<p>I’m wondering if anyone knows or has any thoughts on living in unit 3 with a triple?! As a transfer I am sure they match you up with other transfers…at least I think they match people with like statuses…
Also, I’m confused on the whole “you need to petition for your major when you come to cal”…im poli sci and have lots of pre reqs done so yea…</p>
<p>@Monergist
during the time that UCLA was in touch with me their questions were always about things that had been addressed clearly and repeatedly throughout my essays, and also noted in the brief notes written below the section submissions. yes, i am certain that they did not read my application essay. however, if you feel that they did read my essays you are free to do so. </p>
<p>of course admission committees get together and discuss the many aspects of applications, including the fact that students have been known to get other people to write their essays. why wouldn’t they discuss it?</p>
<p>i completely disagree that it is bleak. and i do not think sending questions to each individual student that they are considering, which i have heard they have been doing, is negligent in any way. nor is Not sending a single question to a student (like UCB in my case) negligent. it is Different. and diversity is vital to the survival of mankind and positive. </p>
<p>some kids were accepted to UCLA, some to UCB, some to both and others to neither.
schools can have different priorities, and since you have such a negative view of UCLA it is a positive thing for everyone that you were not admitted to a school that you do not have any respect for. why would you even apply to a school that you have such negative ideas about. anyway, i am not interested in this conversation. so bon voyage!</p>
<p>@northbeach</p>
<p>I think you’re misunderstanding what I’m saying.</p>
<p>The fact of the matter is, none of us can be absolutely certain what an admissions officer did or did not do with our applications. It’s all speculation. So it’s not a matter of if I want to believe that they read your application; I simply don’t know. </p>
<p>Just because a lawyer plays a video in court of a criminal clearly committing a crime, and then turns to the criminal and asks, “is that you?,” doesn’t mean he didn’t see the video. There are a number of reasons why people ask question to which they already know the answers. </p>
<p>I’m sorry that you’re offended and running off; I just like the topic of epistemology and I often hold these conversations with people who use such absolutes.</p>
<p>I understand that admissions committees convene to discuss these things, but the joke was if they actually took place in the manner of which I wrote.</p>
<p>I never said that “sending questions to students is negligent.” And I do agree that diversity is essential.</p>
<p>Lastly, I do not view UCLA negatively. My negative view is towards the way you’re describing the institution’s admissions process. And since neither of us can be absolutely sure of that process (I understand that you know without a shadow of a doubt), whether I have respect for the institution’s admissions process cannot be in question. </p>
<p>I applied simply as a “just in case I don’t get in anywhere else” solution. And we can all see that that plan back fired…lol. </p>
<p>Nice speaking with you and congratulations.</p>
<p>I’m kind of late to this thread but here we go. My first official rejection! LOL</p>
<p>Decision (including term): Rejected Fall 2012
Intended Major: Anthropology
UC GPA: 3.49
Major GPA: 4.0
Major Pre-reqs: Donezo
IGETC: Yarp</p>
<p>Which other UC’s did you apply to?
Applied: UCR, UCI, UCSD, UCD, UCLA, UCSC, UCSB, CAL
Accepted: UCR, UCD, UCLA, UCSC, UCSB
Rejected: CAL
Waitlisted: UCSD
Pending: UCI
SIR: UCLA</p>
<p>Extracurriculars?
Job/Work Experience: Lots and lots of work experience
Volunteer/Community service: Some in high school
Achievements/Awards:
Personal Statement: Great.</p>
<p>State (if OOS applicant):
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: CCC
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: M
Income Bracket: <30k
Hooks (URM, first generation college, research, etc.):first gen</p>
<p>Reflection:
Strengths: Personal Statements
Weaknesses: GPA
Why you think you were accepted/rejected: GPA
General Comments: I’m relieved that its over but I’m kind of glad that I did not get in so I would not have to feel guilty about SIRing to UCLA =]</p>
<p>So as with the rest you, I got rejected Friday. I really believed I had a good chance because everyone I talked to talk and everything I read told me Berkeley LOVES stories. You see, I’m dyslexic and I mentioned how I overcame my learning difference in my personal statement. I applied as a Political Science major. I also TAGed to Davis</p>
<p>My PGA: 3.3
My Major PGA: 3.0 - This I believed hurt me the most
All Pre-recs done.</p>
<p>I’m thinking of appealing and doing a few things:
- Still a poli sci major and just reiterate how I overcame many obstacles
- Change majors to philosophy, which has no correlated courses with my JC according to assist, and also reiterate how I overcame many obstacles</p>
<p>Your thoughts? Otherwise I may be seeing some of you at Davis.</p>
<p>My thoughts?</p>
<p>First off, congrats on Davis! Any of the UC’s are a great place to get an education, don’t let people and their ranks detract from that.</p>
<p>Second, the only time appeals are effective is when you have compelling NEW information that was not on the application/has happened since you applied, you find that the school has made a clerical error on/with your application, or you made an error on your application. Otherwise, it’s VERY difficult for someone to get an admissions committee to change their minds about a decision they made. They’ve read your app a few times already and made their decision, simply reiterating information isn’t going to get them to change their minds. It’s also very difficult at a school like Cal where there just isn’t room for everyone, they even push a good number of admitted applicants back to the spring semester to try and offset this. </p>
<p>About changing majors, you’re basically just asking them to read your app again and evaluate you again as a different major. They won’t do that, they already made a decision. I’m not saying don’t appeal if you really want to, just don’t expect much. </p>
<p>Best of luck to you.</p>
<p>Decision (including term): Accepted, Fall 2012
Intended Major: Materials Science and Engineering
UC GPA: 4.00
Major GPA: 4.00
Major Pre-reqs: required classes will be completed by this Spring
IGETC: Inc. 2 more classes needed</p>
<p>Which other UC’s did you apply to?
