Happily rejected from Berkeley...very close call though!

Colleges & Universities University of California - Berkeley
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<p>Because I live in the West, I got to check my decisions from Ivies and other East Coast schools today before I got to check Berkeley’s. I was actually very torn as to what schools I really wanted to go to. I applied to Yale EA, but after getting deferred I wasn’t expecting to miraculously get in RD all of a sudden. That left Brown, Berkeley, Pomona, Tufts, and Barnard. Now, I wasn’t sure of my chances at Brown either. Out of the schools left, I was having an extremely hard time deciding which school was my top choice…</p>

<p>I got notified from Barnard early in the week, and since I really like NYC it was a good choice for me. However, I wasn’t sure of attending an all women’s college (it seemed like a great idea when I applied), and I’d heard some stuff about how Columbia kids think Barnard women used the school as a “backdoor” into the Columbia community. That kind of lack of respect bothered me.</p>

<p>Tufts is a good school, and I love Boston as well (especially the T). However, I couldn’t help but notice how its reputation was mostly regional. What if I wanted to live outside of the Northeast? I mean, I WAS born and have lived a large portion of my life on the West Coast. Fletcher is great, but I’m not planning on majoring in IR.</p>

<p>I hadn’t visited Pomona before, and while it is a good school, I was a little worried it might be too small for my tastes.</p>

<p>That left Berkeley pretty much as my top choice among the non-Ivy schools. However, I got rejected. Not entirely sure why…and now that I think about it, if I hadn’t gotten into Brown earlier in the afternoon, the Berkeley rejection I received later in the day COULD have really messed up my day/week/year. I’m sure I would’ve been happy at either Tufts or Barnard (haven’t heard from Pomona yet), but the Berkeley rejection would’ve kept popping up in my mind and left me with “What if…” type thoughts.</p>

<p>After 6 hours…and everything settling down a bit…I can only wonder what would’ve happened if a couple of decisions had gone the other way. I mean, the process just seems so random, and yet the effects it has on a student’s life are potentially DEVASTATING!</p>

<p>I’m really curious as to why I got rejected from Berkeley, though. Here are my stats, for anyone who wants to figure it out:</p>

<p>Intended major at Berk: English</p>

<p>SAT I: V800, M730, W800
SAT II: Lit 760, USH 790
APs: USH 5, Psych 5, Composition 5
GPA: 3.97 unweighted, 4.27 weighted
Current courseload: APs - Euro, Lit, Calc AB; Anatomy/Physiology, two advanced electives (both tied to my EC activities)
Essays: I’m confident about my writing…I’ve been practicing my writing since I was in 8th grade, when I decided to become a writer.
ECs: President and Vice-President of 4-5 clubs throughout high school (all heavily related to ECs I’ve done pretty much throughout my whole life), student government sophomore year, published in magazines, won awards for essay and art contests, lots of volunteer involvement (both hours and activities), Natinonal Merit Scholar & AP Scholar, took off a year from school to help family out economically (worked full-time for 8 months).</p>

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<p>hmm…maybe your admissions officer was PMSing.</p>

<p>Or just broke up with his girlfriend.</p>

<p>Or was feeling fat.</p>

<p>Or got fired the next day for slacking off on the job and marking “REJECTED” on all his files, but because they fired him the day AFTER yours was marked, you got screwed.</p>

<p>anyways who cares…brown is 4930849320 times better than cal.</p>

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<p>If you’re happy that you were rejected then why do you care? Have fun and brown.</p>

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<p>Stuff like that happens. My friend and I both had 4.7’s, 3.95’s unweighted, national merit, 99th percentile sat scores but I got in and he didn’t. It seems rather odd, but from what I’ve discerned, out of state students have a higher bar to pass versus in-state students in terms of admittance standards.</p>

<p>Anyways, it doesn’t matter, enjoy brown, you dodged a double-bullet there.</p>

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<p>I believe Berkeley has a policy of not admitting people that will SURELY get into an Ivy. (Anecdotal evidence from what happened at my high school all my four year and continues to happen to this day…)</p>

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<p>And how exactly would berkeley know if someone was “sure to get into an ivy?” That’s actually a pretty stupid statement. Many, many admits have near perfect stats. The upper 75th at Berkeley is basically the same as any ivy, so I just can’t fathom that there would be a policy to reject high quality students.</p>

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<p>You’re right, I did dodge the double bullet (narrowly). But my heart still flutters when I think about what if things hadn’t turned out the way they did. I think this whole college admissions business has taken its toll on me…I feel physically weaker right now than I ever have in my life.</p>

<p>To everyone admitted to Berkeley, congratulations! I hope we all have a great time during the next 4-6 years. :D</p>

