Wow! Those engineering admits look mighty small…
There are only 50 MET spots, so its possible they’ve been all informed right!!
Historically, Engineering admission rate at UCB has been in single digits (6-7%) compared to overall admission rate, which tends to be around 15-17%.
That is some great data! Is there a link for any additional info? I think the data is very interesting! I also noticed approx…1/2 of the applications seem to come from OOS/International. So I’d be curious if there was more detail in the data set. So interesting!
Is this published for other UCs?
Your Engineering admit stats are off. Last year:
I stand corrected. It seems the overall enrollment was up last year, 2019 was around 9%. Nevertheless Eng admit rate is lower than general and with increased number of applicants, unless UCB increases enrollment, Eng acceptance rates will likely fall back to single digits. We shall see.
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But it’s kind of suss ngl because how in the world did they filter through some 100K applications to figure out who the top “1%” are? esp in a year where there are VERY few quantifiable factors, for which you can write a program to sort… i mean realistically, there are no SAT scores, some students don’t have spring junior/fall senior grades (i.e. only pass/fail), and bc of that there is major gpa inflation at some schools and deflation at others, this year. and there’s no way you read the essays/activities of 100K applicants in 2 months. idk. like i said it’s suss.
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Try this link: OPA – University of California Berkeley
Not every campus has this type of data available and you really have to dig to find some of it.
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It’s actually not just grades and scores. Course load, rigor of course, national level awards, olympiads, science fairs, research, publications, etc., extracurricular excellence through volunteer work, national level sports achievements, if you put all this together, you’ll find very few students who would have achieved excellence in multiple categories, and not that hard to select. IMHO, especially if some algorithm is being used to pre-select based on just grades and APs as course rigor as first pass.
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My son thought hard on whether to go EECS or straight CS, but somehow we missed this issue of no direct admit! That may have made a difference in his decision. I wonder how we missed that piece of information. He went with CS in L & S because he preferred the option of extra classes in other than engineering.
Anyway, I think if he were to get in, that issue will give him pause, depending on what other choices he has. He aims high (and does well), but I would not want that added pressure on him to earn the grades to get into the major.
You know, I wonder how they handle people coming in with a fair amount of dual enrollment courses? Chances are some of the required courses by which you’re judged are ones my son took in dual enrollment at community college. I hope those classes (and the grades) will count. I’ll have to look that up.
Kind of a bummer. It’s a long shot anyway, but still…
I heard they are changing the requirements for declaring CS making it harder starting this fall…
good luck. Many kids do well and declare, but if he gets in, he should just review the alternate options and understand if he’d be happy with them. 
Not trying to be discouraging - I don’t know what percent who come in wanting to do CS end up declaring - many don’t like it and switch to something else, so the numbers won’t necessarily tell you how well they did anyway. As far as college classes, you must take the core sequence at Berkeley. Even transfer students take the same core sequence as first year undergrads - there is no way to get out of them. (you may be exempt from some math, and just start at a higher level, but the CS stuff happens at Cal for the most part - and you’d want it that way since that is what they are known for. :)) If your son did well on the CS AP exam, I am sure he’ll do well in the first set of classes. They are hard, but not impossible. Even if he didn’t, the department has a lot of extra resources - you can take an additional (I think 1 unit?) class that is basically extra discussion/help, lots of study groups and mentoring. I’m very impressed with how nurturing the department has been. I wish your son luck!
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I do not know what changes, but things got weird this past year since students were able to take some classes p/np. That may be what prompts some changes about what is necessary to declare. But definitely, you should look for updated bulletins in the spring before your child commits, so they understand what is expected.
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My daughter is Junior EECS at UCB, EECS is very well defined, and most students complete coursework in 3/3.5 years, in comparison CS declaration needs patience and persistence but in the end all students who were serious to declare got into CS sooner or later.
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Here’s the info you are looking for:
Computer Science Bachelor of Arts | EECS at UC Berkeley
Students entering UC Berkeley in fall 2015 or later must complete CS 61A, CS 61B, and CS 70 with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.30 in those 3 courses in order to apply to the major.
We only use grades for courses completed at UC Berkeley for the GPA calculation.
Haha, I just found that too. But I also saw this: "If a student completes equivalent courses to our prerequisite courses (CS 61A, CS 61B, CS 70) at another institution, at least one course must be completed at UC Berkeley to calculate the major application GPA. "
But it is now a moot point. None of the classes he took articulate to Cal, except the calculus classes. But as was stated, that’s fine because while he has good preparation from what he took, it will be great to take all his main CS courses at Berkeley.
On another, related, note, some of his classes do articulate to others of the schools he applied to, so that could turn out to be another consideration as it will affect how long he’ll have to be in school (aka $$$).
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And you’ll see that it says it is very rare that it will accept an equivalent for 61A or 61C. As noted by someone else, the major requirements are often completed within 3 years based on math level coming in. There are sample undergrad plans on the CS/EECS program page to help you figure that out.
Any GMP acceptances in Feb wave?
sorry for being late but i did get in. instate
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You could still try to send a (college) change request to admission office.
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