<p>Appeal to UCLA!</p>
<p>That makes sense. That major is even more competitive than mechanical engineering at Berkeley.</p>
<p>Yes, I’ve heard (from the EECS department) that EECS (and Engineering Undeclared, which is not available to transfer students) is the hardest engineering major to gain admittance to at Cal. They could be biased, but I imagine they have the data to back it up.</p>
<p>@HeatZz - I agree that UCLA probably looks at GPA almost exclusively. I was talking about Berkeley.</p>
<p>Going through the UCB decision thread I see a lot of accepted 3.5-3.9 GPAs with good ECs and some rejected 3.9-4.0 GPAs. Yes, even in engineering.</p>
<p>Go to this thread and look at posts #697, #737, #738, #773, and #777 in particular:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/uc-transfers/1494124-uc-berkeley-transfer-decisions-2013-a-52.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/uc-transfers/1494124-uc-berkeley-transfer-decisions-2013-a-52.html</a></p>
<p>The biggest factor here is that EECS is super competitive.</p>
<p>@avatar
Thanks for the post man. Looks like this was just a super tough year for my major. If I had applied as something else, like just EE or just CS, I probably would have gotten in. But no, I HAD to do EECS. Lol.</p>
<p>@rybridges16: EECS is the hardest major to get in for Berkeley. I hope this will help you
-----> <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/uc-transfers/1497514-uc-berkeley-2013-fall-official-decision-college-engineering.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/uc-transfers/1497514-uc-berkeley-2013-fall-official-decision-college-engineering.html</a></p>
<p>@CSfuture
Hey thanks for the reply man. I made a post in your thread. I cant believe there are people in there that got in with lower GPA than me and not all of the pre-reqs done. That is mind blowing.</p>
<p>I feel like UCLA and UCB were able to narrow it down to 40-60 well qualified students for my major. They only admit 20-30, so they just put everyone’s name on a piece of paper and picked 25 names out of a hat. It was like winning the loto this year.</p>
<p>I think it is most likely your personal statement. As far as I know, PS is extremely important. I was in TAP, and this is what they told me. I have PM you for the PS with my mail.</p>
<p>Not having E.C.s does not count against you, but they do give students that have them adhead of you. So because your lack of E.C.s are inversely related to the people with great E.C.s (probably more students then you realize) you are negatively impacted. Also, they are actually important to many engineering and heavy research science majors because the research process if extremely collaborative. Ask anyone. The of the biggest problems some students have are that they don’t have the social skills necessary for the group dynamics of lab work and aren’t capable of thinking outside of the box.</p>
<p>I would definitely appeal both decisions. Don’t let the tone of Berkeley’s response deter you from appealing. They are probably overwhelmed with students in similar or less-justified position than you. It’s unlikely that you’ve been penalized because of your race. It’s already illegal so why spend any time, of which you don’t have much, making conclusions on how they played a role in your case. They didn’t and even if you or someone else is so sure they did, what are you going to do? Start your appeal with the history of institutionalized racism against white males in this country? They don’t have access to information in regards to race unless someone explicitly mentions it in their personal statement, which even then is frowned upon and a clear sign of desperation.</p>
<p>Take this time to talk to people you trust and put their suggestions and advice before some random person on this blog, me included. Stay calm and make sure you devote enough time to your studies while you try to come up with the best appeal you can muster. If things don’t happen the way they should, know that 1) you’ve been admitted to some great schools, 2) you have the satisfaction of knowing how much people are in shock that you didn’t get in, and this may be the biggest of all, 3) life isn’t fair and no one is entitled to jack-sh#t. Really, it sucks and I’m not saying you shouldn’t do norhing or can’t be upset, but you have to know that way worst things happen to individuals every single day. Take a deep breath and think about how relatively insignificant this is compared to if you, I don’t know, lost your legs or your family lost all of their savings.</p>
<p>Here’s hoping they made an error in judgement that can be rectified in time for Fall.</p>
<p>-sorry for any grammatical or formatting errors. Writing this on my phone while traveling.</p>
<p>No, they don’t pick names out of a hat; two readers subjectively score the application from 1-5; for Engineering, there are separate admission tiers for each major.
UC transfer admissions are essentially based on GPA; whether prerequisites for the major, college and university have been met; and for COE at Berkeley, demonstrated interest in the major. </p>
<p>“Only applicants who have completed 100 percent of the required core courses for Berkeley Engineering—as outlined on ASSIST— will be considered for admission.”</p>
<ol>
<li>Is the personal statement important?</li>
</ol>
<p>The personal statement on the application for admission is very important. Our faculty members are particularly interested in learning about the applicant’s interest in engineering and their selected major, experiences (work, school, etc.) that were influential in the decision of the selected major, and goals and aspirations.
