At the outset of the admitted students tour yesterday we were told UC Berkeley only accepted 10.7% of applicants this year and that it is the lowest acceptance rate in the university’s history.
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I thought we read 16% accept rate this year or was that for CS?
that’s low, wow. Works out to about 13,500 kids. about 1000 less than last year. stats must be showing that yield is trending higher
Does anyone have info on the Global Edge Program? It is an option in the Freshman Year Pathways for all admits. It looks like from threads years ago, this program had been a Spring Admit type program. This year it seems to be an option for anyone. I’d love to hear some info on experiences with this option. Thanks!
Letter & science CS probably dropped to ~3% or less due to drastic cut to ~99
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Not sure but looks like getting into EECS was little easier than L&S CS
Yep, but last year was 11.4%, so 10.7% would seem to be in the right ballpark for this year. Also, last year Cal only accepted 0.9% of kids (44 total) off the waitlist, so maybe Undergraduate Admissions wanted to watch the yield a bit more closely, thereby giving them a little more flexibility with the waitlist as they round out the class. Either way, even if Cal accepted about 300 more students off the waitlist, it sounds plausible that the acceptance rate for this year’s cycle will dip under 11%.
For the other poster who thought they’d heard about a 16% acceptance rate, that would imply more than 20,000 acceptances. Very unlikely since Cal yields at around 46-48%, so Berkeley accepts around 13.5-14.5K to enroll a freshman class of around 6.5K.
I feel silly drilling down on this data as I do not care much about the admit rate but my son is trying to decide between UCLA and Berkeley. He was telling me the admit rate to UCLA this year was 8.4% but that it was 16% to Berkeley. I’m a Cal fan (obviously!) and would love to have a link to the Berkeley admit rate this year if anyone has it!
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16% may include transfers?
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last year it was 11.4%.
16% must include transfers
https://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/campuses-majors/berkeley/freshman-admit-data.html
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I reached out to the new Cal basketball coach (gonna try to play some defense for the Bears cause we definitely need some after last year) 
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what does the dorm situations look like for the freshman? do they have specific housing areas just for freshman? is it double/triples? I’ve also heard some are coed?
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It is my understanding that the holistic review process applies to students who want to change to a high-demand major once in L&S. If Economics was indicated on the application and a student has been admitted, he/she is guaranteed a spot (subject to completing the prerequisites, maintaining good academic standing, and filing a declaration form). However, if a student was admitted to L&S and later decides to pursue a high-demand major, they will have one shot to apply and the application will be reviewed using quantitative and qualitative criteria (holistic review).
If you go on the housing website, they will list all the dorm options including room configurations, and sample photos.
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I don’t believe there are any co-ed rooms. There are definitely co-ed floors in the dorm buildings. most of the “suites” are single-gender. It’s possible that the bigger suites in Foothill are co-ed
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Just got back from visit to Berkeley Engineering. WOW. Was totally impressed by the campus and setup for the engineering students. From speaking with the students, counselors, and professors I got the impression that Berkeley makes an effort to provide the services for the students to succeed; engineering department has its own office for tutoring, counseling, and mental health support. My feeling of the cut-throat competition was totally dispelled. Since the MechE major is relatively small, everyone tries to work in a collaborative manner. We sat in a calculus class that started out with two music videos (Dan Hartman and Britney Spears). hahaha. I asked a student if the light hearted nature of the class translates to easy grading, and the answer was “NO”. It is still Berkeley.
My son was sold on UCLA when we left for the trip, but now he is close to committing to Berkeley. For any students on the fence, a visit really makes a difference!
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Is this a scheduled tour and is it hosted by the engineering department? We are scheduled to visit on 4/22 but I feel like it is kinda late in the game for a decision
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Cal Day is a great to attend, and being there last year is what really made me embrace my son going to Berkeley. I believe that Engineering had special programming at Cal Day last year. My son didn’t commit until April 28 or 29 last year 
Even though Cal was his first choice, I think it was just a lot for him to consider. Do be aware of the housing application deadline on May 2. We were a little rushed to understand all the options to get that done.
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engineering department has programing just for engineering students
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do you know if on Cal Day other majors have specific events too? or is it just enginerring
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