Applied: UCSB, UCI, UCLA, UCB
Accepted: UCSB, UCI, UCLA, UCB
Rejected: None
Waitlisted: None
Pending: None
SIR: UCB</p>
<p>Extracurricular?
Job/Work Experience: assistant at a Tech industry, and an undergraduate researcher
Volunteer/Community service: very little
Achievements/Awards: Deans list all college semesters, Outstanding Chem, Bio, Math awards in high school and college, OWL award
Personal Statement: Strong</p>
<p>State (if OOS applicant): CA
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: California CC
Ethnicity: South-East Asian
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: low
Hooks (URM, first generation college, research, etc.): 1st generation college student, undergraduate researcher at UCI</p>
<p>Reflection:
Strengths: GPA, personal statement, research experience
Weaknesses: very little volunteer experiences
Why you think you were accepted/rejected: research experience, personal statement, GPA
General Comments: Let’s challenge ourselves and enjoy the most out of it at Berkeley!! For those who will be transferring in coming years, make sure to spend a lot of time writing personal statement to make your essay stand out!</p>
<p>Decision (including term): Accepted for fall 2012
Intended Major: Applied Mathematics
UC GPA: 3.93
Major GPA: 4.00
Major Pre-reqs: All completed in fall 2011. Doing one extra (not required but recommended) math class in spring before transfer.
IGETC: Complete in Spring 2012</p>
<p>Which other UC’s did you apply to?
Applied: UCLA, UCI, UCSD, CSUN
Accepted: UCLA, UCI, UCSD, CSUN
Rejected: nowhere
Waitlisted:
Pending:
SIR: Most likely going to UCLA for math/econ</p>
<p>Extracurriculars?
Volunteer/Community service: None while in CC. Some random but interesting stuff from high school (like working with kids at a camp, latino club,…)
Achievements/Awards: Dean’s list
Personal Statement: I wrote them a week before the UC application was due. I’d say they were well written. Although without any relevant extracurriculars I struggled to provide concrete details and escape from generalization hell. For my major essay I wrote about how my electrical engineer grandfather inspired me to pursue math/science. For my personal experience essay I wrote about working on cars/engines. It was a bit weird but unique.</p>
<p>School Type: California CC - Santa Monica College
Ethnicity: Mexican/American
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: lower middle class</p>
<p>Strengths: High overall GPA and 4.0 major GPA. Having all of my requirements completed. Interesting essays. Maybe my major is not that popular either? Not sure if that factors in.
Weaknesses: NO EC’s lol
Why you think you were accepted/rejected: I’m honestly not sure why I was accepted to UCB. I work hard and I’m proud of the work I’ve done in school and the GPA I’ve maintained but I don’t fit the mold of the people I usually see accepted on here. While I think I may have the academic qualities to succeed at UCB, I’m not one of those who has dozens of club memberships, is student body president, is football team captain, etc. I’m happy but still a bit shocked.</p>
<p>I filled this out under the comprehensive thread, but I thought I’d contribute to the Berkeley thread as well.</p>
<p>Decision: Accepted, Fall 2012
Intended Major: English
UC GPA: 3.6
Major GPA: 4.0
Major Pre-reqs: All complete
IGETC: Complete by Spring 2012 (In Progress: Physical Science with Lab, Math)</p>
<p>Which other UC’s did you apply to?
Applied: UCD, UCSC, UCB
Accepted: UCD, UCSC, UCB
Rejected: N/A
Waitlisted: N/A
Pending: N/A
SIR: UCB</p>
<p>Extracurriculars?
