Many schools do not allow you to apply to other schools during a deferral year. The fact that Berkeley does should indicate that they’re ok with deferred students ending up elsewhere.
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Ok, thanks for clarifying.
I think it’s noteworthy that with your credentials, the only “fancy” school you got into was UCB. When that has happened in my experience, it suggests a weakness in faculty recommendation letters, often a hint of an ego or bad attitude despite great achievements on paper. UCB does not look at the letters, and these kids sometimes get in “only” there.
I do think REA matters for Yale, and the deferral says again that your credentials were acceptable.
If you want my anonymous internet opinion, it’s that you need to find new and very positive rec letters for the new batch of applications, and make sure that they think you are humble and a good match for the new schools.
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That’s not true. OP did get into CMU, USC, and Rice…so that’s not signaling to me that there was any blanket ‘weakness’ with the app.
Before OP asks for new LoRs, they might ask their HS counselor to read those letters (if they haven’t already.) If OP wants to get new LoRs, hopefully they have senior year teachers they could get LoRs from, and I would do that now.
OTOH it’s pure speculation that there was any type of issue with the LoRs. As we know, an applicant can have perfect GPA, high test scores, high rigor, great ECs, great LoRs and still not be admitted to any of the schools OP has mentioned (the ones they got into, and the ones they didn’t.)
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I doubt anyone except the author will be able to see the HS LORs. At least, as a teacher, I never shared mine with anyone unless I was seeking feedback. The counselors did not have access. (There are schools where this is not the case, including some small private HSs.)
You don’t agree with me, but that doesn’t mean it’s “pure speculation” - it’s consistent with data I have seen for 30 years in the HS business. And while CMU/Rice/USC are great colleges, they are not on the level of where OP is aiming, nor IMO on the level of UCB.
It’s of course also true, as you note, that plenty of qualified kids don’t get into Yale or whatever. The pattern of only UCB is noteworthy to me. (Unless OP is a CA resident, which then makes it less meaningful.)
We can agree to disagree.
I agree, UCB is also test blind so it could have been that. We just don’t know.
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I don’t have a lot of tactical value to add to this discussion, but if you are comfortable, can you please explain why you want to re-apply a bit more clearly? You got into a great program for your interests and you appear to be happy with it. and they, you.
I’m missing the point. Is it about being able to say you got into/go to CalTech and MIT? Being bright (and lucky) enough to gain acceptance at Rice, etc., you must know that with the same effort and results, your career/life outcomes won’t be materially different coming out of stats at Stanford vs. Berkeley.
I can understand that you have been chasing the school rabbit perhaps your whole life and academic success and accolades have largely defined you, that will not be the case forever. Or even very soon. Going to Harvard is not a credential; its what you do at Harvard and after that will be.
I know this will fall on deaf ears, but believe it or not, in life, nobody cares where you went. It’s what you do. Your answer will likely be, “I care!” Most young people feel this way, because, what else is there? Believe me, there’s more. And you’ll care less, And eventually, not at all. Unless you don’t do so great, at which point you’ll be the person who wrenches “I went to Cornell” into every conversation (Office reference which you may not be familiar with).
The school chase is over. Move on. Focus on killing it at that amazing internship or you’ll potentially sub-optimize. You don’t want to do that.
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Sadly, plenty of people care where one went to college. And that includes employers.
I agree that people make their own luck and can be successful from any school, and have said that often on CC. But that’s different from saying no one cares where one went to college.
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OP isn’t trying to cobble together an applied math major at Framingham State. To claim that an employer or grad program will disdain studying math at Berkeley is really absurd!
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Where did I claim that? I never said that, nor intimated that.
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Plenty of employers care about where you go to college… Implies that the OP’s current acceptance is problematic?
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I tend to be a pretty straightforward poster and say what I mean. I wasn’t implying that UCB for stats isn’t good. At all.
I was merely reacting to a statement that ‘nobody cares where you went to college’. That’s not true. I sure cared where people went to school when I hired people. With that said, my posting history is such on CC that I’m pretty sure everyone has heard me say people make their own luck thru hard work, and can achieve all their goals from many schools.
It’s become really difficult to post on CC when others continually try to infer things that aren’t said.
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I skimmed the thread and didn’t come across this. Apologies if it’s been mentioned.
Your list is unified by one thing, USNWR “prestige.” They are all solid options, but the experience you’ll have will be wildly different between say, Cal and Rice.
I’d put MIT, Caltech and CMU in their own bucket. You need to decide if that approach is for you. It’s certainly not for everyone.
From there look at things besides rank and ask yourself what you want the next few years to be like.
At the end of the day, your success will be far more about you than the school you choose.
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Is getting an acceptance in CS or engineering one of the reasons you want to apply to these other schools?
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I’ll assume the back and forth will move to PM or cease. Thank you!
Really not sure what you’re getting at here. Berkeley accepts 12% of applicants. Rice accepts 9%. The stat profile of admitted students is incrementally higher at Rice, and their USNews rankings (Berkeley 17, Rice 18) are practically tied. To erase the significance of the OP’s acceptances to Rice, CMU, and USC, and assert that this is a “pattern of only UCB”… well, everyone’s entitled to their perspective but that’s a stretch.
Where you’re correct is that the OP clearly wants “T10,” and their acceptances - including Berkeley - don’t satisfy that desire.
Since this is a worthwhile/productive gap year plan, and the worst case scenario is a reportedly-guaranteed readmission to UCB, OP should go ahead and reapply; if they don’t, they’ll always wonder if they could’ve gotten in. And if they end up at UCB anyway, no loss, and hopefully at that point they can feel settled about committing to Berkeley. (Good to see that they don’t plan to cling to transfer hopes in that event.)
OP, I hope you’ll report back on how this goes. The potential fruitfulness of reapplying is a subject of some debate on CC; it will be interesting for others who are considering a similar strategy to see how it works out for you. Good luck!
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Best Wishes, OP!
I hope your internship turns out to be splendid, and good luck on the new apps!
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I don’t think we’re that far apart philosophically.
The point I’m making to OP is that there’s a reason resumes are structured the way they are: Experience and accomplishments first, schools last. I also hire people. Going to Stanford isn’t an accomplishment. If the first bit isn’t strong, I don’t even get to the last, and if it is strong, going to Harvard doesn’t strengthen it. I’m not going to pass on a star who made it to my desk because they went to Framingham State.
The argument could be made that Stanford provides opportunities to shine. Those opportunities exist at all of the places OP listed. My question is what is their motivation for taking another swing?
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For mathematics, UC Berkeley is a top 10 university. If you want to apply to schools that are higher ranked and are in the US, there are not very many to apply to.
I do not think that there is much, or anything, in mathematics that you would learn as an undergraduate at MIT or Stanford or Harvard or Princeton that you would not also learn at UC Berkeley.
Regarding which school is a better fit for you, or would be more affordable for you, that is going to depend upon a long list of issues that you might want to think about.
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