we assure you that this information will be kept confidential.</p>

<p>To be considered in our review, all supplemental information must be completed in the next 10 days. Please note: Any supplemental information submitted AFTER the deadline will not be reviewed.</p>

<p>The steps are easy:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>To access and fill out the questionnaire(s), log on to myBerkeleyApplication: [url=<a href="http://students.berkeley.edu/myberkeley/home.asp%5DmyBerkeleyApplication"&gt;http://students.berkeley.edu/myberkeley/home.asp]myBerkeleyApplication&lt;/a> : Berkeley<a href="If%20you%20need%20help%20accessing%20myBerkeleyApplication,%20please%20check%20the%20"Login%20FAQs"%20link%20in%20the%20left-hand%20column.">/url</a></p></li>
<li><p>Provide us with your fall semester grades in the questionnaire. If you haven't received your grades yet, don't wait for them. It's more important that the questionnaire is returned on time. Also, confirm or indicate changes to your spring class schedule.</p></li>
<li><p>(Optional) Submit one letter of recommendation from a teacher, counselor, coach or anyone familiar with your academic background and extracurricular skills/talents. Your recommender can fill out an online form at the following link. Note that in providing this link to your recommender, you waive your right to view this letter of recommendation at any future point:"</p></li>
</ol>

<p>I had a horrible midyear, so I doubt my midyear grades will help my case at all. Is this truly optional?</p>

2

<p>I would submit the letter of recommendation from a teacher who you can trust. hope your mid year grades weren’t that bad. In essence, if they are asking for other stuff, you got to respond and comply.</p>

3

<p>From my understanding, the supplements are given out in accordance to data you provided in your application (Known genres are for Hardships, Special Talents/Achievements, and Disabilities). They specifically tell you in the letter that it will not hurt you. Rather, if you know how UC evaluates applications (look it up), it’s a chance to accrue more points.</p>

4

<p>Did you look at the form online? You can log on and see it but not write into it, which gives you a chance to judge whether what you fill out in the free form answer boxes to the questions and what is in the recommendation letter will offset the midterm grades and help your chances. </p>

<p>If the questions are about academics and what was happening outside of school, then you are on the fence for admission. It is almost always better to take the opportunity and submit than to ignore it. They have huge piles of ‘definite no’ and ‘definite yes’ applications and then a group in the middle where they will have to pick some but not all for a yes answer. If you thought that your stats would have made you a clear admit, consider that we have seen people with 2400 SATs rejected and people each year admitted to several ivies but rejected at Cal. While that is a rare exception, it does happen, meaning that nobody is guaranteed unless you are a recruited football player or similar. Getting a supplemental request means that you are close to admission, but have the chance to steer it by a good showing on the form and by a good recommendation. </p>

<p>If you thought that your chances were fair or less, then this is excellent news. Your chances of admission have bumped up to 50% already, and with some thoughtful answers on the supplemental, you can further increase the odds in your favor. </p>

<p>There are two other kinds of situations that trigger supplemental requests. One is if you have written anything in the application that suggests you might have a disability - the questionnaire in that case is mainly about ways you have overcome disabilities. We believe almost everyone who they believe may have a disability receives the supplemental, not just those who are on the line like the academic case above. Therefore, it may not mean the odds are better for you, but once again you get a chance that most applicants don’t get, to provide additional reasons for them to accept you and you get to submit a recommendation. </p>

<p>The third case that we know of is the ‘talent’ situation, where something suggests that the applicant has an extraordinary talent or achievement. That would be a 1st place win in a national competition, having published a novel already, something that is rare. It excludes local and state competitions, and considers the prestige of the achievement. The questionnaire is mainly about the talent or achievement and ways that you might continue it or support it while at Cal. This appears to offer the highest chances - unless they misread the application or can’t tell the prestige and rareness of the event from the application itself, if this is truly a talent or achievement that exists in only a handful of students applying, this suggests excellent chances of receiving an admission offer. Unless your talent/achievement was overestimated, you have everything to gain by replying as it can further cement your acceptance. </p>

<p>With the academic supplemental request, you can make your best case and improve your odds from 50:50, but only if you reply. </p>

<p>For the disability supplemental, you can make your best case and improve your odds from whatever they were. </p>

<p>In every case, you get advantages such as extra room to sell yourself to the admissions readers, over the space in the regular application, plus the chance to have one recommendation and some midyear grades reviewed. The vast majority of applicants don’t get that chance. </p>

<p>One final note - the conditions of the admissions offer from Cal require that you have achieved a 3.0 unweighted GPA in both semesters of senior year, with no grades of D or F, so if your midterm grades don’t meet that level, you better have an excellent justification either in the supplemental questionnaire or when they get your transcript and are considering rescinding your offer of admission during the summer. Hopefully it is not that awful, and the free-form nature of the questionnaire allows you to make the best case for the midterm grades too.</p>

5

<p>Actually, AGTC11, Cal does not arithmetically add points the way that UCSD or most of the other UC schools do it. Cal does holistic admissions, meaning that they read everything, think about it, and then assign a single digit rating to the application that ranges from ‘definite rejection’ to ‘lets actively woo this applicant’, with a value in the middle that means 'maybe. That means that no ‘points’ get added. You may move to admit or reject from maybe, but you would not be at 1837 going up to 1880, or similar, as you would at UCD or the other campuses outside of Cal and UCLA. </p>