[Prospective</a> Transfer FAQ ? UC Berkeley College of Engineering](<a href=“http://coe.berkeley.edu/students/prospective-students/faq/transfer-faq.html]Prospective”>Prospective junior transfer FAQs - Berkeley Engineering)</p>
<p>The rest of the application- personal statement, extracurriculars etc- gives the two readers information of the proper context to consider the Gpa, academic and other accomplishments when scoring the application 1-5, or really 1-4 since 5 means the applicant did not meet minimum stated UC admission standards. 1 is the best score. As long as the two readers scores do not differ by more than +1, the scores are averaged. If there is more than a +1 difference, a senior reader who is a full time employee scores the application. There are no set standards for scoring an application 1-4. It is totally subjective. Only a 5 has an objective standard meaning that an applicant did not meet the minimum requirements to be considered. After the applications are scored, admission is by tiers and the tiers are either college wide by the field of the major for L&S or by major for Engineering. In other words, if L&S Social Science Field has 1,000 transfer slots and 100 applicants are scored a 1, all 1’s are admitted, regardless of major. So are all 200 1.5’s and 300 2’s. There are not enough slots for the 600 2.5’s so there is further scoring of the 2.5’s and the L&S Social Science Field transfer class is filled. All 3’s, 3.5’s and 4’s are rejected. For Engineering, the same takes place for each major. The issue is that you do not know what your application was scored by the readers. The very fact that they average scores shows that the process is arbitrary. In highly selective majors like EECS a 1 might be required for admission. If one reader scored the application a 1 and the other a 2, it would be averaged to a 1.5 and there would be no further review and the applicant would be rejected. UC’s do not inform applicants what scores the two readers assigned and what the admission tiers were. </p>
<p>EECS is one of the most competitive Engineering majors at Berkeley. For 2012, only 13% of applicants were admitted.
See page 5:
<a href=“http://students.berkeley.edu/files/admissions/12626_5.info_transadm.pdf[/url]”>http://students.berkeley.edu/files/admissions/12626_5.info_transadm.pdf</a>
Computer Science and Engineering is similarly competitive at UCLA:
[Profile</a> of Admitted Transfer Students by Major, Fall 2012 - UCLA Undergraduate Admissions](<a href=“http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/prospect/adm_tr/Tr_Prof12_mjr.htm#SEAS]Profile”>http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/prospect/adm_tr/Tr_Prof12_mjr.htm#SEAS)</p>
<p>At “School Reports” tab, find California Community College to view academic profile of students enrolled at UCLA and other UC’s.
[Looking</a> for StatFinder? | UCOP](<a href=“http://statfinder.ucop.edu/]Looking”>http://statfinder.ucop.edu/)
[Above website was taken off line in mid November. Must now call UCOP and ask for stats for a particular community college. If enough people do maybe they will put the website back on line.]
[Applying</a> to UC: The Personal Statement 2007 - YouTube](<a href=“Applying to UC: The Personal Statement 2007 - YouTube”>Applying to UC: The Personal Statement 2007 - YouTube)
[Fuzzy</a> Admissions At UCLA](<a href=“http://www.mindingthecampus.com/originals/2008/09/if_you_like_whodunit_books.html]Fuzzy”>http://www.mindingthecampus.com/originals/2008/09/if_you_like_whodunit_books.html)
<a href=“http://images.ocregister.com/newsimages/news/2008/08/CUARSGrosecloseResignationReport.pdf[/url]”>http://images.ocregister.com/newsimages/news/2008/08/CUARSGrosecloseResignationReport.pdf</a></p>
<p>How important is the personal statement for undergraduate admissions? (UCLA and Berkeley)</p>
<p>They look at your grades and completion of major pre-reqs first.
personal statements are meant to make a decision among border-lining candidates</p>
<p>The Personal Statements are very important. They give the readers information regarding the context of achievement so that they can score the application 1-4. The scores are totally subjective; there are no set objective guidelines as to what constitutes a 1, 2, 3 or 4. A score of 5 is objective; it means the applicant did not meet the minimum standards to apply. One example, the name and race/ethnicity of applicants are removed from the applications that the two readers score. The reply to the personal statement prompt regarding the applicant’s world allows the applicant to inform the two readers of this information. As long as the two scores assigned by the readers do not differ by more than one point, the scores are averaged and there is no further review before the initial admission tiers are set for the college, field of the major, or major. Engineering admission tiers are by major at both Berkeley and UCLA.<br>
This UC produced Video is quite informative:
[Applying</a> to UC: The Personal Statement 2007 - YouTube](<a href=“Applying to UC: The Personal Statement 2007 - YouTube”>Applying to UC: The Personal Statement 2007 - YouTube)</p>
<p>I know people who completely BS the essay but still got in UCSD, UCLA… As long as you have strong academics, you don’t have to stress over the essay too much</p>
<p>@Tommy17
Thanks a lot for the info man. That is really helpful. How did you come in to such knowledge?</p>
<p>@sotelo
Thanks for the kind words friend. I know it isnt the end of the world and I appreciate your encouragement.</p>
<p>Regarding personal essay. I can honestly tell you that i completely BS it and still got in to UCLA</p>
<p>Sorry to hear that. Hope the OP could update his case as soon as he got response from the UCs.</p>
<p>@comic123
I will definitely let everyone know how things go.</p>
<p>Side Note: I met a girl today who got in to UCLA with a 3.16 GPA. Really discouraging =/</p>
<p>@rybridges16, Good luck with appealing to both of the schools if you do so. Are these the only two UCs you applied to? Rooting for you man, definitely an accomplishment to get a 3.98 GPA.</p>
<p>What’s the major of the girl that got into UCLA?</p>