<p>Grades are hugely important (a 2300 on the SAT won't make up for a 3.3 GPA), and as Gryffon5147 said, it's getting more and more competitive. As such, they have to evaluate based on more factors (ECs, essays, etc.) and also have to turn away a lot of great applicants. UCLA, for example, got a record # applicants at 51k, I think, with Berkeley right behind it with 47k. So yeah, pretty competitive.</p>