Did she check her Spam/Junk folder? UCB was one of the first campuses to email with portal setup information.
Contact admissions if she is unable to find the email: Contact Us - Office of Undergraduate Admissions
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Hi there. My D22 has her heart set on UC Berkeley. She has a 4.0 unweighted GPA, many extracurriculars with leadership, but her high school offers no AP classes. In addition, she attends a small rural school in Vermont. I understand there are readers for each region, but how can she stand out given the likely lack of familiarity with her high school? It is a rigorous private school.
If her HS offers no AP classes, then she will be reviewed in the context of what is offered through her HS.
Here is what UCB looks for in their Freshman applicant review:
UC Berkeley pioneered the holistic review process at UC (now adapted by most of the UC campuses), enabling us to admit a diverse undergraduate class representing 53 states/commonwealths and 74 countries, with 17% who are first-generation college-going and 65% who receive financial aid. “Holistic review” refers to the process of evaluating Freshman applications where no one piece of information is weighted more heavily over another.
**
- The applicant’s full record of achievement in college preparatory work in high school, including the number and rigor of courses taken and grades earned in those courses.
- Personal qualities of the applicant, including leadership ability, character, motivation, insight, tenacity, initiative, originality, intellectual independence, responsibility, maturity, and demonstrated concern for others and for the community are considered.
- Likely contributions to the intellectual and cultural vitality of the campus. In addition to a broad range of intellectual interests and achievements, admission readers seek diversity in personal background and experience.
- Achievement in academic enrichment programs, including but not limited to those sponsored by the University of California. This criterion is measured by time and depth of participation, by the academic progress made by the applicant during that participation, and by the intellectual rigor of the particular program.
- Other evidence of achievement. This criterion recognizes exemplary, sustained achievement in any field of intellectual or creative endeavor; accomplishments in extracurricular activities such as the performing arts or athletics; leadership in school or community organizations; employment; and volunteer service.
- Race, ethnicity, gender, and religion are excluded from the criteria.
All achievements, both academic and nonacademic, are considered in the context of the opportunities an applicant has had, and the reader’s assessment is based on how fully the applicant has taken advantage of those opportunities. For an applicant who has faced any hardships or unusual circumstances, readers consider the maturity, determination and insight with which the applicant has responded to and/or overcome them. Readers also consider other contextual factors that bear directly upon the applicant’s achievement, including linguistic background, parental education level, and other indicators of support available in the home.
The review recognizes a wide range of talent and creativity that is not necessarily reflected in traditional measures of academic achievement but which, in the judgment of the reader, is a positive indicator of the student’s ability to succeed at Berkeley and beyond.**
There is no specific formula to get into a school like UCB. My advice is that she should do things that may her happy and not just for the sake of getting into any specific college.
As an OOS applicant, are you prepared to pay full fees at $67K/year with no need based aid and little to no merit aid for a school like UCB?
@Gumbymom , She did check her junk/spam folder and did not find any email. She was able to use the “Forgot Password”, reset the password, and login. She has also sent an email to UCB admissions office to confirm her email is accurate so that she will get future emails.
thanks for for your help,
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Thank you so much! Will sending an email to her regional AOs declaring Berkeley as her top choice make a difference? I know yield is important and they may not think she would attend given how far away it is. Yes, the sticker price is high but we can afford it. Thank you!
I want to add yes, she has pursued her interests in HS with no interference from parents. I guess I just worry that without her great ACT score and great LORs that she will just be a number with the sheer volume of applications. Just another “average excellent” student.
Thank you. I really enjoy your thoughtful posts.
UCB like all the UC’s do not consider an applicant’s level of interest so contacting the regional rep will make little difference but full pay OOS is a plus. However, the UC’s have instituted an OOS/International threshold of 18% so UCB will be an even more difficult admit.
OOS admit rates for 2021 was 14.1%.
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I am sure this information is here somewhere but don’t know how to find it. What has historically been the date for Berkeley to release decisions?
Last year Early decisions were out Feb 10 and Regular decisions on March 25.
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What are the early decisions? Regents? Special programs?
Early decisions are some high stat applicants, Regent candidates, some special program admits for GMP and MET.
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I’ve already brought this up sort of, but I wanted to get people’s takes on the personal insight questions, now that they seem to have even more importance than before.
I’ve seen college prep videos where they stress the importance of the quality of the format of the answers. I.e. structuring your answers as if you are writing a short essay in English class, with an intro sentence or “thesis”, some supportive information, and a conclusion that circles back to your thesis.
I’ve also read advice that says not to pay any attention to format, and treat it almost as a checklist, where you bang out only the pertinent information and not waste any words on repeating the question/reiterating a topic sentence. They want to get to know you through the PIQs, and don’t really care how you get that across.
I thought, perhaps, that if you are a humanities major, the format and writing quality would weigh more than, say, a CS major, but sense all L & S majors are undeclared coming in, your major selection shouldn’t weight at all into evaluating writing quality of your answers.
Anyway TLDR.
Those who are selected as candidates for Regents’ scholarships will know earlier that they are admitted (though the Regents’ scholarship outcome will not be known until later).
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The PIQs are NOT essays and should not be written as such. UC AOs say this over and over. They should read like a response to an interview question. No grabby intros. Very specific, showing growth. They should address how values, skills addressed will translate to the students’ time at UC.
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@Southoftheriver thanks. I think this is still news to hoards to students and teachers alike.
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If I applied to MET will I receive an application decision by February 10th regardless of whether I get into the MET program or not?
First of all February 10th was last years Early admission date but it could be different this year. Secondly, MET applicants could either here in February or March. Either way, you will get a decision.
Hmm, I didn’t realize the UCs had an “early” and a “regular” round. I thought there was just one - based on the single Nov 30th application deadline. What determines if an application will receive an early decision?
UCB admits some high stat, Regents and Chancellor scholarship candidates, some GMP and MET applicants early in February but around 8% of the applicants. Most will hear in March.
Other campuses that admit early such as high stat, Regent students are UCSB and UCI.
The majority of admits will be in March.
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Ok, thanks @Gumbymom!