thank you very much! then I will assume what the transfers got now means that our application is still under the reviewing phase/hasn’t been updated in preparation for the release date.
I don’t know.
@tboooe ans @FlooredDad I am extremely empathetic with your frustration and after celebration, I feel guilty about the situation. I think my son deserved all his UC acceptances (UCD/I/SB/Cal except WL at UCLA). However, I know your kids and other kids also deserve an acceptance. My son’s best friend has aways wanted to go to Cal from middle school days on! Ranked 2, 4.0/4.65, 12-14 AP’s, 5 college classes (up thru linear algebra, complex variables, physics), 1550 SATs his sophomore year (if UCs had counted those). So deserving. But my son with a 3.88/4.54 “only” 12 APs, no college classes, got in while his best friend who always wanted to go was rejected from Cal. I’m so heartbroken for him. Although I know my son had strong essays/insights questions and EC’s, I don’t understand how UC formulas truly work across their campuses. Why didn’t they let his best friend in?
Why didn’t they let your kids in when their stats are likely similar to mine?!
I’m glad your kiddos found a UC home, though, but I hear you and I feel your pain.
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I really feel for your son’s best friend. I hope he has some good options and I am guessing that is the case.
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First of all, your son sounds amazing and he has some great schools to choose from. This is long-winded and I apologize, but I read your post and was stirred to respond. During the application process, I watched this video and it helped put things into perspective:
In an earlier response, someone mentioned that every UC uses the same application, but weigh each criteria differently. This video spells it out clearly: GPA, school rigor, test scores and essays were most important. Next I asked my college counselor for three things: the median GPA and test scores of all the kids who were accepted at each UC from my school over the past 5 years, the the number of applicants and number of acceptances for each school again for the past 5 years. My school subscribes to an online database so most of the data was already there, but a decent college counselor should have this data. It’s non-sensical to compare GPAs from different schools in different states simply because schools inflate GPAs differently. My goal wasn’t to beat out another kid on the other side of the country, my goal was to beat out the kid sitting next to me in class because colleges compare kids from the same school first before they compare anywhere else. Just looking at the trend in accepted stats from your school will tell you whether you are in the ball game or not. I just assumed without test scores this year, I would have to put more effort into my essays which is exactly where I spent my time. I also watched videos / webinars of ex-admissions officers from Cal and Stanford turned private college counselors and walked away remembering two quotes “unless you are an Olympian or D1 recruit, a prolific HS athletic career is dime a dozen” and “universities aren’t looking for another Asian kid who plays piano or violin who’s not good enough to get into Juliard”. Harsh, but I got the message. As an all-conference athlete, it was hard not to write about it in my essays, but I trusted the process and wrote about how I planned to make my community better and what attributes make me a graduate the school would one day be proud of. My stats were right at the median for kids who got accepted from my school over the past 3 years and I knew an average of 38 kids applied to Cal from my school every year with an average of 8 (range 7-10, mode 8) getting accepted. My entire game plan came down to out-hustling 30 kids in my school which brings me to my last point. The kind gentlemen who spoke to us in that meeting room in Sproul Hall before our tour said this: “we are an office of admissions, not denials, give us reasons to accept you”. I did exactly that and fed them a consistent narrative in my essays. UCLA and Cal got 139,000 and 112,000 applications respectively this year. Even if they have 100 readers, the math tells you they spend 5-6 minutes on each application. If your stats are in 75th percentile of those who historically get accepted from your school, you pass the stats portion and they move onto the essays. If you use data that’s readily available and you apply some logic and game theory, you will be able to take a lot of mystery and randomness out of the application process. Again, sorry for the length of this post.
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Hi, does anyone know how to find roommates at Cal or any related advice. I’m a guy, majoring in Molecular and Cellular Biology, and a first-year.
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This may not be relevant to Cal but last year my son found roommates via a student Facebook page for his college.
I did the same thing!!
Does anyone know if people are allowed on campus? Last summer, even though the campus was closed we were still able to walk around. Of course all the buildings were locked. We are planning to visit UCB and UCD this spring break.
My daughter has acceptances in NEU, BU and Purdue for BioMedical Engg (or FYE).
She is waitlisted in UCB. Is it worth waiting for June 1st? What are the chances of getting of waitlist?
@tboooe Buildings may likely be closed but you can def walk around campus and check our dorm areas. S21 is going with a friend of ours next weekend. One last look before I’ll let him cross Cal off the list. “Be sure. Be very sure!”
My daughter walked around Cal yesterday with a friend.
@MommaLue @CaBayArea thank you! It’s down to these two schools so we want to take an extended look around campus and the surrounding area. Though great schools they are too far away for this socal dad. 
Check out the Korean corn dog craze at Seoul Hotdog, north side on Hearst St. That’s what D21 and her friend did as they strolled through campus 
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Below are some Waitlist and Appeal statistics for UCB. Last year, UCB extended the waitlist until July. She will have to enroll somewhere by May 1 so she should get excited about her other offers and if she gets off the waitlist at UCB, then she can determine which option would be best.
2020 Waitlist:
Number of qualified applicants offered a place on waiting list: 8,753
Number accepting a place on the waiting list:5,043
Number of wait-listed students admitted:1,651
2020 Appeals:
Appeals submitted: 1264
Appeals approved: 34
2019 Waitlist:
Number of qualified applicants offered a place on waiting list: 7,531
Number accepting a place on the waiting list: 3,975
Number of wait-listed students admitted: 1,098
2018 Waitlist:
Number of qualified applicants offered a place on waiting list: 7,824
Number accepting a place on the waiting list: 4,127
Number of wait-listed students admitted: 1,536
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Two great schools that are extremely different. Both have nearby airports with frequent flights to So Cal.
UCD: flat biking campus UCB: hilly walking campus
UCD: rural UCB: urban
UCD: collaborative UCB: competitive
There is a shuttle that runs between the two campuses. Students often use it to visit their friends for the weekend. BerkBus between UC Davis and UC Berkeley | Parking and Transportation
I’m old school. My restaurant recommendations: Top Dog and Zacharys
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Guess I’m old school too. Haven’t yet tried the Korean hotdogs, but liked the look of the one with French fries on the outside. Foodie daughter liked it. But Zachary’s deep dish spinach and mushroom a fav of mine.
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For those who like to look at data and stats about schools, you might enjoy these UC Berkeley pages:
Senior Survey Results - you can choose by major and by year to see what Cal students do after graduation.
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