<p>what cal gpa and SAT scores do u need to have a good shot at berkeley? and is 4.33 the cap?</p>
<p>No one can really predict an admission to Berkeley because it practices a holistic admission system. Many students with superb test scores are turned down. That said, a balance of high GPA, high SATs and great ECs won’t jeopardize your admission chances. I know several kids who have 3.85 (unweighted GPA), 2250 SATs and very good ECs got in. There’s one guy I know who got it with a 1900 SATs. But that was 2 years ago when Berkeley’s average SAT score was substantially lower. The kid’s GPA though was almost 4.00. He was the number 3 in his class which has more than 400 graduating students. He also got in Duke, NYU, Penn, Northwestern, UVa and Cornell. He’s now a math junior at Berkeley.</p>
<p>According to Berkeley’s website, for Fall 2011 its freshman profile was:
SAT Reasoning Test scores (25th % 75th percentiles)<br>
Reading: 620-740
Math: 660-770
Writing: 650-750
Average unweighted GPA: 3.88
Average weighted GPA: 4.35</p>
<p>Are the entry stats really that low? O_o</p>
<p>Berkeley does consider GPA as being more important than test scores.</p>
<p>Also, selectivity varies by division (L&S, Engineering, Chemistry, Natural Resources, Environmental Design) and major within Engineering.</p>
<p>Test: Wellll, you also have athletes and other stuff, you know? Like I know someone from my school who got in with a sub 1800 score (I want to say 1640?1570? either way, something prettttyyy low) but was a beast in Track/Basketball and got onto the team.</p>
<p>Yes, the stats are actually that low. And from what I’ve seen from my experience as a student here, anyone with a functioning brain can and will get accepted. Don’t sweat it. </p>
<p>Or I guess if worse comes to worst you could try transferring from a CC 2ish years from now. Admissions chances here at Berkeley are higher for those coming from community colleges than those from high school.</p>
<p>Yep, it’s really not that competitive in terms of scores. The hard part is graduating. Compared to other schools of similar reputation, Cal has a very low retention rate.</p>
<p>From what I heard, if you’re Asian, your SAT scores need to be a little higher than what’s shown on Collegeboard’s profile for Berkeley, especially if you’re majoring in something like engineering. Apparently, my 2090 SAT is considered low.</p>
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<p>90% six year graduation rate from freshman entry is actually among the highest of all public flagship universities, and not too far below the super elite private universities.</p>
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<p>Engineering is generally more selective than L&S, and selectivity within engineering varies by major.</p>
<p>@ucbalumn -The 66% 4 year graduation rate - is this due to scheduling conflicts (large size) or is it because Berkeley takes a lot of kids holistically who get in but find it harder to live upto the high academics that are thrown at them? Statistically, someone who is a top 5% from high school (with most rigor classes and a 2200+ SAT)…how are those students faring in UCB (guess this question is to folks who are currently there).</p>
<p>Berekely has a 78% 4 -year graduation rate and a 91% 6-year graduation rate.</p>
<p>The retention rate is a very high one - 97%.</p>
<p>All data from the 2010 - 2011 common data set::</p>
<p><a href=“http://opa.berkeley.edu/statistics/cds/2010-2011.pdf[/url]”>http://opa.berkeley.edu/statistics/cds/2010-2011.pdf</a></p>
<p>From my experiences, Berkeley isn’t that difficult to get into. I know many people who were admitted with very subpar stats. If you come to Berkeley, you’d no doubt see some people who seem to not have the intellectual capacity to be here. However, most people you meet are very studious and smart, and there are also tons of absolute geniuses here who chose Berkeley over the Ivies they were admitted to. I don’t know why it isn’t that selective - I believe that it should be.</p>
<p>According to [University</a> of California: StatFinder](<a href=“http://statfinder.ucop.edu%5DUniversity”>http://statfinder.ucop.edu) , for 2009 (latest year available on that site), Berkeley did show a fairly strong bias for GPA over test scores (as the common data set section C7 also indicates).</p>
<p>Admission rates based on UC admissions GPA and total SAT score:</p>
<p>3.80-3.99, <2100: <8%
3.80-3.99, >=2100: 19.3%
4.00-4.19, <2100: <23%
4.00-4.19, >=2100: 45.7%</p>
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<p>Note, however, that there was variation by division and major, with engineering being the hardest:</p>
<p>3.80-3.99, <2100: 2.1%
3.80-3.99, >=2100: 12.5%
4.00-4.19, 1500-1799: 2.6%
4.00-4.19, 1800-2099: 10.1%
4.00-4.19, >=2100: 29.2%</p>
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<p>For L&S (looking at big intended majors like biological sciences, psychology, social studies, and undeclared in the UC Statfinder), it looked like >=4.20 with <1800 had a similar chance of admission than 4.00-4.19 with >=2100 (around 40% to 50%).</p>
<p>Of course, selectivity has probably increased since 2009.</p>
<p>Thanks, that helps.
Last year from my school, there were a few that did NOT get into Berkeley…the admissions were somewhat unpredictable…maybe it is the move to the holistic review. Not sure if they were Engineering majors but couple of them got into Cornell/UCLA/USC but not Berkeley. </p>
<p>And then I was talking to someone else who says so and so got in (they were from one of the really low performing districts). It seems the story you tell makes a difference…but it is heart breaking for the folks who try as hard as anybody (with parents who are not rich but not living in Oakland or Antioch)…</p>
<p>Guess nothing is certain anymore.</p>
<p>The holistic review does reduce predictability, although by less than that of many private schools’ holistic reviews. As described in the Hout Report and other documents ( [Admissions</a>, Enrollment, & Preparatory Education | UC Berkeley Academic Senate](<a href=“http://academic-senate.berkeley.edu/committees/aepe]Admissions”>Admissions, Enrollment, and Preparatory Education (AEPE) | Academic Senate) ), the applications are read and scored, then ranked by the scores (within each division/major). This presumably reduces ordering bias that may creep into some other schools’ holistic admissions processes.</p>
<p>Found this <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-berkeley/1109620-official-berkeley-class-2015-decisions-only-thread.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-berkeley/1109620-official-berkeley-class-2015-decisions-only-thread.html</a></p>
<p>I applied a while ago… 2003-ish. Berkeley is one of the few schools that REALLY gives a shot to the underdog and also gives a truly holistic review of the application. If you don’t have a great GPA, (like me, I was a lazy PoS in HS, my GPA<3.0) but you’ve got some extenuating circumstances (talked about in your essay, for example) and halfway decent SAT scores (1300+ in my case) and some ECs you have a shot just like the 4.5 GPA I-found-a-cure-for-cancer-while-taking-a-*****-and-I’m-a-superstar-BBall-player too. They really do look at the whole package. I was rejected by pretty much every other school, but by the grace of the Berkeley college admin Gods, it saved me from having to commit Seppuku. If you think you haven’t got a shot, give it a shot. You’d be surprised!</p>