I heard that some people in my school received emails from UC Berkeley requesting letters of recommendations. How is this possible when the deadline was only 2 days ago? I thought there was no advantage to applying early.
Deadline was 2 days ago but the UC application has been open since August, so many applicants could have submitted weeks earlier than the deadline. There is no advantage applying early other than to get it out of the way. UCB probably has some early review criteria for all applicants that triggers them to request LOR’s as the applications are submitted. LOR’s are new for this year so it is anyone’s guess.
@Gumbymom Thanks for the info.
@Gumbymom Actually this information is a little false. I was requested by Berkeley to send LOR’s after I had submitted by UC application around Nov 12th. This is the only way students are able to send any additional information for Berkeley as of yet. The LOR’s for UC Berkeley are due January 15th and they only select around 5-20% (not specifically specified) of applicants. This is to replace the augmented review process, and they are fully implementing this LOR system for next year’s applicants (Fall 2016 applicants are a “testing phase”).
I hope this has helped.
@hotwater98: Thank you for the information.
I’m an international student that submitted her app at the last minute (Nov 29 11:59 PM PST) and I’ve just received an email asking for an LOR from Berkeley.
I was a bit concerned between “oh darn, they didn’t like my application” and “oh my God, they’re considering me” and honestly still can’t decide which feeling to go with, but this info might be of some help.
@batool same here!!! that two feelings!
@batool You actually were 24 hours ahead of schedule!!! The last minute to submit was Nov 30 11:59 PM PST. I know this because my son was really last minute and got the LOR email earlier today. I hope it means they’re considering him. It’s not his number 1 but such a great school.
I didn’t get one, and now I’m feeling rejected already. Do you think they’re still sending out emails?
@hotwater98 : What is the “augmented review process” that you refer to? The U.C. party line is that all applications are read “holistically,” looking at the “whole student.” I have heard in the past that some kids get a second-level review – ie, they don’t get admitted right off the bat but the university requests more info, after which they often get in. My observation is that these kids have fallen short somewhere in their credentials – often, lower test scores (ie, the kids share that “I have a high GPA but low test scores” or something other deficit). Is this the type of review that the recommendations replace? So, applicants who are asked for recommendations are borderline? Also, how do you know that they are selecting 5-20% to submit recommendations? Is this anecdotal – or, something you saw in the press – or, word of mouth? I do not see this anywhere on Cal’s website but I can imagine that the admissions staff might be sharing this info (there was, for example, a “How Admissions Works at Berkeley” session on campus this fall, but I did not attend). I am wondering why my child was asked to submit recs. Also curious as to whether really strong students are being asked to submit recommendations…or just borderline applicants…or, since you suggest that this will be fully implemented next year, perhaps it is a random sampling. These requests seem to arrive within days of submitting your application – so for anyone who has not heard by now, don’t hold your breath. I don’t think, however, that it necessarily implies that you won’t get in. My child goes to a smaller school so there is not enough anecdotal data to even hazard a guess as to what this all means. Does anyone know a student with really high scores and a really high GPA that did not get a request? Those kids usually get in. That would be a clue. My child has a UC GPA 4.3 and 2100 SAT with perfect score on one section, lower on another – hence, “borderline.”
@pvcamom There’s a student in my class with a perfect ACT, strong EC’s related to his major, and a 5.0 GPA who did not receive a rec, request. He has already been recruited by Harvard lol so he wouldn’t attend anyway.
@nobelcollegekid Thank you. That pretty much settles it in my mind. It must be a random cross-section that has been asked. This makes sense if the goal is to roll this out to everyone next year (and I believe that this could be the case, as initially the U.C. Berkeley website said that “(all) applicants” were going to be able to submit recommendations, and only later qualified it by adding the “invitation” part). If eventually they are going to let every last applicant submit recommendations, then they should be running their “test” on the entire pool to see what it would look like on a broader scope. The upside, though, if you get asked this year, is that it might tip you over into the group of admitted students (assuming you have really strong recommendations) if you have a shortcoming. I guess we will know in March!
