@Salutation - Nope, I’m in state.
@ Colleges9153 That may be true; I think it’s to verify likely admits. But did you hear that through word of mouth, or through Berkeley’s website?
I just received the email requesting two letters of rec. My stats aren’t amazing, but I have a 34 ACT (36 E, 34 M, 33 R, 34 S), my UC GPA is 4.41 but my UW is 3.87 (my freshman year grades were not very good…), I’m in state, and I have decent ECs. Also note that the valedictorian at my school got the request as well, so I doubt that it’s only for borderline applicants!!
My son got the email today about sending the 2 letters of recommendation. UC Berkeley is his “reach” school so his stats is not up there with most of you. I guess he fits the borderline candidate…
GPA: 3.97 UW
ACT: 31
SAT: 1950
AP: 11
Great ECs
Oos
Second D got the same email (11/16) on the recommendation letters and she turned in her application on 11/11. (Hard to believe they had cursory review done within 5 days of submission) We are from Northern CA. Not sure getting the email means you are a borderline candidate but saw few discussions online on this topic. My second D has 4.54 UC uncapped GPA, 35 ACT (35E-33M-35R-35S-36W - single seating), 2210 SAT(720R-770M-720W - single seating), 750 on 2 SAT Subject tests(Math 2/Biology), 7 AP tests passed so far with 5 additional AP classes this year, and very competitive ECs (medical research internship @ Stanford, leadership positions at school, county science fair competition wins, intl music competition wins, community service, and so on). On the comparison, my first daughter currently at UC Berkeley had 4.21 UC uncapped GPA, 35 ACT(35E-34M-34R-35S-8W), 2120 SAT(670R-740M-710W), 780/660 on 2 SAT subject tests, 5 AP tests passed and good impressive ECs (but less competitive to my second daughter) when she applied/accepted last year. They are both College of Letters and Science applicants from same high school. My D is happy since she believes letters of rec can help with her admission.
I got a request today but I have a really low UC gpa. I have a 3.78 unweigted, a 3.95 weighted capped. I took 9 AP classes and I’m from the bay area. Oh and I had a 34 (36E 34M 35R 32S) on the ACT and a 2200 on the SAT. None of my EC’s are remarkable, just activeish at school.
I got a request today as well. 2040 SAT/1420 CR+M, 4.25 UC GPA, good course rigor(Linear Algebra + undergrad courses), great EC’s and financially supported my family for 2 years.
I got the request on 11/16 and I think I’m a pretty solid applicant. In-state, 2290 SAT, 4.0 UW GPA, good ECs, salutatorian. All of you seem to have great stats, so I’m sure it’s not a bad thing!
One question for all of the applicants: do we need to send in all of our SAT 2 results, or can we use score choice for SAT 2s? Thanks in advance!!! <3
I’m pretty sure you can choose! My friend last year said she chose and she got in.
I feel like I’m the only one who got an email with a low UC gpa under 4.0 oops
Thanks @nishaus !!! Good luck with your application! Have you decided which college/major to apply to?
@lovemjrnas Thanks! You too 
I applied to the Asian Studies major
So I just got asked for letters of rec, does that mean I’m borderline, or does it mean that I have a good chance?
4.25 UC gpa, 31 act, 7 AP’s, loads of e.c’s
I also applied to EECS for computer science
@evanmurray Yesterday my friend asked an admissions counselor that she knows that lives in our neighborhood and he said that it doesn’t mean your chances went up by any means but they are giving them out a bit more for people who applied early.
But it is weird people with high GPA’s are tending to get them at my school too while other people haven’t gotten them :-/ Maybe they don’t want to start a riot :))
@nishaus - Does that mean that people who apply later, like the 25th, don’t get to send in letters of rec? Are the people who applied late, at a disadvantage? I’m just curious, as I am going to send my application today.
@Salutation I don’t think that’s the case, of course the dude couldn’t say too much. But from what I understand, the letters of rec are going to be given to around 20% of the applicants and many people who submitted early with high test scores got a request already, maybe to confirm they are more than just high scores? That would be my assumption.
Who knows they may end up sending requests to many more people so I think honestly it should be no problem
Well, other top schools use recs as additional metrics for selection. I suspect that Berkeley is sending requests for recs to students who have met the selection criteria (i.e. selected by the readers to move forward) and wants to use the recs to down select the acceptances. Just a WAG.