<p>The letter of recommendation process is not like other schools. There is a link that you provide to your ONE reference, who will use it to enter their recommendation directly to the admissions committee. It is not by paper and the mail.</p>
<p>@ bluebayou: My stats would be good if I was in-state, but from what I've read on this site out of state is MUCH harder, and my stats may not cut it for that.</p>
<p>raganz:</p>
<p>Chill, buddy. What you "have read" is incorrect. Run UC Statfinder and you'll find that the admitted quantitative stats are not much different between instate and OOS. Regardless, a 32 is good enough for any college in the country, even HYP (altho on the low side). Your gpa is just below Cal's average.</p>
<p>Don't misinterpret: I'm not saying that you are in, just that you have a good shot, depending on your essays.</p>
<p>I think it is fair for Cal admissions to assume if a student really wants to get admitted, that the student will take advantage of the "option" of sending in a recommendation. If you want to go, send everything they ask for and more. The recommendation is short and the teacher does it online. Take heart that admissions is calling... it means your application is getting a very close read, which is to your advantage. They state on the supplemental application that the information you provide can only help and cannot hurt, doesn't it?
Also, Cal accepts kids who are not in the top 10% of their class for a variety of reasons. Contrary to popular opinion, Cal does not always weight the GPA more than the SAT's/AP's/IB's or other factors. The essay matters. They want to admit kids who will fit in at Cal.</p>
<p>@ bluebayou:</p>
<p>Thanks for the reassurance, that makes me feel a lot better. Its just that in my chances thread, pretty much everyone said that Berkeley would be a reach for me.</p>
<p>I got a supplemental questionnaire as well, only for my medical conditions. I had cancer the last 2 months of my sophomore year and the first semester of my junior year. My grades obviously suffered from this and that is what the questionnaire was helpful for. I earned a 3.95 gpa my first semester of senior year and got a 1990 on the sat I. for sat ii i got a 700 on us history ad 680 on literature. i'm just curious about what you guys think my chances are.</p>
<p>If you completed the questionnaire and did a nice job on it, your chances are very good. Let us know what happens.</p>
<p>If all of you click on the supp questionnaire threads from the last few years, then check out those who got them (by reviewing their posts, if they still post), more than 50% seem to have been accepted to Cal.</p>
<p>Alright. I also received a supplemental questionnaire on the 16th.
Mine was a "talent" questionnaire..
None of my friends who applied to Berkeley received one.
It's just MEEEEEEE!!! I'm really scared.
But I turned it in, and I did submit a recommendation letter as well.</p>
<p>My SAT scores aren't that great, so I guess I'm one of the "boarderline students."
Gosh, I hope this "augmented review" helps. <em>cross fingers</em></p>
<p>I received one too and I am very average as in 1800 sats and 4.2 GPA and pretty crappy ecs. Only one of my essays was actually good. I got the "socioeconomically disadvantaged questionaire"</p>
<p>Does anyone know how much it actually helps and if they do decide to accept us, do we get admitted in the spring of 2010</p>
<p>Sterilite, IT HELPS A LOT! It is the difference between you getting in and not. If you fight your case well enough, you may very well get in fall '09 or at least spring '09.</p>
<p>I have a question.
I submitted everything in time,(in less than the marked 10 days) but I wanted to revise my short answers for the questionnaire, so I did.
The site says that I could make corrections after submission but they can't be sure whether they will review my revised answers...</p>
<p>My answers and recommendation were turned in 3 days ago, and the correction was made TODAY. Do you think they will review my revised answers? Help!!!</p>
<p>they told me the same thing when I updated something about my transcript back in the first few days of december. i think it's somewhat of an automated response, I wouldn't worry</p>
<p>was it something really important that you changed?</p>
<p>^ It wasn't something very important--just a few grammar mistakes...</p>
<p>Does anybody know if the checkbox for "Letter of Recommendation" is checked immediately after the teacher submits it?</p>
<p>so when does Cal stop sending these questionnares?</p>
<p>I heard sometime in Feb although I'm not sure.</p>
<p>IvyRomantic, yes it's automatically checked right after the teacher submits it. That's what happened when my teacher submitted it</p>
<p>hm.. I received one on the 20th... submitted it on the 28th.. but still made changes today on the 30th.. (grammar stuff -.- ) I.. am very happy to get this "augmented review". I, honestly, not afraid to admit, do not have the stats for CAL (Below average GPA + Test Scores, but I do have a special talent and quite some ECs)... I guess I got this questionnaire because I have serious family circumstances...? Oh! and my sister is also at CAL right now as a junior... does that even matter? does the admission committee know about siblings? I'm not really sure. I read what people wrote on this message board and took the supplement seriously. I thought thoroughly about the questions and reworked them many times; wow! it really took me a lot of time! and I also submitted a recommendation.
The senior grades part... I havn't received my grades yet, but I am expecting my GPA to be around my usual GPA (which is nothing special), is that okay?</p>
<p>Does CAL only send this out to borderline students? </p>
<p>My family and I would be really happy if I get accepted into such a great school.</p>
<p>Hermanliu320 - </p>
<p>There are several types of questionnaires sent out. Did yours have a few questions that focused almost exclusively on your talent/EC? That is one type. Did yours focus more on academics and school? That one is for the narrow middle band of students on the border between admit and reject. Another deals with life challenges or disabilities and the questions are more focused upon that. </p>
<p>No, sibs or parents who attended Cal mean nothing (unless there is a major building on campus named after that family member because of a many-million dollar donation).</p>
<p>Actually, I met a guy who worked in development for Cal and he told me that it was VERY frustrating that even his biggest donors did not get development admits! I was skeptical, but he insisted it was true and was one reason it was hard for Cal to remain competitive with some of the privates for super wealthy donors.</p>