Thank you all for responding. I am the OP, not the student but posed as my son, the student, to simplify the question. Back in ‘16 I applied to several UCs and ultimately ended up attending Berkeley. My son is applying to MIT and Stanford. There is some interesting information here, but nothing correct. I have since found out everything I needed to know, gotten all the letters of recommendation we needed and my son has finished his app. Back a few years ago I asked a simple question about SIRing to 2 different UCs and was met with judgement and shaming. My questions weren’t answered by anyone who actually knew what they were talking about. I was just harassed by posters who didn’t have the correct information but had plenty of criticism. They called me “dishonest”. I was very upfront and honest with UCLA and Berkeley and they were fine with my actions. It was the internet that was judgmental. I say this because I came across some of this same thing again, here. People will be quick to say, “what were you thinking?!!” And shame you, even when they really don’t have the answers. I was still a little sore from my last experience on this site. Now, I’ve solved this problem without the help of this site and in spite of the criticism. I think we need to be kinder to one another. And stop trying to guess the answer to mysteries. Someone here made up a whole story about me in their head and it was completely wrong.