In my opinion, students who got National level awards were not many. But Special National level awards are definitely helpful.
But without these awards, many students get in Stanford either . If colleges admit only smart students, their campus cannot work well. So they want diversity. Funny stories, sad stories and oddities together make one community perfectly. I think you are enough to go Stanford. However UCLA also is definitely west ivy level. We are in dilemma between pomona and ucla considering money. Good luck!
It seems you are suggesting that UCs and other schools are accepting “non-smart kids” so please elaborate on the criteria you are using to define “smart” vs. “non-smart”.
I just posted a warning to some posters on the UCLA Freshman discussion thread about debating which students are qualified or not qualified for UCLA admission. We are not going down that route here. No one here is privy to an individuals UC application so no one other than UC Berkeley admissions is qualified to determine whom they want to admit to their campus.
Please remember that each application is a story, not just a number. Admissions officials may see students that have a very disrupted school term due to illness, accident, family crisis/circumstances etc that results in less than a perfect GPA. This does not have any bearing on how ‘smart’ a student is. Should they be denied entry to the school because of it? Stats don’t define every student and it’s easy to judge and make assumptions when all we see on here is a summary of a student’s stats.
The admissions team has PIQs to help them understand a student’s full story. One of the missions of the UC and CU systems is to provide social mobility and opportunity for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. In order to achieve this, they look at more than the GPA. Questioning their decisions is not what this forum is meant to be used for.
Reiterating the forum champion’s note that debating is not allowed outside the political forum on CC, and back and forth between two posters needs to move to PM. Further posts will be removed.
Don’t post asking why your post was deleted. If your post was deleted, it was because it violated the rules. As a refresher, the links to the rules are posted on the bottom of this, and every page.
Does anyone have idea how impacted is Public health major at Cal? My kid is interested Public health progam with biostatistic as concentrations. Any input would be helpful?
Although the major remains capped (impacted), the department encourages all qualified students to apply. To qualify, students must have completed the prerequisites in math, biology, and the social sciences. For further information regarding these prerequisites, please see the Major Requirements tab on this page.
Students should apply to the public health major after completion of the lower division requirements. Non-transfer students must apply to the major by the end of their fifth semester in attendance at UC Berkeley. Transfer students must apply by the end of their first semester in attendance at UC Berkeley.
After completing the prerequisites, students should submit an application, which includes the following:
1. A review of an applicant’s academic preparation (Coursework and GPA) 2. Two essays (Statement of Purpose and Personal History Statement) 3. Resume or CV
Many thanks for registering for the UC Berkeley Global Edge & Freshman Edge Programs Information Session coming up this Thursday, March 21st from 4-5PM, PST.
Did anyone receive new zoom link ?
" Please note that the invitation to register for this session was sent to all prospective UC Berkeley students, and attendance or registration for this session does not bear on your UC Berkeley admissions decision."
Just out of curiosity… does UCB admit by college or major? For engineering specifically. I’ve been let down so far by my other UC decisions where I applied for mechanical engineering (one of the most popular engineering majors) and so I’m crossing my fingers that maybe I’ll have a slight advantage at Berkeley because I applied for Engineering Physics (which is very small and unpopular by comparison) instead.
It’s difficult to know if a smaller and less popular engineering major would be an easier admit, because smaller majors also have fewer slots available for students. Hope you are fortunate and it works out well for you!
They admit by major. There might be slight variances in admit rates across majors but some of the small majors have very passionate applicants who really want those majors and therefore the competition can be even more intense than anticipated.
In general, its better to apply to the major of interest. That said, historically and until now, Cal makes it relatively easy to switch majors but there are no guarantees of course, and those policies can change at any point in time.
