Not sure what you are asking? Yes, some applicants that received an LOR request will be admitted and some will not.
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I think they’re asking if one could still be admitted even if they haven’t received a LOR request.
Sorry meant to ask - Do students get acceptance even if LOR is not requested?
Yes, only about 13-15% of applicants are invited to submit an LOR.
Hello. I have an OOS applicant who applied in November and has not received info regarding the portal. Should he contact admissions, or is the date later for OOS applicants?
My D is OOS too, and received her portal info in mid-December. You may want to reach out to the admissions office. The email might have gone to the spam folder.
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I got mine 3 days after submitting early November.
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My kid didn’t get the email but did get the invitation to join some kind of chat group so we figured they must have her app. We did end up signing into the portal (like for other colleges) because I was getting paranoid about not receiving the email. Just used a link I found here on CC and did “reset password” and it was all fine (her email address was her login). OOS.
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This is so interesting. I wonder if UCB, UCLA and UCSD have changed their procedures to better show how they make decisions and why? The part in the state audit findings about not accepting many “strongly recommend” applicants and instead accepting those with a lesser rating - and then not being able to explain why is troubling. They note there are “institutional priorities” that they consider, so beyond athletes maybe in certain fields to satisfy faculty? I know there were the few that were the kids of donors, etc.
As was mentioned in that thread it makes sense to me that some algorithm is devised to sort through and identify top candidates for the early acceptance/regents. They probably sort and then do the traditional holistic review before determining the early acceptances.
Has anyone not received the video interview requests for met yet?
Is there a way to update UCs (UC Berkeley in particular) about the mid-semester grades for the seventh semester before decisions? Is it advisable to do that if the seventh-semester coursework is rigorous and grades are perfect (and past grades were good but not perfect)? If so how do we do it?
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I meant the seventh-semester final grades. i.e. mid-year (not mid-semester grades, sorry) grades for senior year?
None of the UC’s will accept Mid-year Senior grades and admission decisions are based on the information submitted on the UC application. In rare cases, some of the UC’s will do an augmented review where applicants can submit Senior grades but an email will be sent for this review.
Do not send any additional documents unless requested by the school.
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Got it. Thank you so much!
I’m new to the UC admissions process, and had 2 questions after reading through this/other UC boards a bit:
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Given the large number of competitive applicants, am I the only one kinda “hoping” my kid will get pulled in the 10-15% asked for a LOR (hers should be stunning, and they’re already done for other schools anyway)…or do they only select the 10-15% when there’s some clear question where they need more info?
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What is the conventional wisdom on how kids ought to be balancing out the UC GPA factors of “more classes and more rigor” vs “maxing the UC GPA calc?” With UC Capped and Weighted GPA having an upper bound of 4.4 (Assuming All A’s, minimum total number of classes and the max of 8 semesters of AP/Honors bonuses), I’m wondering how UCB and UCLA really view the UC GPA…on the one hand, higher GPA would normally be better, but strong applicants to these schools are surely taking heavier course loads than the bare minimum, which mechanically pulls down the Weighted and Capped GPA, even when the extra courses are AP/Honors…For example, my kid’s UC GPA is 4UW / 4.33 W&C, but including 7 semesters of grades and all AP/Honors, she has an overall 3.98UW/4.5W (the way other schools look at it)…and I can’t imagine anybody saying she would be better positioned for a UCB having taken a few less courses just to get the W&C GPA maxed out at 4.4…right?!?
Regarding the UC GPA’s. All 3 UC GPA’s are considered: Unweighted, Capped weighted and Fully Weighted. Since the UC’s consider all three of the GPA’s in their admission decision, an applicant that takes more a-g courses and does not have the perfect capped weighted 4.4 GPA will not be at a disadvantage since the fully weighted GPA will also be considered and their HS rigor will be noted.
The UC’s use 13 areas of criteria when reviewing applicants and I have listed the first 7 which emphasize academic rigor.
1. Academic grade point average in all completed A-G courses, including additional points for completed UC-certified honors courses.
2. Number of, content of and performance in academic courses beyond the minimum A-G requirements.
3. Number of and performance in UC-approved honors, Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate Higher Level and transferable college courses.
4. Identification by UC as being ranked in the top 9 percent of your high school class at the end of your junior year (Eligible in the Local Context, or ELC).
5. Quality of your senior-year program as measured by the type and number of academic courses in progress or planned.
6. Quality of your academic performance relative to the educational opportunities available in your high school.
7. Outstanding performance in one or more specific subject areas
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I totally understand your thinking here and your desire to make sure your daughter puts her best foot forward on her applications - but anecdotally, I would just like to say that my D20 neither received a LOR request nor played the “game” to max out her UC GPA (she took classes she wanted to take, albeit with plenty of rigor relative to her opportunities) and got in to both UCB and UCLA in the end.
I am going through the process again with D22 right now and I completely get the anxiety and pain of waiting, but I do trust that the process evaluates each kid in the context of their situation/opportunities/choices. I also trust that they land where they should in the end.
Now back to biting my nails while I trust the process and trust that D22 will land where she should be… 
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Was SAT scores considered back then? Would this explain why maxing out the GPA is more important now ?
UC’s have always been more GPA focused vs. test focused and they have always considered the three UC GPA calculations but were probably not as transparent about it in their Freshman admissions information.
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Yes, D20’s test scores were considered. But I don’t think (personally, not claiming direct insider knowledge of UC admissions) that means that it’s more important to max out the GPA now. They will still consider all the GPAs and still in context of the students’ opportunities.