They are trying to make sure you are personable in some way and not wooden or metal. The LOC can help establish that. also plenty of people submit only their act score(s) or sat score(s) and not both
I read that this is the first year Berkeley is trying out recommendation as an added criteria of acceptance. They randomly select 20% of the applicants to submit recommendation letters. So, my impression is that this does not have anything to do with “borderline” candidates or personable traits. They plan on phasing this in as a requirement for all students in a few years.
@Climatist Still even if it is random the 20% that get selected are still put at an advantage over the other 80%. (Assuming that they have good recommendations)
I was asked for LOR within five days of submitting the application… I submitted last minute, on the 29th. I have 3.96/4.0 gpa and 2210 SAT.
I don’t know what this means. Probably borderline…
http://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-uc-recommendations-20151004-story.html
There’s been plenty more published over the years. Undoubtedly, UB. is looking for others to vouch for your personal claims. Can you connect with an educator and counselor before you get there? Start making those connections!
Next year & they are looking for students who can not only handle the academics, but students who can build personal connections along the way. I posted an article. So many stats are super high. It’s thousands of the same story. The essays? Same thing. However, to now have to make a connection in your HS… Most colleges already require the letters. As an admission officer, I would be looking for the letter that tells me something new I couldn’t see anywhere in the app.and reveals what this applicant has done in the face of success or adversity. Another perspective of the journey. It changes the dynamics of a HS in positive and negative ways, but that’s life. I got letters from teachers who could tell a story about me and I told them I was requesting a letter from them because of the time…happened in the class or on the field or on the trip or in the meeting. It helped.
Does anyone know if Berkeley releases their acceptance letters earlier than the date on the portal? Mine says the 24th but I want to know earlier!!!
Sometimes I think what if Berkeley just randomly selected 20% of the applicants and asked them for LORs? But idk
@benmoore6268 Where in your portal do you see the date of the 24th? I don’t see that anywhere. And the 24th of which month?
Does anyone know if there are benefits to California residents who apply to the UCs? Someone told me there are, but I cannot find any information online. I’m a resident in California but I’m not a student at a California high school, so maybe any benefits would be void, but I’d still like to know if there are any.
I got a request for a letter of recommendation but my unweighted gpa is EXTREMELY low - just a 3.23. 2100 on my SAT’s, and I’m out of state, but I did write my essay on a medical condition that affected my grades. Hoping the requests are a good thing
@humanperson the benefit is paying for instate tuition, which is significantly less expensive than out of state tuition. Also, depending on your income, you may quality for for financial aid if you file the FAFSA. There is very little aid (if any) offered to oos students.
@humanperson depending on how you qualify for instate residency, you might be instate for both admission purposes and tuition purposes.
Regarding the recommendation letters, I believe they are asking them from those who are applying to engineering - may be?
Not just engineering.
I got LOR request a while ago (around Nov 20). UC Berkeley’s website says that without rec letters will not hurt you, which I think is BS because a student with rec letters will def stand out . Another possibility is that they are just experimenting this year.
FYI: I am out of state GPA 3.8 ACT 32
I am currently a freshman at Cal and just to make all of you feel better, I got in off an appeal. So YES it’s possible! 
If Berkeley is truly your dream school and you don’t get in/get waitlisted, write the most heartfelt appeal you can, really describing why you can’t imagine yourself at any other school. I got off of the UCLA waitlist using the same approach.
Feel free to message me if you have any questions.
Stats:
4.0 (UW)
high UC GPA (can’t remember the exact score)
ACT: 29
Pres of 2 clubs
Lots of extracurricular involvement
Girls Who Code
Do you guys know if they request letter of recommendations from International students?
@TT1103 yep, a few people in this thread, as well as a few of my international friends, got requests a few days after submitting their apps.
@dontneedcollege I got a LOR request on November 28th and I applied to the School of Letters & Science so it’s definitely not just for engineering.