Also I did a little more research and I thought I’d just kinda throw these stats out there with the hopes that some of you guys could help make sense of the numbers:
As I said earlier, 2014-2015 had a 20% admit rate, whereas last year had a 54% admit rate. However, looking at the common data sets for both years, their admit/enrollment/waiting list numbers are all roughly similar:
F a l l 2 0 1 4:
http://opa.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/uc_berkeley_cds_2014-15_august.pdf
Admit: 11,816
Enrolled: 5,466
Number of people offered waitlist: 3,375
Number accepting a place on the waiting list: 2,143
Number of wait-listed students admitted: 437
Waitlist admit rate: 20.4%
F a l l 2 0 1 5:
http://opa.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/uc_berkeley_cds_2015-16_8-3-2016.pdf
Admit: 12,048
Enrolled: 5,550
Number of people offered waitlist: 3,760
Number accepting a place on the waiting list: 2,445
Number of wait-listed students admitted: 1,340
Waitlist admit rate: 54.8%
I just find this particularly strange because UCB has stated that “the percent of students admitted from the waitlist depends on the number of enrollment spaces we have available and the number of students who opt-in to the waitlist.”
(source: 2017 March Waitlist FAQ). If that is true, why is there such a huge gap between the two years?
Obviously, 2015 had higher numbers overall (by a few hundred, but nothing particularly significant in the face of thousands). The only big difference is the number of waitlist students admitted; almost three times the number were admitted in 2015 than in 2014.
Ideas, anyone? The only reason I can think of is that back in Fall 2013 (2013-2014) they over-enrolled, so there was not much space as they needed keep their Fall 2014 class smaller. Unfortunately, I cannot find the common data sets for Fall 2013 to confirm this (and a part of me doesn’t, because the fact that so many waitlisters were admitted last year could mean this year’s rate would be lower, ugh).