Not to get off-topic, but what is the highest UC GPA that one can get? I know that UC caps the extra points at total of four class (or eight semesters), no more than two coming from sophomore year. I hadn’t known this until recently. So, if you take 4 APs in sophomore year, for example, you only get an extra point for two of them from the UCs (no so with private schools). My child’s school does not offer APs sophomore year which feels like a bit of a handicap (my child has 5 APs in senior year that do not go into that UC GPA). I’ll put the link below, in case someone does not know what I am talking about. Do applicants get even higher than, say, 4.4-4.5 by taking college courses?
http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/counselors/q-and-a/honors/
@pvcamom: Both UCLA and UCB will also use uncapped UC GPA along with capped UC GPA.
@Gumbymom Thank you, Gumbymom. What makes you think they use both numbers? Did you read it somewhere and/or an admissions person said so? Or, is it word-on-the-street? I do know that you get a bit of “extra intel” when you chat with admissions people. I have not, though, ever heard this.
I have seen it several documents for UCB and UCLA regarding Freshman profile/admissions.
I have attached one such document and check 3rd page. The Average GPA’s noted, specifically states (weighted/uncapped).
Note document is from 2014. I haven’t seen the 2015 document.
http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/counselors/files/CC14/CC14-Directors_Combined-Freshman.pdf
@Gumbymom Thanks. This is quite helpful. It made me chuckle, actually. They refer to unweighted (3.89) and weighted/uncapped (4.39). What happened to to the weighted/capped number? That should be the number of record, so to speak, as they call out the fact that they cap. Well, is it all smoke and mirrors. They do what they want to do, I think. At our home, the plan will be: no new Cal sweatshirt until there is good news, if it comes, in mid-March. Until then, knowing that the 5.0 Harvard-bound kid did not get asked for a rec, it is “a random sampling of kids got asked for recommendations.”
I am going to qualify my remarks, based on a discussion I just had with someone who has done research for a living. They are probably doing a random sampling from “the middle” – ie, viable candidates (don’t know what this is – could be, for example, the 25-75th percentile). They are probably “cutting off the tails” in the distribution (the exceptionally strong and weak candidates). So, for the Harvard-bound 5.0 kid, they will not ask him to send in recs as they know they will take him no matter what (and why give him the extra burden of sending in the recs?). Likewise, there is probably a group at the bottom who gets passed over (ie, no rec is good enough to change the outcome). They are probably asking kids who hit that band of “good contenders” and then studying how/when a recommendation changes the outcome. So, I am updating my conjecture to “it’s a random group of kids who are contenders / strong applicants.”
Augmented Review is when they ask for supplemental questions from the applicant. This might include senior year first semester grades, letters of rec, etc. They usually chose borderline-to-become-accepted students or students who mention a hardship in their life.
I applied last minute on the 29th, and I received a request for LOR on the 4th. I think it is given to about 20 percent of applicants and generally means that the student is neither a certain admit nor a certain reject.
@hotwater98 Thank you for explaining what Augmented Review is, and putting a name to it. I had head about this “second-level review” but had never heard the name. I am posting a link for a current LA Times article that everyone can read to learn more. It is interesting, as I think I am hearing/reading two different things. One is that recommendations may, or are, replacing Augmented Review. That makes sense. From a time commitment, it’s unlikely that they would do both reviews and recommendations. But there is also a suggestion that ALL kids will be allowed to submit recs for U.C.B. next year. If you read the article, you can see that this is controversial. These are two very different things: Augmented Review applicants are a subset, versus “all applicants submit recs” which is everybody. So, I guess that the kids this year are a bit of a test. And yes, jessmint10: I think this means you are neither a certain admit nor a certain reject. You are in the grey zone. My child too. You have to hope that recommendation is pretty darn great. It will tip you one way or another (though I suppose your overall application will get yet another look, and that may drive the decision too). Thank you for this discussion. I helps me to understand what the request means…so we can set expectations regarding The Golden Bears. There are many wonderful schools out there and Cal is but one. Here’s the link:
http://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-uc-recommendations-20151004-story.html