UC Berkeley Class of 2029 Waitlist and Appeal Discussion

let us know what they tell u!

yess

Did anyone call?

it’s closed today so i don’t think anyone can call.

Ok guys so instead of calling the office through phone since that is closed, I actually called the virtual front desk (which is open on Wednesdays) to clarify some things. AND oh boy I got a LOT OF information.
Key things:

  1. The AO I talked to DOUBLE CHECKED with the data team responsible for maintaining a list of waitlists and as of last Friday, and no one has been let off the waitlist.
  2. Berkeley is not planning on admitting anyone off the waitlist till late May (May 28 is the earliest)/ early June as of now.
  3. I asked if it was the case just for my major, but he it was in general, meaning NO ONE has gotten off the waitlist as of today.
  4. The reason why Berkeley hasn’t let anyone off the waitlist is because they gave SIR extensions to several people and some extensions last all the way to next week, so they do not know how many people have accepted the offer to make space for the waitlists.
  5. Instate vs OOS vs International doesn’t really matter, but instate has a higher preference there is a state mandate.
  6. The dean of admissions talked with the AO team earlier this morning and there has been no mention of waitlists movement happening in the office. His colleague got a similar call this morning and shared the same thing that no one got off the Berkeley waitlist.
  7. They did not “under admit” students. They admitted based on their enrollment projection. The guy said maybe they accepted 10-20 people less compared to previous years and there was NOT a significant number that would make them rely heavily on the waitlists. Basically, don’t rely on this. It all comes down to yield.
  8. When I mentioned about people getting off waitlist, he said that he is aware of the rumors going on but Berkeley hasn’t done anything to mitigate them.

TLDR: Berkeley HAS NOT let ANYONE off the waitlist, simply because there don’t know how many people in total have accepted the offers due to the extended SIR deadlines for MANY PEOPLE. Earliest they’ll let anyone off as of now according to their plans from the last meeting, which was last Friday is May 28 (late May).

So if anyone claims that they got off, they are lying. If anyone says they called the AOs and they said otherwise, they are also lying.

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The AOs are also aware that peer UCs are heavily using the waitlist, but Berkeley simply can’t because they do not know how many people in total have accepted the offers yet. So guys, we’ll just have to play the waiting game now since he said the waitlists could go all the way to August 1, which is when they’ll officially close the waitlist.

Oh wow this is very good info, ty!
Side note; why are they giving SIR extensions to so many people :sob:
You should post this on Reddit as well to avoid any confusion online

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Thank you, this is very helpful. Nevertheless, I wouldn’t accuse the people who called the office and obtained the claim that people got off the waitlist for lying. It sounds like your call actually reached an AO, but many calls might be handled by interns/students who might have unintentionally gave out incorrect information. Take the example for CMU, last year their virtual question session (something like that), gave out a wrong decision date.

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Also did they specifically say May 28th?

Earliest is late may and the AO said May 28 could be the earliest just for example. Is it confirmed on May 28? I do not know the answer to that. The AO said as soon as they get a final list of enrollments, they’ll start processing waitlists.

for some reason, I can’t post on A2C. if one of you could, that’d be cool

Hi, are you deciding between your OOS and Berkeley?

Yeah

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One more thing, what I said above ONLY APPLIES TO FIRST YEAR FRESHMEN. I do not know about transfers.

Thanks for the very useful info. How did you reach the virtual AO ?

I didn’t know Berkeley office was closed on Wednesday so when I called the office, I got an automated voice message where it prompted me to leave a message. I didn’t want to wait till tomorrow so I tried to get into the virtual front desk which is open only on Wednesdays. You have to give your email and full name to register and then you’ll be let into a Zoom meeting where you’ll be connected with an AO in a breakout room.

Here’s the link: Contact us - Office of Undergraduate Admissions

The virtual front desk closes at 4pm Pacific Time, so I was able to squeeze in about 20 minutes of talking starting from 3:30 Pacific Time.

Thanks a bunch! So this is open only on Wednesdays and it seems this is the best way to get lots of info.

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Thanks a lot for all the info. This is helpful.

that’s interesting that you’re saying that they claimed to have not under admitted, i wonder why the college tiktok guy says other admissions officers are saying that they did

Yeah but I doubt any AO would admit to a student they’d under admitted by a large number. From what I understood, they did “under admit” but not to an extent that will make them rely on the waitlists heavily. I also watched the TikTok guy but it is all speculation. I hope they did under admit by a lot though.