So we find out from Berkeley on Ivy Day? That’s weird haha
Hi @voltthorn,
As a current UC Berkeley student, I would say that your academics seem really good and the ACT score is impressive. It would help to know your current unweighted high school GPA, and any extra circulars that you do/ internships/ volunteer work. You should remember that the application process is weighed holistically so grades are only a sliver of the process. Berkeley looks at volunteer work, leadership skills, academics, personal experiences, and most of all if you show some initiative to better the world for others, or at least contribute to the community in some way. It also really helps if you are in some political clubs (i.e clubs that support women’s rights, the LGBTQIA+ community, Syrian refugees etc.) You get the point. Hope this helps.
@PriyankaS Check your inbox 
when did you get congratulatory letter in the mail?
I’m at ucla and my sister got into Berkeley and she is upset because her friends are saying Berkeley is not the same anymore because there are increases in mugging and riots. She thinks the mayhem may cause the Feds to pull funding? Not true, right?
“The Feds” can’t pull funding except for research, and then, I have a feeling that wealthy Democratic donors would contribute in retaliation. UC Berkeley is the best public university in the world, and a highly liberal one at that, so the government pulling funding is an empty threat. Most of the money is from the state of California anyways–only research funding comes from the federal government, and most of it is useful, so they won’t cut anything.
Umich is actually ranked the #1 public university on niche,Wall Street journal, Q’s global rankings and more I heard UC Berkeley is facing a lot of funding problems while umich has an extremely high endowment (10 billion compared to Berkeley 2.4 billion umich has #10 highest endowment in the country) also Berkeley is definitely more cut throat than umich while umich exceeds at everything academic and has amazing big 10 sports and spirits and college town
@Eeeee127 best public is relative, but US News & ARWU have UC Berkeley as number one, and in terms of research output, UC Berkeley is generally considered the top public… They have 8 Nobel prizewinners as faculty, and they’ve discovered several elements.
@scarletwitchx but the uc system is struggling financially while umich is not. also umich excels in academics, arts, and athletics, while berkeley only excels at athletics. also i heard that berkeley is cuting financial aid for oos student while umich is improving out of state financial aid. berkeley is still a great school though it used to be #1 but now when you ask many people they say that berkeley and umich are on par with each other. umich has famous alumni who exel in all fields like larry page, michael phelps, and madonna.
@Eeeee127 err, how does Berkeley not excel at academics? I assume you meant that and not athletics, but note that they have a ton of Olympic athletes…
Also, what is the point of this discussion anyways? I was discussing the fact that funding would not be cut from UC Berkeley, and if it were to happen regardless, it would only affect research, which they could easily get other funding for. You may like UMich better, presumably because you’re from Michigan, but we can have our own opinions. In the end, this is a UC Berkeley thread.
lol funny discussion
@scarletwitchx yes I meant to say academics for Berkeley as it is not a big 10 school I heard that Berkeley faces problems with the UC system being broke and that students at Berkeley are not able to sign up for the classes they want and graduate in time.
Why hate on berkeley on a berkeley applicant discussion thread? @Eeeee127
Okay discussion over. We are done talking about politics.
Does anyone know the acceptance rate for UC Berkeley’s College of Letters and Science? I am an applicant who has currently been accepted to computer science in the College of Engineering at UCSD, UCD, and UCI.
@johnlimster I found this article online: http://rkwan.me/blog/ucb-eecs-lscs-admissions
It says that the L & S acceptance rate was 24% in 2015
Are admit rates within the college of engineering different by major? I applied to Industrial Engineering and Operations Research.
@johnlimster: Looks as if the acceptance rate for freshman L&S applicants was 19% for fall 2015:
https://ls.berkeley.edu/about/ls-facts-glance
Thus, based on the blog post referenced by ashsleyucla2021 above, the acceptance rate is higher for those declaring L&S CS as intended major than for other intended majors. Did you apply to Berkeley as L&S CS, or as EECS in the college of engineering? Not to be unnecessarily inflammatory (!), but if you applied to L&S, I would recommend that you go to one of the schools (UCI, UCSD, UCD) where you’re already admitted to the major in the college of engineering. These are all fine CS schools. At the very least, if you have your heart set on Berkeley, you need to do some serious research and handicapping to decide how confident you are that you can get into the CS major after two years of study at Berkeley. Best of luck!
Can LOR significantly help a Berkeley application?
What do you guys think my chances are (majoring in poli sci)?
ACT 33, 3.98/4.25 gpa (UC gpa is like 4.2-something lmao), in-state? All of my extracurriculars are about politics/journalism/art (editor-in-chief of the yearbook, photo/business editor of the school newspaper, member of harvard model congress, volunteer on the campaign trail of a congressional candidate who is now a congressman, etc etc.) I don’t volunteer that much rip but I put all of my effort into my passions/extracurrics I just don’t know if it will show through my app lmao. Any responses would help thank u ! (also I doubt it but if it helps I’m from the bay so berk is the closest to me out of all of the UC’s) bless thanks !!!