<p>Can someone tell me if this is true? One of my friends said that it is pretty much guranteed that you will get into Berkeley if you have the highest rank in your school (with all the APs). Let’s say you have a good SAT score, extracurriculars (but not much leadership positions) and decent essays…would the valedictorian title still get you into Cal? It doesn’t seem likely to me…</p>
<p>No. I don’t think anyone is guaranteed a spot. All those things (doing well in school, having good scores, decent essays, ECs, etc.) will definitely help though.</p>
<p>Berkeley rejects National Merit Scholars (horror/funny story I heard from Berkeley admission rep, will share if you want to know), so being a valedictorian hardly justifies a guarantee.</p>
<p>If you are top 1.5% of the applicant pool (of all applicants applying to Berkeley), then you are invited to compete for the Regents Scholarship. Once selected to receive the scholarship, you are guaranteed acceptance to Berkeley.</p>
<p>Hey AskMsSun I love hearing stories especially funny ones. Tell me about this. 
</p>
<p>Oh yes, Isurus and AskMsSun thank you for your input.</p>
<p>Valedictorian of my school didn’t get in.</p>
<p>Berkeley’s common data set says that class rank is not considered.</p>
<p>(At least not directly, though achievement in high school context can be correlated to class rank.)</p>
<p>No. 10char</p>
<p>AskMsSun – please tell!</p>
<p>Please do tell!</p>
<p>Sent from my HTC One X using CC</p>
<p>Lol I wished my valedictorian had been rejected on the basis of cheating and being annoying.</p>
<p>Ok, three stories, since they are all pretty short. </p>
<p>First one is about the National Merit Scholar. Nothing too shocking … basically the Berkeley admission officer insinuated that the essay was crap so the guy didn’t get in.</p>
<p>Second one is about an Alumni Scholarship application I read (this was a long time ago). To answer the prompt about “why you are a good leader,” the applicant responded (I’m paraphrasing here) “because everyone else sucked and I had to pick up the slack (not that I really wanted to).”</p>
<p>Third one has the most detail because the UCLA reader I know gets really frustrated with bad writers. Apparently the applicant in question had 4.7+ GPA and near perfect SAT score, but the personal statement was incomprehensible (like there wasn’t even a beginning, a middle, or an end - what you assume structured writing should have regardless of how bad of a writer you are). This reader conferred with another reader (because every application has to be reviewed by two people), they both shook their heads and rejected the guy. The reader also told me that UCLA is taking more girls every year because boys can’t write … so if you are a boy and can string a sentence together, you are good to go!</p>
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<p>4.7+ GPA (assuming weighted but uncapped) implies pretty close to maximum A grades in maximum honors courses – that calls into question how well the high school’s teachers taught writing and/or graded any written assignments.</p>
<p>what exactly does berkeley look for? i know the people who go the hypsm are all amazing in some way or the other…is berkeley kinda like that? or does it accept ordinary people who just enjoy working hard but don’t do exceptional things? i heard berkeley admissions get more competitive year by year…aaah tat scares me :o haha :P</p>
<p>In my opinion, no one is just amazing. They are amazing because they are ordinary people who work very hard to get where they are. They do exceptional things because they started out low and worked their way up, because they had the motivation and drive to do so. You don’t need to be already amazing to get into Berkeley, but you need to show that drive and hard work. You need to prove to admissions that you have the potential to be amazing and are actively working towards it.</p>
<p>@callian, well said :)!</p>
<p>i don’t know the answer but there should be no guarantee. how could you say one student is more qualified over the others if you don’t take his (or her) scores/grades and other factors into consideration?</p>
<p>@ucbalumnus, it’s called “grade inflation.”</p>
<p>To everyone else … UCLA also has access to College Board directly to look at the essay portion of the SAT and the AP scores. If you bought a personal statement, you better have hired someone to take your SAT too!</p>
<p>i heard that it’s common for personal statements to be different from sat/ap essays cuz one’s timed and the other you can get critique and help and revisions and stuff. i’m really bad at timed essays but my take-home papers are good. </p>
<p>does it make that much of a difference then?</p>
<p>If your *writing style *takes a 180 between your SAT essay and your personal statement, I’d say that’s pretty suspicious.</p>
<p>No, I think you’re confusing two things here. The UC system tries to give admission to the top 4% (9%?) from every high school. Usually this is some place like Merced, or Santa Barbara, never UCLA or Berkeley. Valedictorian will not guarantee you, but the sum total (good SAT, GPA, Ecs, essays) might…Best of luck! (Also applying this year)</p>