Also I don’t think OOS students get full credit for their honors classes, so UCGPA is likely lower … AP classes are likely to help as well as holistic application considerations like essays and ECs.
The cost and distance from East Coast and middle america likely puts off a lot of applicants and I think yield for OOS is likely low, lots of unpleasant letters from FA or just realizing it’s 60K.
@woogzmama, arguably the top public uni in the world outside of Oxbridge and maybe UTokyo. And that would include pretty much all the top universities in the world outside the US.
@twicearound: so I guess that means UCSD’s OOS percentage will start rising rapidly (to 30%). I wonder if they’ll let UCSD’s OOS percentage approach 50% or cap there as well at 30%.
Berkeley OOS COA is $57,116 living in the residence hall (common for frosh), $51,776 living off-campus (common for non-frosh, particularly juniors and seniors).
The privates mentioned by the OP appear to be more expensive, ranging from $58,965 at Princeton to $69,258 at WUStL. These privates also have better financial aid than Berkeley has for OOS students, but students from high enough income/wealth families to not get any financial aid will have to compare on list prices.
@NerdyChica Really Emory? I always thought Emory was like UNC or Wake Forest level since it’s acceptance rate is like 28%. I thought Berkeley would ahve been on par with Rice, Notre Dame, Cornell, Vanderbilt, etc.
Emory’s 75th percentile is 2190.
Berkeley’s 75th percentile is 2240. Granted the bottom 25th is different since Berkeley is a public school and has to cater to first-generation and low-income students who generally and statistically have lower standardized test scores. @merc81
IMO, it’s overrated, especially by adults who care more about name than quality (aka adults not on CC!). It’s a fantastic place to be a graduate student and creates FANTASTIC research, without a doubt. However, it is facing budget cuts and huge classes. I would say the value to a student from California, who is paying in-state prices, is still very good. In my very humble opinion, there is not enough focus on undergraduate education to make it a great value for OOS students- which makes sense, because the UC system isn’t FOR OOS students- it’s for Californians. I think OOS students often don’t grasp this idea, hence my saying that it’s overrated.
The school itself, likely because of how rigorous/cutthroat it is, also has big issues with depression on campus (like many big, elite, rigorous schools). On several lists (links aren’t handy right now because I’m on my phone) it is actually the school in the U.S. with the highest reported rates of major depression. It was for that reason, among others, that I elected not to stay on the waitlist (I wasn’t aware of these things when I applied, otherwise I wouldn’t have done so).
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Urban legend - OOS Berkeley students have higher stats than in-state
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I totally believe that, and this is why…
To soothe instate concerns, the UCs have to weight instate GPAs more than test scores, otherwise schools like Cal and UCLA would be filled with mostly top stats students from stronger K-12 schools (mostly suburban and richer urban areas).
However, when selecting OOS students for admissions, there aren’t any of those concerns. The schools can just concentrate on selecting kids with very strong test scores (which also help compensate for some lower test score instate students).
According to the above link UCSD will have a 20% cap as well. But UCB and UCLA are capped at 23% and 20% respectively, not 30% as posted by someone in this thread.
Note: There’s a good discussion going on, but what I really want to know is… is it a top tier school comparable with Ivies/Duke/Vanderbilt etc and should I apply to it?
In my opinion, two types of students should apply to Berkeley: California residents, and OOS students who are drawn to the university for intangible reasons.
Berkeley truly is a top school, but it might differ from others in that you have to reach out a little more for the greatness at the undergraduate level. Students who can do that are rewarded by going to Berkeley.
Oops, I meant my previous post was correct. It’s 20%for UCB, 23% for UCLA, and 20% for UCSD( which currently has 19%). So the latimes article is not correct.