Job/Work Experience: Copywriter, journalism internship, startup
Volunteer/Community service: Tutor, club founder
Achievements/Awards: Academic Honors
Personal Statement: I think they were strong. I was clear, honest, and made sure I humblebragged. I also had them proofed by instructors and friends. For future applicants, I would recommend looking up personal statement examples to use as a template. Of course your story will be different, but it was very helpful for me to see past and proven essays and keep them in mind while I applied my own story. </p>
<p>As for specific advice for English majors, a friend of mine (also English major) had their essay overlooked by a Cal Admissions officer (friend of a friend), and the officer did not like their approach to being creative or pretentious about word choice and narrative structure. He stated that applicants are not coming from premiere educational backgrounds and they are not expecting you to sound like you did. It’s why you are applying to Cal! To get that education. They want you to be clear and sincere about yourself without the extras. I think this is a great piece of advice since I think English majors probably do feel an added pressure to submit a well-written statement.</p>
<p>State (if OOS applicant): CA
Country (if international applicant): USA
School Type: CCC
Ethnicity: Asian/White
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: Low income
Hooks (URM, first generation college, research, etc.): First generation</p>
<p>Reflection:
Strengths: Personal statements, pre-reqs, grade trend (Straight A’s for the last 4 semesters)
Weaknesses: GPA. Also, I was a computer science major when I first started CC. I did amazingly in data structure interpretation classes using Scheme and Lisp, but OOP like Java put a big FAT F on my transcript. As much as I was interested in CS, English was my passion. Now that I think about it, data structure is a lot like English and that’s probably why I did well.
Why you think you were accepted/rejected: I was probably accepted because of my statements, work experience, first gen college title, and pre-req completion.</p>
<p>General Comments: Never ever depend on your counselor for transfer information. And I repeat: NEVER EVER. I’m not sure if it’s just laziness or being misinformed, but they do not spend the time to go over your individual needs. I found most of my info by discussing everything with people in my classes who shared the same major and school goals. And of course, when in doubt: GOOGLE, forums, GOOGLE.</p>
<p>I have to agree, take everything counselors, especially ones at junior college, with a grain of salt. And @ jdom24 thanks for your input, I think I will apeal simply because I have nothing to lose.</p>
<p>wow does cal really need our high school transcripts? awkward.</p>
<p>^^ LOL. yeah they do.</p>
<p>I’m so scared guys. I wrote down I was gonna take a course but couldnt enroll in it. Not GE, not pre-req. It’s a math class. Confusing thing is that I come from another 4 year university. I am scared they may confuse it for it being part of my prereq since there isn’t assist to help with transfers.</p>
<p>I am really really scared, anxious, nervous, out of my mind. I contacted my admission officer with a really really long email and I did not get a reply.</p>
<p>Do you think an admission officer makes decisions or do they end up consulting a different people? I am afraid this will take long and will drag out my pain</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>Decision (including term): Accepted, Fall 2012
Intended Major: English
UC GPA: 4.00
Major GPA: 4.00
Major Pre-reqs: complete by this spring
IGETC: complete by spring</p>
<p>Which other UC’s did you apply to?
Applied: UCSB, UCI, UCLA, UCB, UCSC
Accepted: UCSB, UCI, UCLA, UCB, UCSC
Rejected: None
Waitlisted: None
Pending: None
SIR: Not sure!! UCB or UCLA!</p>
<p>Extracurricular?
Job/Work Experience: worked for 2 years, 30 hours a week<br>
Volunteer/Community service: none
Achievements/Awards: Deans list all college semesters at both colleges i attended
Personal Statement: Strong</p>
<p>State (if OOS applicant): CA
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: California CC
Ethnicity: white
Gender: female
Income Bracket: middle class
Hooks (URM, first generation college, research, etc.): none i can think of</p>
<p>Reflection:
Strengths: GPA, personal statement
Weaknesses: zero volunteer hours
Why you think you were accepted/rejected: i believe my GPA and personal statements
General Comments:Trying to decide between CAL and UCLA!!! Congrats to everyone!!</p>
<p>Decision (including term): Accepted, Fall 2012
Intended Major: Economics
UC GPA: 4.0
Major GPA: 4.0
Major Pre-reqs: Completed by Fall 2011
IGETC: complete by spring</p>
<p>Which other UC’s did you apply to?
Applied: UCB, UCLA, UCSD, UCD, UCSB
Accepted: All
Rejected: none
Waitlisted: none
Pending: none
SIR: not sure. UCB or UCLA</p>
<p>Extracurriculars?