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<p>Lewis, its really too bad that you’re not good enough to come here. Your loss, not ours. Please don’t be bitter. And enjoy brown. Berkeley rejects have to end up somewhere:)</p>

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<p>I don’t see the OP being bitter. “not good enough”? The OP’s stats are better than most (much better in some cases) of the admits’ shown on <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=163918[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=163918&lt;/a&gt;
Maybe Berkeley’s admission just isn’t as stats driven as one may think.</p>

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<p>It might not be a policy to reject “high quality students,” but maybe Berkeley felt as if there was a small chance that you would matriculate to their school.</p>

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<p>There is. We call it Tufts syndrome.</p>

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<p>i believe that SAT Subject Test Math 2C is mandatory for applicants to the UC schools. did you neglect to mention it in your stats?</p>

<p>anyway, brown is great. if you decide to go, i hope you have a great time there!!</p>

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<p>Man, you guy are acting like the OPs stats are perfect. He’s above average for admits, but he’s by no means a sure thing for Cal or an IVY (as some have said). His stats aren’t so impressive that Cal adcoms would automatically reject him because they know he’ll get into Harvard and Yale.</p>

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<p>I have similar number as yours in GAP and SATs, and I got rejected from Brown but accepted to Berkerley. I am from East Coast. I am happy to go to Berkerley, but Brown would be better. How things work in a misterious way.</p>

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<p>I don’t know…I didn’t think it was mandatory. I took Math 1C and realized it wasn’t accepted by the UCs, so I didn’t mention it in the app (or in my ‘stats’). UCLA didn’t have a problem with me not taking Math 2C, so I figured it would be okay.</p>

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<p>I got ‘happily rejected’ by Cal as well. I live too close to Berkeley :slight_smile:
My essays were good enough for UCLA and USC, so I figured they
were good enough for Berkeley. My UC GPA was good enough.</p>

<p>Only things I can think of as possible reasons:

  • Too few AP classes in Junior year (1 AP, 2 Honors)
  • Low score in critical reading (650) that kept me out of Ivies as well
  • Pure randomness</p>
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<p>MathIIC I believe is only mandatory for Engineering majors</p>

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<p>As stated before, this is actually a well-known phenomonom called Tufts syndrome. It seems to be practiced by quite a few schools.</p>

<p>Obviously nobody can really “know” who is going to get admitted or rejected at some other school, or even if he does get admitted to some other school, whether he will turn down your school for that one. But there are definite probabilities you can attach to these outcomes.</p>

<p>I personally think that “Tufts Syndrome”, properly used, can be a good thing. After all, think of it this way. If you are quite sure that a guy is going to get admitted to and matriculate at some other school, then there is little point in admitting that guy and wasting an admissions spot on him. You should offer that spot to somebody who you think actually will come to your school. By offering the spot to that guy who isn’t coming, you have to reject or wait-list the guy who would come. That’s not fair to that second guy. </p>

<p>Now, look, don’t get me wrong. I don’t know if this is what happened with the OP, or even whether Berkeley engages in Tufts Syndrome at all. I don’t know. What I am saying is that this isn’t a ‘stupid’ assertion. Berkeley might be doing this. A lot of schools do this. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. This is how schools perform ‘yield management’.</p>

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<p>This occurs because of USNews gaming. Its pretty lame IMO and idiotic. Why reject a qualified person? If they say no just move to the next person on the waitlist. The only reason is to increase matriculation rates so you can score a little higher on USNews idiotic ranking.</p>

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<p>No, this is not just a matter of gaming. That may be part of it. But there is also a legitimate reason to do so.</p>

<p>You say that you should just offer admission to a qualified person and if he says no, then just move down to the next person on the wait-list. But it’s not that simple. Because of the way that wait-lists work, that next person on the wait-list may have already committed to go to another school and paid a deposit there before the wait-list opens up for him. And if that person then breaks his commitment to take the wait-list spot, then that opens up a spot on that other school’s wait list for some other student, who may have already committed to some other school, and so on and so forth. In other words, it cascades through the whole system. </p>

<p>Even in the best case scenario, you have caused undue heartache and mental hardship for that person who gets put on the wait-list and then finds out only later whether he gets admitted or not. Students understandably want to know what their options are as soon as possible so that they know what choices they have. </p>

<p>The point is, giving out admissions spots to qualified people is not costless. Admissions slots are limited. By offering it to one person, you have to deny or wait-list somebody else. So if you think it is highly possible that somebody isn’t going to use the spot, then everybody may be better off if you just don’t offer it to him. You want to be fair to those people who would otherwise get stuck on your wait list. Why give these people mental stress by having them wait for spots when you are pretty sure that some admission spots that you did give out are not going to be used anyway?</p>