Hello,
I recently received an email from Cal asking that I submit 2 letters of recommendation. Is this a good thing? Not sure what to make out of this…
I believe that each UC audits 10% of its applicants and requires them to submit proof to verify one aspect of the application. I’m not sure if that’s what’s going on in your case, but I doubt they’re considering borderline applicants this early in the process. I THINK they first label applications as auto-admit/rejects or somewhere in the middle, and a whole group of people look at and vote for the candidates who are in between.
What the above poster is talking about is Augmented Review, which is something else. UCB is trying out a new policy this year, sending out LOR requests to more applicants than in the past (about 20% as I’ve heard). As for what it means, there’s a lot of discussion and debate going on. You can check out what people are saying here: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-berkeley/1827940-uc-berkeley-class-of-2020-applicant-discussion-p13.html
So if the recommendations were stellar, wouldn’t that give an advantage to the 20% over the rest of the applicants?
@just4school Not really. No one is really at a advantage or disadvantage. Submitting a letter of recommendation gives UCB another reason to say YES for a borderline applicant.
I’m not sure that it’s just for borderline applicants. I got one and everything in my application is above the average. Other people in these forums had like 2350s and 4.0 gpas UW etc. and they, too, received the LOR email.