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Admissions officers already have a lot to deal with, sorting through so many applicants.
Berkeley's admissions page says they look at everything, and they look at it more than once. They may even request additional information by having the student fill out a supplemental questionnaire.
White male, CA resident, went to top private school in LA, varsity sports, 10 years of piano, trilingual, 1500 sat, 3.7 GPA probably ~8 APs with 5s on them. I guess that plus a good personal statement got me into all three.
When did you apply? What do you mean "8 APs with 5s on them"? What constitutes a good personal statement, one that got you admitted? Your numbers don't seem competitive by today's standards.
Not disputing your comment to LexusNexus at all, but your mention of 1500 SAT scores, indicates that you applied quite some time ago.
I was accepted for admission in 2005. I took the Sat in 2004 the last year of the old scoring system.
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Originally Posted by LexusNexus
When did you apply? What do you mean "8 APs with 5s on them"? What constitutes a good personal statement, one that got you admitted? Your numbers don't seem competitive by today's standards.
My Sat score was 98th percentile. According to the college board that would be a 2270 in 2014.
I received a 5 (the highest possible score) on seven APs tests.
English language
French language
Spanish
Calc ab
Bio
US history
Euro history
Think I got a 4 on French lit and Chem.
That GPA was unweighted and considering I took about 10 AP classes, the weighted GPA would definitely be over 4.
I just looked at the student profile for Berkeley. I am quite confident those numbers would still be just as competitive today as considering my scores were in the top quartile and my GPA was right in line.
With regards to a my personal statement I really don't remember. If I recall you just had to do 1 UC app and just check boxes to where you wanted to submit it. So therefore whatever the essay was about it was not tailored specifically to Berkeley.
Bottom line:
Be smart, do well in school, do extracurricular crap, try to convince them you're not a boring nerd, and most importantly apply to lots of schools.
I wanted to go to Yale. I applied EA and got deferred. Ended up not getting in. I survived and it was not the end of the world.
Students need to realize that the world beyond college is not going to judge them "as a whole person," but strictly in terms of the marketplace and its current needs.
You didn't refute that point.
You didn't even address it.
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Having a seal of approval from a particular prestigious school is not going to get your first novel accepted, your business proposal accepted, etc.
Ditto.
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There comes a time in life when the world stops revolving around you -- however brilliant you are -- and you have to deal with it on its own terms.
Ditto.
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This is especially true because of the disconnect between college and the job market. If you go to Harvard Business School and do well -- and you're reasonably presentable -- then you probably have it made in terms of a successful career on Wall Street. But most paths from college to career are far less clear than that.
Ditto.
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Students accepted to Juilliard or Curtis already qualify as professional musicians, because they are musical prodigies who are simply going in for a little fine tuning. That is not the case with most music majors around the country.
Ditto.
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My own goal in going to college was self-enrichment, not a career. That is perfectly legitimate as long as you accept the fact that a degree does not mean you will automatically get a good job.
Ditto.
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But even if you are focused on a career in a high demand field, you have to understand that life after college will be even more competitive than getting into a prestigious school. Why? Because society only needs so many "chiefs" (lawyers, dentists, CPAs, college professors, business executives.)
Ditto.
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I think we would be better off if we matched the number of college students to the number of likely career opportunities and tracked students at an early age as they do in Europe, with most going into apprenticeships and only a few attending a university.
Ditto.
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If you look at the legal profession over the last thirty years, it is downright pathetic that there are so many law school graduates who can't find good jobs as lawyers.
Law school is expensive, stressful, and should only be experienced by those with a good chance of becoming lawyers.
It is a crime that the number of accredited law schools far exceeds the number needed to meet the nation's need for lawyers.
I just cite that as an example of how irresponsible our colleges are when it comes to looking out for the interests of their students.
Ditto.
Not liking what someone says is not the same thing as refuting it.
You're joking, right? Contrary to false belief, every essay doesn't include mention of race.
Essays are an opportunity for students to talk about their personal lives, situations and goals.
All you have to do is read between the lines.
From Berkeley's description of its own admissions process:
"For an applicant who has faced any hardships or unusual circumstances, [admissions] readers consider the maturity, determination and insight with which the applicant has responded to and/or overcome them. Readers also consider other contextual factors that bear directly upon the applicant's background, parental education level, and other indicators of support available in the home."
This isn't rocket science.
Last edited by dechatelet; 06-11-2015 at 01:39 AM..
Berkeley's admissions page says they look at everything, and they look at it more than once. They may even request additional information by having the student fill out a supplemental questionnaire.
Okay, time to check.
Berkeley's admissions page says that they do NOT look at portfolios.
It seems that you are familiar enough with their admissions page (about supplemental questionaires, etc.) that you would already know that.
So I wonder why you persist in stating something that you already know is false.
Last edited by dechatelet; 06-11-2015 at 01:42 AM..
The most heart-wrenching conversations I had were with students who hit all the listed benchmarks and didn't get in. I would tell them about the overall competitiveness of the applicant pool and the record low admit rate we had. But after I hung up the phone, I knew I wasn't being transparent.
There was always a reason. Once in a while, it was something concrete, like the student got a low grade in an academic course even though his or her overall GPA remained high. Often, it had to do with the fact that the application had no "tag." A tag is the proverbial golden ticket for a student..." The truth about 'holistic' college admissions - LA Times
Sorry, but it does matter. White females are the most populous demographic in college. If gender didn't matter they could fill their entire class with white, female applicants. Colleges fill their classes based on a prescribed "look" for their school and that make-up is say 40% white female, 20% URM's, whatever. It's not discrimination. It just is what it is. Being Asian is even harder to overcome, especially in CA. Overall in the college admissions process nationwide however, being a white, female is the hardest class for admissions.
How do I know she is a white female, because he said she was non-Asian and if she were a Hispanic or Black female (or male) with those stats, she would be in with no question...
As a dad of a very bright white, female who was ignored by big name universities while minority students with lower GPAs and class status were given slots in those schools.
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