Hi guys,
I just received an email inviting me to apply for The Leadership Award and I was wondering 1) if everyone gets that email and 2) Is it worth it to apply/how competitive is it?
We received it too (student at public school in CA involved in leadership through high school student government and sports). We also are curious if every applicant to Cal received the email. I have no information about the scholarship itself (in terms of how competitive it is).
I would like to know this too. Received my email today.
I don’t believe that everyone receives the invitation. D received hers today. Her two older brothers, currently students at other UC’s, did not receive the invitation. There’s a 2014 thread regarding this in which folks posted their thoughts and anecdotes.
I got it too. I guess everyone who listed a lot of leadership in their EC’s got the email, because I had a ton of leadership.
yep i got it too. lots and lots of leadership
“You are no more or less likely to be admitted to UC Berkeley because you have received this invitation, and your decision to apply or not apply for Cal Alumni Association scholarships will not affect your application status.”
They probably send it to anyone that demonstrated some sort of leadership position in activities in their application.
I received that one and the one for low income.
No, they do not send it to all applicants, only applicants with apparent leadership history.
It is very competitive. However, it is worth applying if you will not qualify for any need based financial aid, as it is the only completely merit-based scholarship for freshmen other than Regents.
"679 students have been selected from over 13,000 qualified applicants to receive one of our three scholarships: The Achievement Award Program, The Equity Scholarship, or The Leadership Award. "
http://alumni.berkeley.edu/community/scholarships/2014-scholars
I received the scholarship invitation for the Achievement Award Program but not the Leadership Award. I’m a bit worried. I had some pretty good leadership EC’s on my application. 
Is it possibly based on the scholarships you checked off that you were interested in at the beginning your application? Or is it actually based off what you wrote in your application?
^^good point. Yeah probably what we checked off in the beginning of the application.
I’m a freshman this year at cal, got the same email, applied for the scholarship, and ultimately received the award! But everyone pretty much gets the email, and it doesn’t affect your chances of getting/losing the scholarship. If you guys want more info, you can PM me!
I’m a transfer student that has absolutely no demonstrated leadership in terms of activities, and I got an invite.
The application deadline is three weeks before Berkeley’s notification date, so you would have to apply before you found out if you were admitted or not.
Last year my older son received this invitation, applied and did not get into Berkeley, so it does not mean you will be admitted. (He had good grades, stellar test scores, leadership, the whole package) However, you should go for it, as college admissions and scholarships are a big crap shoot and if you never take a shot you will never score the win! Good luck!