<p>It is the maybe pile that gets the academic supplemental - which is missing from your list. The three types we believe exist based on years of reports are disability/hardship (actually just one questionnaire type not two separate ones), talent, and academic.</p>

6

<p>I got a ‘C’ and up to two 'B’s first semester. Still above a 3.0 unweighted. Can’t see how those would help my case, though.</p>

<p>I was a Valedictorian with a 2320, National AP Scholar, and strong ECs. I thought I had really good chances… That sucks if I’m at 50/50. Are the questions different for each category? I’m hoping I got category 3.</p>

7

<p>yes, the questions are very different. The talent questionnaire specifically asks about the talent or achievement, as well as related questions. If the questions are about a hardship or disability and how you overcame them, etc, then it is the disability type. If mostly about grades and classes and academic topics, then it is the borderline one.</p>

<p>National AP scholar is not a rare achievement in the application pool. Unless there is something else like winning a national piano competition, its probably not the talent variety. Basically, these are items that are listed in a press release from Cal each year that describes the caliber of the applicant pool by listing the achievements and talents. </p>

<p>The stats sound like you have quite good chances, unless your school has a poor record with Cal - they track how students from each school do once in Cal and based on that they may take quite a few from one school and only one or two from another.</p>

8

<p>I received the Talent Supplement last year and I ended up getting admitted. </p>

<p>Take it seriously!</p>

9

<p>It was the disability type, ugh. So that means I’m probably below 50% if I wasn’t good enough to get the other two?</p>

<p>Also, how did you find all of this out?</p>

10

<p>rider730: So if you did not receive a supplement request you are either a clear reject or a clear admit?</p>

11

<p>It seems to me that if they were going to admit you without needing further information, they would not be asking for it. So, if you don’t send further information it would seem that a rejection is likely. If my daughter, who has applied to Berkeley, were to receive such a request I believe that her only real choice would be to respond. Just do your best to make your response as favorable as you can.</p>

12

<p>The disability type actually tells you nothing about your chances because we believe based on past years that anyone who mentions disabilities will receive it. Thus, you could be a clear admit and still receive it. </p>

<p>The talent type on the other hand is quite promising and the academic type is good if this was a stretch, not so great if you thought Cal was a safety, but still better than the blind overall odds.</p>

13

<p>Guys, what is this supplement? Is it the Hardship or the Borderline one? </p>

<ol>
<li><p>Does your high school provide adequate educational resources (such as teachers, counselors, assistance with course selection and college admission planning, books, facilities, size and location)? If not, please explain.</p></li>
<li><p>Did you have a desire to take more advanced college preparatory courses offered at your school? If yes, please describe what prevented you.</p></li>
<li><p>Are you required to complete non-academic courses or courses that do not meet the UC a-g requirements (e.g.: academy, magnet, AVID, religion, leadership, or any other special program classes)? If yes, please explain.</p></li>
<li><p>How much did your teachers or counselors encourage you to take courses that would qualify you for UC or other four-year colleges?
Please rank from 1 to 5 , where 1 = Not At All, and 5 = Very Much
Please explain.</p></li>
<li><p>How much did your family encourage or help you to prepare for a four-year college?
Please rank from 1 to 5 , where 1 = Not At All, and 5 = Very Much
Please explain.</p></li>
<li><p>Are any of/most of your friends applying to a four-year college or university?</p></li>
<li><p>How much did your friends influence your decision to apply to a four-year college or university?
Please rank from 1 to 5 , where 1 = Not At All, and 5 = Very Much
Please explain.</p></li>
<li><p>Do you have an adequate workspace at home to study? If not, please explain.</p></li>
<li><p>How many hours do you spend doing homework and/or studying each day?</p></li>
<li><p>Are there any personal circumstances that may have affected your ability to achieve academically (such as working, family responsibilities, etc.)?</p></li>
<li><p>Do you work? (If not, skip to question 12.) Why do you work? What days of the week and how many hours per day do you work? How long have you been working? Has working had a positive or negative effect on your academic achievement?</p></li>
<li><p>If you were involved in an academic outreach program (EAOP, MESA, Talent Search, Puente, Upward Bound, AVID, etc.) during high school, explain your level of involvement and what you gained from your participation. How did your involvement affect your academic achievement?</p></li>
<li><p>What have you done to make your school or community a better place?</p></li>
</ol>

14

<p>To Lanc: My son is applying to UCB (which is why I was here). I was a professor for a while at a mid-tier uni and have a JD, so I’m not totally clueless. The above appears to me to be a “rise above adverse circumstances” hardship type of questions. Does your high school send many people to college? Do you live in a neighborhood or area without a lot of financial advantages? My initial reaction to the q’s was very clear–they are asking you about educational difficulties caused by your environment…
So, if you had experienced those kind of issues, write it all out and send it in on time! If not, well, no idea.</p>

15

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</p>

<p>According to the Hout report, the holistic review results in each applicant’s application being scored. Then they are rank ordered by score for the given division (L&S, Engineering, etc. – major also for Engineering), with the best scoring ones being admitted, and the worst scoring ones being rejected. If a given score has enough applications to straddle the admit/reject line, there are some tiebreaking procedures used to select admits, spring admits, and rejects.</p>

<p>This appears to be designed to be more controlled and consistent than the holistic review procedures described for some other schools, where each applicant is brought up to the admissions committee and accepted or rejected then. Such a procedure may result in later applicants facing easier or more difficult criteria, depending on how full the admissions class so far is, or if the later applicant happened to be very similar to previous applicants.</p>