I got waitlisted for an architecture major but I am not sure if that is what I want to do, if I get admitted, does anyone know how hard/easy it would be to transfer to a business major?
@kornido Looking back at your posts you have a lot of good info for those of us on the waitlist - do they still give acceptances for Spring rather than starting in Fall? Also, when you were admitted for Spring what did you do during the Fall was it difficult to find housing and also wondering if UCB offers a study abroad program for Spring admits?
@sesangyoun last year it was 55%, the year before it was 20%
For business majors at Berkeley, you have to apply in November (I think) of your sophomore year to get accepted into the Haas School of Business. If accepted, you’ll take classes at Haas starting your junior year. Most intending business majors are admitted into the College of Letters & Sciences as undeclared aka “pre-intending Business” (as it said in the UC app). I don’t think it’ll be too hard to switch to undeclared in the college of L&S. Hope this helped!
@sesangyoun Look at my post #153. Fall 2015 Common Data Set was released recently (at least I couldn’t find them before), and wait list acceptance was 55%. That’s really good, right? Look for the 2015 stats here (and see page 5 for the wait list acceptance) - http://opa.berkeley.edu/campus-data/common-data-set
@hopefuluscbound I second @qmalik based on personal experience. Absolutely right!
@SC5ive Thanks. When I was at Cal (too many years ago), they had similar enrollment paths but just named them differently. I got in as a Spring Admit and I was given the option equivalent of what they now call Fall Program for Freshman. In the Fall, I had 3 classes at a complex 2 blocks from campus, and 1 class on campus. Once Spring came around, I was on campus full time just like everyone else. I graduated the same time as all my classmates who started in Fall. There was no Global Edge type enrollment path back then - that’s totally new. (Lucky for you guys!) I can’t speak to housing because I lived locally and my parents wouldn’t fund a dorm stay. = ( However, I did read that admitted wait list students are guaranteed housing, with exception of Global Edge and Spring start students - If you start Fall on campus or FPF, you’re good. https://portal.housing.berkeley.edu/StarRezPortal/Default.aspx?Params=L9ezxPcQnQsDuaBX%2bLFbaWrOxzK6PcRQsioKYgWiD%2fw%3d
@stillstressed I miraculously relocated the Daily Cal article about admissions “relying more heavily on the waitlist to fill out its freshman class”. http://www.dailycal.org/2014/04/18/uc-berkeley-admission-decreases-9-percent-due-new-enrollment-model/.
@thatbassclarinet If I were you, I wouldn’t submit the grades since it’s optional. Put your best foot forward. Once you’re in, they’ll obviously need your final transcript but I HIGHLY doubt they will take back the acceptance over one C. Not naming names, but I know a person who decades ago lost their acceptance to Cal, but his grades REALLY plummeted (D’s and F’s) his senior year due to too much goofing off. In the meantime, try to bring your grade back up. You’re almost to the finish line - can’t be too painful to give it a little last push.
@kornido Got it thanks! 
@kornido Thanks! Glad I was correct with my info, haha. Were you a business major at Berkeley? I’m on the wait list and am intending to apply to Haas. If you could give any advice/input on the whole application process, it’d be greatly appreciated!
Do you guys think that there is a possibility of getting off of the waitlist as a CoC applicant? It is certainly one of the toughest…
@qmalik Yes, I did do my undergrad at Haas. You guys are lucky because you have the Internet so you have so much info at your disposal. I went into Cal not even knowing I had to apply to Haas! Luckily, I got in. However, quite a few of my friends did not get accepted into Haas so they did an Econ major instead. Whatever questions you have, just let me know. I’ll be happy to answer whatever I know and can remember!
What’s this upload thing on the portal?
@Rohitmohit Only upload I saw on the opt-in portal is for an unofficial transcript. Is that what you’re referring to?
Yeah @kornido It came on the home page now yeah?
@Rohitmohit Huh…I don’t know if I saw it on the main page before. Did that just appear? In the drop down menu, only option I see is “Unofficial Transcript with Final Term Grades”.
woohoo just submitted. I’ll post my essay on here after the 18th so all of next years wait list crew can take a look.
@kornido Thank you! I would like to know what extracurricular activities you were involved in and if you had any jobs or internships prior to applying to Haas? I would really appreciate some advice on which activities are worth trying out and also best suited for helping me get into/preparing me for Haas. Thanks!
@qmalik Glad you’re interested in Haas! I was a good student but not the best. As I progressed in college, I got better and better at time management and effective studying. My freshman grades were not the best. By the time I applied to Haas (sophomore), I probably had about a 3.5 GPA (at graduation I got up to about 3.83 I think, senior year getting 4.0’s).
Surprisingly, a 3.5 GPA at Cal was pretty good. I also made it a point to get work experience in a business setting, and I did that starting 2nd semester of freshman year. I purposely sought jobs with local small businesses because it was a better learning opportunity (i.e., you get the chance to do more things vs. just being highly specialized in a big corp.).
I honestly think it was my good, but not excellent, GPA, plus my work experience that got me into Haas. The work experience showed I had a real interest in business and that I discerned the major thoroughly.
In terms of EC’s, I didn’t really have much. I was just a member of a couple clubs to make friends but didn’t have officer positions.
Once I got into Haas, I specialized in marketing research so I got an internship with a very, very small market research firm (4 people including me). I learned immensely from that internship and that earned me 2 job offers in marketing research before I even graduated. I was offered a job at Proctor & Gamble and another at a small firm of about 20 people. I, again, took the job with the small firm because the big corporation job didn’t seem like a place I’d learn much. P&G just wanted me to do very menial, highly specialized tasks.
If I recall correctly, the application for Haas wasn’t painful at all (could be different now, who knows). I think all I did was submit my grades and write an essay about why I wanted to major in business.