<p>I was wondering, do Berkeley and LA really focus on your essay in the holistic review process?</p>
<p>Because my essay wasn't anything too fancy it was straight to the point and listed what i wanted exactly. Do the UC's want something thats unique in the essay sense? I hope my essay isn't that thing that keeps me from getting into college because a lot of people say essay is extremely important i just filled it out to the best of my ability..... hopefully it's enough?</p>
<p>I’ll be honest, I didn’t apply to either Cal or UCLA, but I have heard that an essay IS taken greatly into consideration in your application. The holistic review allows admission representatives a more thorough approach to assessing an applicant. It goes beyond a student’s strength in academics, meaning having an excellent GPA is not enough for them. They place weight on essays and extracurriculars as well. I suppose if a student was borderline admission, but had a stellar essay, it could quite possibly gain them entrance into the school.</p>
<p>Other CC’ers- Those who are more familiar with the holistic review, please add onto (or make corrections, if necessary) what I have written.</p>
<p>I went to one of those transfer conferences at ucla and they said the statement can only help you, it won’t hurt you. Example if you’re slightly under the gpa they accept but you have a great essay you might get accepted.
Berkeley I’m not sure but ive heard they do place a greater emphasis on the statement and your background than ucla.</p>
<p>I talked to someone at UCLA, it was some sort of front desk lady for admissions and she told me they basically don’t look at your essay almost at all; they mostly care about GPA. I also talked to a Berkeley admissions rep who came by my cc, and she told me specifically that while my GPA is great, she wants me to focus on my e.c. and essay to make sure my application is great all around, which makes me think they’re definitely holistic.</p>
<p>This worries me because my EC’s and GPA are pretty decent, but after re-reading my essay i don’t feel as confident since it doesn’t involve any story line it is just stating what i have done and obstacles that i faced. I really want to go to Berkeley, but i don’t know how my essay compares to all the other people im up against :-/</p>
<p>What do you think a good GPA is for UCLA then? If my GPA is a bit higher than the avg GPA for admits to my major last year, and I’m TAP certified, I’m assuming that’s pretty good? I need a reason to stop freaking out haha.</p>
<p>I know Haas applicants had to write an extra essay in the winter update. I think this essay is weighted more than your other two “generic” ones.</p>
<p>I went to the UCB TAP personal statement workshop and they read 3 or 4 personal statements from students that were accepted along with their GPAs. They take the PS very seriously as it is their only chance to find out what type of person you are. They look for passion in your major as well as some good qualities about yourself. I also participated in Experience Bekreley and had a former transfer student share their essay with me. It pretty much had the same elements of what I said above. Your personal statement is your chance to put you grades and ECs in context also. Everyone I talked to at UCB says that the personal statement is very important and should be taken seriously. I worked on mine since May of last year and have a high GPA and I’m still nervous about getting in.</p>
<p>I spent a long time on mine too, but still feel other people have much superior English in comparison to mine. Like i tried pretty hard to write what i felt was good, but now after reading other peoples essays i feel less confident about mine, i really hope my other activities and gpa are taken into higher consideration otherwise if it were purely essay(or a hefty amount) I would pretty much freak out. :-/</p>
<p>to you guys who read admitted students essays, where those essays extremely good beyond belief or were some mediocre?</p>
<p>I was in Experience Berkeley as well and worked with Angela Skrivanich on my PS. Basically what I was told was that your statements act as the “interview” part of the application process. They want to get a sense of who you are and what you want out of your education. If your concern has more to do with the quality of your writing than the content, I wouldn’t worry so much because I was told time and time again that it was what you wrote, not how you wrote it, that matters most. It doesn’t need to be fancy (my Experience Berkeley mentor’s wasn’t at all); as long as you were honest and stuck to the prompts you shouldn’t be too worried about it.</p>
<p>I’ve also heard that LA puts less weight on the personal statements than Berkeley, but I haven’t personally spoken with anyone in admissions about it.</p>
<p>Also, (I know this is an exercise in futility, but I’m gonna say it anyway) you’ve done all you can do. Worrying about what you could have written won’t change anything, so the best thing you can do is put it out of your mind (Inconceivable!) until April 27th.</p>
<p>I’ve never read any essays by anyone else, but I do remember the info I gathered from the Berkeley site a while back. They say that it’s important to just be yourself. I guess that’s really hard for some people, maybe because they feel their lives are uneventful? You don’t need to overcome sickness + a few deaths in the family, etc. to write a good personal statement. </p>
<p>I bet ya the simpler it is, the more they will like it.</p>
<p>I was told by one of the admissions staff at the PS workshop that both prompts are equally considered. They want to see why you are interested in your major and they also want to learn something about you that your grades and ECs don’t tell. You don’t have to have had a dramatic life experience either, but you should have had done something that you are proud of that you can write about. One essay that was read to us was from an english major that just wrote about her love for writing and how she wrote since she was little. There was nothing spectacular about her story but her passion for writing came through the essay and that is what got her in.</p>