Job/Work Experience: worked for 2 years. 23 hrs a week
Volunteer/Community service: AGS, Department of Labor
Achievements/Awards: National Tutor Certificate, AGS, Dean’s honors
Personal Statement: Strong</p>
<p>State (if OOS applicant): CA
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Cali CC
Ethnicity: Chinese
Gender: F
Income Bracket: low income
Hooks (URM, first generation college, research, etc.): first generation college</p>
<p>Reflection:
Strengths: GPA, PS, Extracurriculars
Weaknesses: none that I can think of
Why you think you were accepted/rejected:
General Comments: I’m having a hard time to choose between Cal and UCLA.</p>
<p>^ iDizzle! i knew it, you should have checked the box “Female” then you would be IN. u gonna attend UCLA? Yeah!</p>
<p>@ north: hahah. Yeah I already SIR’ed to UCLA. Congrats on Cal though dude! Are you going?</p>
<p>hey! in case anyone’s curious, my grade reporting mistakes were not a problem. the woman who responded seemed so incredibly kind! i feel incredibly grateful.</p>
<p>Decision (including term): Accepted, Fall 2012
Intended Major:
UC GPA: 3.89
Major GPA: 4.0
Major Pre-reqs: completed
IGETC: completed</p>
<p>Which other UC’s did you apply to?
Applied: UCLA, UCSD
Accepted: UCLA, UCSD
Rejected:
Waitlisted:
Pending:
SIR: waiting to hear back from private colleges…major game changers back east. however, i really love berkeley. i am trying to not think about deciding on a school yet.</p>
<p>Extracurriculars?</p>
<p>Job/Work Experience: significant, given a lot of responsibilities and got to work with a lot of amazing people.</p>
<p>Volunteer/Community service: tons. volunteered with and employed at non-profits. did tons of volunteer hours with a true belief that i made a difference in the lives of those i served.</p>
<p>Achievements/Awards: not many academic awards except from high school. had pretty cool leadership opportunities in high school, but was not as involved in college due to my concentration on making more direct influence on the greater community. received an award from a state capital for my volunteer work which was pretty cool.</p>
<p>Personal Statement: 1. philosophy on my major and how i want to contribute academic pieces related to it in order to persuade a better society 2. growing up blues and my volunteer experiences</p>
<p>State (if OOS applicant):
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: public, community college
Ethnicity: asian
Gender:
Income Bracket: middle class
Hooks (URM, first generation college, research, etc.): first generation. did speak at a research conference, but not until after application was submitted. also graduated high school early.</p>
<p>Reflection: from what i have seen about admitted students, i overall feel like my gpa in addition to some of my leadership experiences gave me what i needed to get in.
Strengths: extracurriculars, volunteer service, meaningful essays, sense of purpose in life, GPA was good.
Weaknesses: could have had a better GPA. past that, i could have searched for more academic research opportunities, but being that my schedules have in the past been very busy, that would probably have meant sacrificing the time i spent volunteering. i wouldn’t sacrifice helping the kids for anything.
Why you think you were accepted/rejected: GPA + meeting the threshold for being a well-rounded candidate.
General Comments: congrats everyone!! 
i hope, if anything, you guys realize how powerful the next two years will be–whether you were admitted to berkeley or not. i’ve heard this before, and believe it to be true of all of us: we will all be leaders in what we pursue. wherever you end up, you have the ability to be great!</p>
<p>@iDizzle
yeah, i’m in! email address and all. pretty neat. if i change my mind on the 11th hour, you will see me at UCLA. haha.</p>
<p>Decision (including term): Accepted - Fall 2012
Intended Major: MCB - Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
UC GPA: 3.96
Major GPA: 4.0
Major Pre-reqs: Completed all for UCB
IGETC: Yes, indeed.</p>
<p>Which other UCs did you apply to?
Applied: UCSB, UCSD, UCLA
Accepted: All
Rejected: None
Waitlisted: None
Pending: None
SIR: Still deciding</p>
<p>Extracurriculars?
Job/Work Experience: Grader for chemistry and physics, tutor for general chemistry and organic chemistry
Volunteer/Community service: N/a
Achievements/Awards: Student of the year in my major
Personal Statement: In a word, ~awesome~. My English professor read my essays and submitted them to the counselors at my CC; they are going to use my essays as part of a personal statement workshop. Whoop.</p>
<p>State (if OOS applicant): CA
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: CCC
Ethnicity: Asian/White
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: <16,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, research, etc.): First generation college, relevant research experience, lived abroad on my own following high school</p>
<p>Reflection:
Strengths: Personal statements, completion of all major pre-reqs, GPA, research experience
Weaknesses: I had 7 Ws (many were from high school) which were explained in the 3rd “essay”.
Why you think you were accepted/rejected: See strengths. </p>
<p>General Comments: I honestly think it was my essays which secured my acceptance to UCB. I wrote them a few days before the November 30th deadline, but they were easy to write because I knew exactly how to answer the prompts. I believe my passion for biology and my personal strengths were conveyed convincingly and most importantly, genuinely. I took a creative approach as well. I initially wrote my essays as streams of consciousness which didn’t take me very long. What did take (A LOT of) time was whittling down the almost 3000 words to 1000 between the two prompts and rearranging the ideas. If I don’t stop myself this might turn into an essay as well… So, to future transfers: write your essays at least a couple of days in advance!</p>