To appeal to UCB's decision or not...?

Transfer Students
1

<p>ok....I need advise. </p>

<p>I got rejected from Berkeley:</p>

<p>Me:
Major: Psych
GPA: 3.96
In AGS, do community service, in honors classes,
plenty of ecs, completed all prerequisites.</p>

<p>Three people i talked to today who got accepted:
Major: Psych
GPA: 3.5-3.8
Minimal or no community service, honors classes, or ecs.</p>

<p>Why were all three accepted and not me? They all think i should appeal since i clearly seem more qualified than them, yet they got accepted and I didnt...it just doesnt make sense!! I dont know what else that I could have done to get admitted! Should I appeal??</p>

2

<p>What did you write your essays about?</p>

3

<p>wow that's a surprise...</p>

4

<p>Are you California resident?</p>

5

<p>I wrote my main essay on my ice skating experiences (since i did it for 10 years). I didnt think the essays had a big influence on the decisions though since Berkeley is mainly about academic performance and preperation for your major. And yes, I live in California.</p>

6

<p>Wow, I think you should at least find out why they didn't accept you for future reference. Because thats berzerk.</p>

7

<p>what school did you apply from, and what schools did the people who were accepted apply from? that may have been an important factor.</p>

<p>Other than that, it's just essays or recs; if an essay or rec came across badly, it might overpower an otherwise strong academic record....</p>

8

<p>wow 3.96!? I got in psych with a 3.68...</p>

9

<p>We all applied from the same jc, west valley in saratoga.</p>

<p>Can a bad essay really overpower years of good academic preperation? They must of thought my essays were horrible if that influenced the decision......:(</p>

10

<p>A bad essay that shows no dedication or real interests toward the major can hurt. My essay wasn't too great but I think my ECs made up for my low GPA.</p>

11

<p>also berkeley takes into account personal background (which makes them a little bit controversial) so difficult personal cirumstances can make up for a lower gpa... like a recovering cancer patient, or someone who went to an inner city high school, had to support an ailing parent, etc. so if they already have a candidate with a 3.5 and a 3.9, and the 3.5 has some major life obstacle they had to overcome, yet still were able to maintain a relatively good gpa, then they might get acceptd over the 3.9.</p>

12

<p>i'm definitely appealing (unless i receive a g-town or penn admission within the next week). </p>

<p>3.94gpa + igetc + all prereqs(minus calc-based stats, all A's) + 3 semesters of Calc (A's), tough coursework (calc-based physics, 3 foreign languages (latin/spanish/korean(overseas))), AGS, MUN, volunteer work, etc.etc....</p>

<p>And i got REJECTED for Econ.</p>

<p>i like ucla(got admitted for biz-econ) and all but i can't picture myself as a bruin.</p>

<p>p.s. oh yeah, and very ****ty personal statements.... (i thought my gpa would get me in)</p>

13

<p>my friend got rejected from Norwegein studies (or something like that) with a high GPA but it was pretty obvious that he only chose that major cause it was severely under-impacted.</p>

14

<p>This seems so strange. Although I have heard UCB puts a lot of weight on essays. Seems like there is a piece missing somewhere..do your friends work or anything?</p>

15

<p>and if you need help, I'm sure many in the CC community are down to help a fellow CCer out. Just Pm me if you have any questions.</p>

16

<p>Berkeley does weight personal statement pretty heavily, at least for my major. I've been told many times that berkeley looks at the whole package rather than just your gpa and academic prep. honestly, i think cal weights personal statement more heavily than any other UCs (maybe except for UCLA). that's why many highly qualified students get rejected from cal cuz they take pretty much everything into consideration. but you should appeal</p>

17

<p>Not when they only read 1/3 of the transfer applicants' personal statements...I was really disappointed when i heard that.</p>

18

<p>that is ridiculous, APPEAL.</p>

19

<p>I agree, it doesn't add up. Are you 100% sure you had all your pre-req's? And they'd be done by the end of this semester?</p>

20

<p>1/3 ?? Is that true? cuz I thought they said 50% of the admission decision is based on grades and 35% is based on personal statement? If that was true, then it really sux</p>