UC Berkeley Fall 2016 Admits, Waitlists, and Rejections

tooweirdyo
Sat, 30 Apr 2016 06:46:49 +0000

Accepted

Major: Political Science
UC Transferable GPA: 3.81 - 3.85

Completion of Major Prerequisites? (Y/N): Y
Completion of IGETC or other GE requirements?: Y / IGETC
Extracurriculars & Honors/Awards: 2 jobs, 3 internships, tutoring, 2 non UC-transferrable classes that were related to my major, other small stuff

Applied: UCB, UCLA, UCSC, UCD, SJSU
Accepted: UCB, UCLA, UCSC, UCD, SJSU

Advice for future applicants:

Some background: 2 year CC applicant, 6 quarters in total (quarter system); my advice will probably only be relevant for the most part for fellow social sciences and Poli sci majors, so take that into account possibly!

I think I was a borderline candidate at one point? Berkeley contacted me in February to send in my winter 2016 grades. If you are a quarter student - do not slack off after fall quarter. Strive towards all A's your winter quarter as well! I got all A's winter quarter, hence, my GPA being 3.81 with only fall quarter factored in but being 3.85 with winter quarter factored in. Honestly, I think being a quarter student really worked in my favor... gave me more chances to take more classes to raise my GPA, and the additional look into winter quarter boosted my observed GPA.

I got a B- in one class my first quarter and a B+ in another class my third. Otherwise all A's, I think with two A-'s. I really do think having an upwards trend in your grades is extremely good, esp with Berkeley's holistic approach. After that first B-, I thought going to a competitive UC was out of reach for me (not that that was ever my sole goal/purpose in everything I pursued when it came to my time at CC--please don't let it be!!!--but things also turned around, and you often have the power the make them, so don't lose hope!

This is what my college counselor told me... idk if it's actually true. But I took one more English class than required of me, and he said that Berkeley admissions found that impressive for social sciences. He could have been shitting me, who knows. Just my personal story, not advice really. I had fulfilled the first English credit with an AP score from high school, then took another English class and realized it was transferable to Berkeley only and not to the other UC's, and then took another English class of that same level (but it was a different focus, one was research based, one was critical thinking...) Not sure if this was worth mentioning, but meh.

Grades are really important, they just are. Even more so then ECs... I had pretty good ECs, but I know people who had even better ones than me in my major who didn't make the cut or were waitlisted or whatnot because their GPA wasn't as high. But as for choosing ECS, quality over quantity. Things that show leadership, relevance to major/field of study, etc. are good.

With that being said, having good ECs related to your major really do help you out. Even just things that show you have a specified interest in the field of study is so helpful. They make you stand out. Same for personal statement, but they have changed that for next year into questions I believe.

This is huge. Honestly, do as many pre-reqs as you can by fall. In the case of if you're a Poli sci major, for the IGETC you need to take just one math class, I believe. I took Statistics. I’ve never been the biggest fan of math, so had I not thought that I had to get it out of the way as soon as possible, I would have delayed. But I’m really glad I didn’t. Seriously – take the B that you fear you might get in that IGETC pre-req you hate, rather than leave it to the end under the rationale that that way you don't have to have it accounted for in your GPA and grades. Especially if you have the option to take it earlier - do so. And be cognizant of major pre-reqs as well of course.

That’s all I can think of right now! Feel free to message me if you have any questions, haha. I truly feel like such a dork writing this all out and analyzing myself as a student, but I know it could probably help someone, just like the many threads that I sifted through this year helped me. In any case, I should be out celebrating… but I’m exhausted and this is gonna have to do for my Friday night lol.