Hey everyone, an urgent question. Berkeley already asked me for two recommendations initially with my application. Should I still send in a third recommendation for my waitlist? After, ofcourse, I contact the admissions office and ask them if it’s possible to submit a LOR.
@kornido I asked the same question to my counselor and she told me that not submitting my grades was even worse because they might think I’ve failed a class or more. I don’t know what to do.
@thatbassclarinet That’s a tough situation but I certainly know you’re not the only one. I think there’s valid concern in both cases - submitting or not submitting grades. I personally would not submit the grades since it is stated as optional. Something you’ll need to decide. I know I’m not being very helpful here. Sorry!
@smashhighschool I think the admissions people probably don’t want to read any more than they need to. You already submitted two LORs so I don’t know if they’d want to see a third. But if you think the #3 LOR can really make you shine, I’d say just call and ask, presenting your case.
@kornido Thanks so much for responding! I’m going to try to find jobs/internships this summer and hopefully build up my resume for future job opportunities. I appreciate you taking your time to respond. Thanks again for the great advice!
Does anyone know how many people are on the waitlist this year? Last year I believe there were like 3500?
@kornido @thatbassclarinet But the admission officers are not stupid, they will know something is up when you don’t submit your grades when most other applicants do. There is one exception though and that is if your GPA has always been high throughout your classes (like 3.9+) then there is a reason for not updating UCB on your marks because it is not going to add anything significant to your waitlist.
However, if you don’t have a super high GPA (3.7-3.9) and you don’t update UCB on your grades, they will likely think that your GPA is either the same or lower than before, which won’t be helping your case since anything below 3.9 is below the average of admit and probably one of the reason you got wait listed.
The thing is that your academic potential (GPA + SAT ) might be the reason you got waitlisted, and not having a high GPA second semester or a higher SAT score will not be able to get you off the WL if that is the reason you were waitlisted.
@Desiree2 The grades are purely optional and if they actually wanted to know your senior grades they would ask for them. Also, waitlisted people do NOT have a low SAT scores/GPA’s. They most likely have the same scores as the admitted students but due to space limitation cannot be accepted initially. Why would UC Berkeley, one of the top universities in the US, put people with low academic qualifications on the waitlis9t?
I agree with @CalDude2020 . Not submitting your grades if they are not the best will not hurt you. You have to show them your best in this last round and if you do not want to submit grades, then don’t. Cal is more holistic than most other colleges. Wishing everyone luck!
@jh1015 Congrats! 
I got in for it at UC Davis and Irvine, but I want to change to applied mathematics. I still don’t know which to choose though.
We can still submit it tomorrow and be okay right? I’m still working on my essay
@MUNRunner Final changes were accepted on April 15th. You can’t edit it anymore (or shouldn’t be able to), all submissions are now locked.
@mikuru what are you talking about? We still have until 11:59 on monday
Oh sh*t, I thought this was the UCLA one. My bad…
Even if you chose not to submit your test scores, your school will still send all transcripts to UC right(Including the scores you did not report)?
Yes, but you can also ask your school to remove those AP test scores, etc, off your transcript, so it’s really up to you reporting it.
I have the same question as you, does anyone have any idea how many people were waitlisted/ how many have accepted a place on the waitlist? Im wondering if theyre going to release something that says how many people are on it as well as how many admitted students have SIR.
They release the stats AFTER the waitlisted students SIR, so not yet for this academic period.
Yes, your schools will need to send an official transcript, but only if you are accepted. So, that’s why I think those who don’t have great grades to submit right now should opt not to submit them with their waitlist. Just get accepted first! Unless your grades really, really drop (i.e. D’s and F’s), I don’t think Cal will rescind your admissions offer. Like I mentioned before, I know someone who DID have his admissions rescinded but he really, really bombed his senior year with failing grades. I don’t think your first C will change anything. If anyone has not so stellar grades this year, put your energy bringing up those grades. It’s not too late!
How the hell are you guys writing this essay? I have no clue at all