@richard4912
That makes sense. Engineering undeclared is even more impacted than EECS, which would explain why you received the request despite your impressive stats.
Okay, honestly, it’s important to note that UC colleges, especially Berkeley and LA use the personal statements as good indicators of your abilities and ways of thinking. It’s mostly that first impression that attaches importance to your application and admission status and not just the scores.
got a request
dunno what my gpa is
2150 sat (780 M 700CR 670 W) ~ low for engineering… Waiting for December scores.
act 32 (35 M 34 E 30 R 30S )
800 Math 2
780 Physics
IB: English A SL (6) Spanish B SL (7) Math HL (6) Chemistry SL (7) Physics HL (6) Comp Sci HL (7) (total 39/42)
decent essays I guess
applied engineering undeclared (yes I know most competitive major, didn’t realize it at the time. sigh. sent them an email asking them to change major to engineering mathematics and statistics)
American citizen from India, female.
Just throwing this in here but I got the same email but I wasn’t anywhere near any of your grades. I applied to the UC schools without expecting offers so I was quite surprised.
Anywho I got 31 IB Points (HL English LangLit + HL Visual Art +HL History) and a 1550 SAT (I forgot I had to take it haha). These scores are nowhere near ANYTHING that a school like Berkeley would consider. I had very strong EC’s (which is why my academics took a downturn) and I think thats the only thing that might even give me a chance if any. I am applying for media studies. Additionally I took a gap year and I had no help with essays or applications- my school counsellor told me she can’t help me- but I still had a kickass essay.
I would feel super happy if someone else with poor scores + grades also received the request for LORs.
I did not receive a request. My stats are 2320 SAT, top 5% of class, decent extracurriculars. Applied to college of Letters and Sciences.
For those who didn’t get a LOR does that basically means we are either accepted or rejected already?
I received an email saying that i was not selected for the LOR, but i cannot find any information on how they select who needs to send in these letters. Anybody have any idea how they make this decision?
Oops, just saw the comment with the direct quote about “borderline applicants”, never mind
Has anyone taken a look at this http://academic-senate.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/committees/aepe/freshman_policy_revised_approved.pdf yet? Do you guys know what it means? Are the people who were asked for LOR the"Possible" Recommendation?
Nobody knows at this point. But probably yes.
I just found this other document (different from the one linked above) and this MIGHT explain why we’re receiving the request:
“The Predictive Index Review gives a predictive read recommendation (“Yes,” “Possible,” “No”) for students based on easily quantifiable academic, socio-economic, and contextual factors. When a candidate’s actual read recommendation differs from his or her predicted read recommendation, that candidate may be selected for additional review.”
i had attended an admissions session with my D at UCB last July. The admissions officer had actually stated that this was a new policy and her wording seemed to imply that every applicant was supposed to send LORs. I am surprised that there are any who did not get the LOR request
According to UCB’s website:
In April 2015, UC Berkeley adopted a new freshman admission policy. Starting in fall 2015, some applicants to UC Berkeley will be invited to submit two letters of recommendation. This will be optional and not required.
There may have been some misinformation regarding LOR’s last July so according to the website and other sources, around 20% of applicants were asked for LOR’s (random sampling), not everyone. Possibly next year, it might be a requirement for all applicants but for this year, the applicants were invited to submit.