UC Berkeley Class of 2029 Official Discussion Thread

Colleges & Universities University of California - Berkeley
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Welcome prospective Cal Bears. It’s that time of year again as the UC application has now opened and submission starts October 1 through December 2 for this admission cycle. I am @Gumbymom one of the two UC Forum Champions/Moderators. My Co-Forum Champion is @lkg4answers and we are knowledgeable on the increasingly complicated UC admissions process and hopefully we can help any prospective UC applicants with their questions.

UC Berkeley like all the UC’s are test blind and will use 13 areas of criteria to review Freshman applicants. Each campus will weight the various areas of criteria differently so one size does not fit all. UCB does consider AP/IB scores in their admission process.

UC Admissions: How Applications are Reviewed

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Berkeley Office of Undergraduate Admissions

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Freshmen Requirements

PIQ specifics: Personal Insight Questions - Office of Undergraduate Admissions

The UC application website has plenty of information that can help determine if UC Berkeley is a good option when applying.

Below are some links to the UCB admission data from the UC Website: Freshman admit data | UC Admissions

UCB will consider all 3 UC GPA’s, the emphasis will be on the Unweighted and Fully Weighted UC GPA’s.

2024 Freshman (First year profile) 25th-75th percentile:
Unweighted UC GPA: 3.89-4.00
Uncapped Weighted: 4.31-4.65
Capped weighted: 4.15-4.29

UCB Freshmen admission information:
Major choice is a factor for admission into the College of Engineering (COE), the College of Chemistry (COC) and the College of Computing, Data Science and Society (CDSS), Environmental Design and HAAS.

Changing majors within the CoE after enrolling is not guaranteed, unless one is CoE undeclared.

Note that L&S admits students as undeclared except for the High Demand majors listed below. UCB also lets you select an alternate major which will only be considered in the waitlist process.

HIGH DEMAND MAJORS:
Art (Practice of) Public Health Operations Research & Management Science Political Economy Social Welfare

All students who apply to UC Berkeley and select a major within the College of Natural Resources are evaluated based on their application, not on the particular major they select.

Alternate majors will be considered if space is available usually during the waitlist process.

Most selective majors are found in the College of Chemistry, Computing, Data Science and Society, Engineering and HAAS along with the High Demand majors in the College of Letters and Sciences.

New Majors for Fall 2025:
Neuroscience
Nutrition and Metabolic Biology
Israeli Studies - Minor

Operations Research and Management Science is now Analytics.

Housing is guaranteed for first year students that meet the priority application date of May 2.

UC Berkeley Showcase is November 2, 2024.

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Good luck to all prospective Bears from both a Cal alumna and now Cal parent :slight_smile:

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Thanks for opening this thread! D23 was offered admission, S25 is hoping for the same! :crossed_fingers: :crossed_fingers: :crossed_fingers: Good luck everyone! :blue_heart: :yellow_heart: :bear:

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Adding the recent US News Rankings for Berkeley:

National - 17
Engineering - 3 (behind MIT and Stanford)
Computer Engineering - 1
CS - 1
Mech E/Industrial/Electrical - 3
Materials Engg/Chem E/Civil - 2
Bio E - 6

p.s - why is this forum so quiet this year?

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Was wondering that myself!

Plenty of views though - jump in folks, the water is warm! :laughing:

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Got to love those kids…

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And don’t forget that The University of California, Berkeley’s Haas School of Business undergraduate program is ranked #2 in the 2025 Best Undergraduate Business Programs by U.S. News & World Report. This is the third year in a row that Haas has tied with MIT for the #2 spot.

Haas also ranked in the top five for business specialty programs, including: entrepreneurship, management, marketing, quantitative analysis, and real estate.

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I am not sure whether its refreshing or disappointing to see the lack of activity on this thread. Are other school threads seeing similar dynamics (or) is this a Cal specific phenomenon?

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I’ve noticed this lack of discourse on other threads as well. I’m wondering if this has to do with less parental involvement in the college process and more private counselor’s being used? Maybe due to the fact that “elite” colleges now since Covid having large numbers of applications, esp the UCs, and therefore less people actually caring about whether they should apply or not since they are applying anyway?

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Ditto. S25 is applying to the UC’s and right now most of the UC threads are :cricket: :cricket: .

Just checked, this time last year there were 50+ posts on the UCB thread alone.

There was a Reddit post on A2C recently about the ‘creepy’ parents on CC …hmmmmm :supervillain:

I’m just gonna wish it means fewer students are applying this year… :laughing: :sweat_smile: :rofl: :joy:

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Good point…creepy Tiger parents on CC and cool kids using Reddit.

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Berkeley sent me a letter of rec request?

HS Senior here who applied for the new Educational Sciences major. I am really nervous because I received a letter of recommendation request, which is something I thought the UCs typically do not require, and also my stats are below usual Berkeley admits. I am FGLI, 3.79 UW, 4.47W, and 4.13 Weighted and capped. I wanted to know if this an indicator of anything, or a sign that I should lose hope

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I would take this as encouragement that they’re interested in you!

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No, I wouldn’t read too much into it. See below

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If if makes you feel better, my daughter got a request for letters of recommendation when she applied. That is literally where my username comes from - I was worried about what it meant, too! She is now a sophomore at Cal :slight_smile:

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Even if it does not directly increase chances of admission, it is still a slight positive in the sense that you can provide additional information from teachers that can make your case for admission stronger.

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From the UCB website:

Letters of recommendation

Select applicants to UC Berkeley are invited to submit two letters of recommendation. Submission is voluntary and not required for full consideration of the application for admission. However, it is highly recommended that students use this opportunity as it can provide additional academic and personal context. Only students invited to submit letters of recommendation can do so, and we will not accept unsolicited letters or supplemental information

Furthering our belief in the value of holistic review, we ask that those who write letters consider the following concepts when asked to add a letter to the application process:

  • Academic performance and potential (both overall and in the context of the applicant’s high school class)
  • Love of learning
  • Leadership (in school, family, or community)
  • Persistence in the face of challenges
  • Cross-cultural engagement
  • Originality/Creativity
  • Demonstrated concern for others

If a student is offered the opportunity to submit up to two letters of recommendation, they must be submitted electronically. Students and recommenders will be provided the appropriate instructions. Additionally, at least one letter should be written by a teacher or instructor in a core academic subject.

Letters of recommendation are due January 10, 2025.

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It is definitely in your favor to submit the LORs. Something in your application triggered the request. Take this opportunity to submit strong recommendations. Weak letters will not help. Hopefully you have a couple of teachers who will do this for you. Think of it this way- you have been given an opportunity to provide more information and sell yourself to admissions readers that most applicants do not get. Take full advantage. My son received the same request in 2018 and was accepted. Good luck.

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For Applying to College of Letter & Science , does it make a difference in admission chances if the student choses Public Health vs Cognitive Science as the major ?