<p>Calrule is not the only one with acceptances like this. </p>
<p>member santabanta posted this in an earlier thread about acceptances:</p>
<p>All UCs (with regents scholarship), Duke, JHU, Stanford, MIT, Caltech</p>
<p>Why does this amaze you? Not everyone enrolls based on USNWR rankings or prestige; some pick the school they believe fits them best, as did calrule and santabanta and others.</p>
<p>Sigh....wish my D had picked Cal...</p>
<p>Which leads naturally to the question, what did you prefer about Cal over the other colleges that admitted you? </p>
<p>I'll renew my question about non-Californians: are there any of you at Cal or on your way to Cal who were admitted to your state U honors program but who preferred UC Berkeley?</p>
<p>Cal's been my dream school since 10th grade, so naturally I chose it over UCLA honors, USC, UCSD, and UCI. </p>
<p>You've got the city of Berkeley, with all its nifty shops and restaurants. You've got the Bay Area, which is a welcome change from SoCal. You've got a campus body that cultivates intellectualism and passion. You receive a top notch education from a world-class faculty at a low price. There's many more reasons, but what it comes down to is, Berkeley is Berkeley.</p>
<p>GO BEARS!</p>
<p>None, really. Waitlisted at Chicago and Princeton, but nothing came out of it.</p>
<p>I turned down Cornell, Northwestern, CMU, UChicago, UPenn and UVA. I am thinking between Brown and Berkeley</p>
<p>xalapao, were you waitlisted?</p>
<p>I was waitlisted by Brown, also, then, I was rejected</p>
<p>Are all the cases self-reported above actual cases in which someone got an admission letter from each of the "turned down" colleges? </p>
<p>I'll mention once more that I'm looking for non-Californians who are enrolled at UC Berkeley to check what colleges they turned down for Cal.</p>
<p>I got in all of those schools. I chose Brown but now I just don't feel right, so I ask Berkeley and they say I can change my mind... So I just try to decide by this weekend.</p>
<p>Hi, kyledavid, thanks for finding the previous thread. I'll merge my new one into the previous one, to give it the priority it deserves.</p>
<p>Now that I've read through the merged thread, I see lots and lots of Californians who have chosen Cal, and one person who indicated not being a California resident but indicated proximity as one reason to go. (Is that person from Nevada? Or is that person not technically a resident but someone who has lived in California already?) California is a large and diverse state, and it makes sense that a lot of Californians prefer their state's flagship university, not least because of cost, just as I preferred my state's flagship university back when I attended college. But what are the current figures of non-California high school graduates who end up attending Cal? Are non-Californians even scarcer at Cal than non-Minnesotans are at Minnesota?</p>
<p>
[quote]
Calrule is not the only one with acceptances like this.</p>
<p>member santabanta posted this in an earlier thread about acceptances:</p>
<p>All UCs (with regents scholarship), Duke, JHU, Stanford, MIT, Caltech</p>
<p>Why does this amaze you? Not everyone enrolls based on USNWR rankings or prestige; some pick the school they believe fits them best, as did calrule and santabanta and others.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Well, if you look at his/her past posts, you'll see he/she indicated she/he got rejected by Stanford and Princeton:</p>
<p>
[quote]
JD (my god, scrubs) I'm going to print out a copy of my Stanford letter. That and UCLA have been my only rejections
[/quote]
[quote]
I want Princeton so badly...if not, I'm settling with Berkeley. But I don't want to settle.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>As for santabanta's accetpances, I am not sure if I want to believe them just yet. Here's what I found from his/her posts: on 3/31/08, he/she got his/her choices down to JHU, Duke, and UCB. It just sounds a bit unusual that Stanford, MIT, AND CalTech were all never mentioned during the decision time and they were all eliminated that early on.</p>
<ul>
<li>California resident (Y/N): No</li>
<li>Schools accepted: UCLA, U of I Urbana/Champaign</li>
<li>Schools rejected: None</li>
<li>Schools waitlisted: None</li>
<li>Berkeley top choice (Y/N): Yes, but near even with U of I</li>
<li>Why Berkeley? The choice to pay out of state was a long process, especially given that U of I is a high quality institution. Ultimately, I have figured that Berkeley is worth the investment. California is a unique place for an Environmental Science student to study in. CNR sets aside some of my concerns that people mention with ruthless heartless competition (I already have an Associates in Science at a high quality community college, and the notion of my classmates being my enemies is disgusting. Don't get me wrong, I still love competition!!). Honestly, while lots of people argue this university vs. that university, I don't get it. Even at undergrad, how is it not all about the particular program you're in? The ES program at Cal fits me best. But I will admit, it does feel nice when people's eyes pop open when I mention Berkeley, even in China :)</li>
</ul>
<p>Also, I didn't apply to ivy leagues, because for undergrad the ivy leagues really weren't attractive. I did have a great interview with U of Chicago, but it was made clear to me that very few credits transfers (so I didn't complete the application).</p>
<p>California resident (Y/N): Y
Schools accepted: Berkeley, safeties
Schools rejected: the safeties
Schools waitlisted: Princeton, Chicago
Berkeley top choice (Y/N): N I'd have picked Princeton
Why Berkeley? - the best academically out of the ones I got accepted to, nice climate.</p>
<p>As I understand it Berkeley is one of the top US schools in terms of faculty / research, but only perhaps tenth or fifteenth in the quality of its UG student body (as measured by admittance conditions). Is that an accurate assessment?</p>
<p>Do you just go through peoples’ posting histories in your spare time…for fun?</p>
<p>In case you wanted the facts, and not just your assumptions, I did get into Princeton but I changed my mind about what I really wanted once I had both options before me. I felt like I belonged at Cal, and I wasn’t just trying to fit in like I would be at Princeton. I didn’t want to be stifled and I didn’t want to fly across the country every time I wanted to see my family, so I chose what I did. Also, I was waitlisted at Stanford. At the time I posted that comment, I considered it to be the equivalent of a rejection, but I took myself off the list so I look at it differently know.
As for Santabanta, I don’t know her, (not sure if you’re a he or she, so sorry) but I’ll bite. Some of you, Sam Lee in particular, seem to have a different view on what Cal has to offer and that people who got into higher ranked or more “prestigious” universities would certainly choose those over UC Berkeley, to say they did otherwise is a lie. I take people for their word, you should try it some time.</p>
<p>Every year, there are roughly 5% that turn down HYPSM for Berkeley. If calrule or Santabanta weren't in that 5%, the final figure is still there. There ARE students that turn down HYPSM for Berkeley. Why is it so hard to believe? I would turn down Brown, Penn, Chicago for Berkeley as I believe they aren't as good. Not sure if I can say no to HYPSM.</p>
<p>Where are you getting that statistic from?</p>
<p>
[quote]
Are non-Californians even scarcer at Cal than non-Minnesotans are at Minnesota?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>The answer is very simple.</p>
<p>Facts</a> at a glance - UC Berkeley
[quote]
92% from California (Fall 2007)
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Alternatively, if you want to see the percentage of SIRs, you can use this feature:
<a href="https://osr2.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/Access/DB/Frontends/runapp.pl%5B/url%5D">https://osr2.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/Access/DB/Frontends/runapp.pl</a>
It shows somewhere between 13-14% of Cal SIRs don't have California residency.</p>