Hi I received LOR request from UC Berkeley yesterday. I applied for College of Chemistry (chemical engineering) and I am from Out of State. I was wondering if anyone knew what this could potentially mean? I’ve heard that it is only sent to borderline applicants but just by looking at GPA, SAT/ACT scores, and brief descriptions of EC, some people who have received the LOR request do not seem like borderline applicants… I am genuinely curious and wanted to see if anyone had any ideas or asked the admissions office about it already? Thanks!!
Hey there. I received the same email 3 days ago. I’m an international student. From what I’ve heard it means that you’ve not necessarily got the grades + scores to warrant acceptance outright but you have something which they may want. Thats what I’ve heard but I’m really curious as to whether theres any other reasons.
I also received the email. My GPA (weighted) is 4.41 and my SAT score is 1820 which is not at the average for UC Berkeley. Apparently this is supposed to be random but I feel like you are right about people receiving this email because they are on the fence of being admitted…
There is a huge thread on this already: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/19064235#Comment_19064235
Please go there.
@abcd123efg Hm… really? Because my friend who has SAT score of 2350, 4.0 perfect GPA, and 800 on both SAT II’s also got a request.
@KimHyunJun I think your SAT score is okay!! And from what I’ve heard, getting LOR means they are still willing to accept you so don’t lose hope!! (and haha… from your username I can tell that you are Korean 
I am also Korean!)
@lolacell That was what I was told and seemed to make sense. I got a disastrous SAT score and an average IB score which certainly didn’t warrant any attention.
My EC’s are awesome though and I wrote a great essay. I reeived that email so I assumed that was the reason. However after seeing a forum pertaining to this topic I quickly felt very uncomfortable because everyone had 2100+ SAT scores and everything. I was just told that they need more convincing that you deserve a place because you didn’t jump out enough at first glance.
@abcd123efg hm I see… I am still getting different opinions from different posts that people make so hopefully getting LOR request is a good sign!!
This is a thing berkeley is doing. Unless the supplemental questions are attached, it’s part of the normal application. http://admissions.berkeley.edu/freshmanpolicy
I screwed up. More people, not more, are getting the letters.
@redrev huh? what do you mean more people, not more