@MikeSauce I’m not high on Sonoma State, but it’s fairly close. Davis would be doable too, though not sure what I’d major in. Cal Poly would probably be top on my list as a backup just got a change of scenery and to keep the GF happy, and I do hear good things about their business program.
ECs … need to get going on em! I’m taking 19 units at two different schools and have been focusing on starting that off on the right foot, but need to start looking at getting my ECs going for sure.
@chr1st1 and @ucbalumnus
I had 6 years work experience including starting my own small business as one of the two ecs last year. For Haas specifically I saw people with Morgan Stanley Internships and people making TV commercials in Hollywood get rejected. I remember a Hispanic applicant who was working full-time in an engineering internship while taking 26 engineering units at CC rejected from UCLA. So my first tip is work experience by itself is not sufficient.
It’s VERY important to diversify the ec list and fill up as much of the ec section on the application. So join your schools student govt, honors program and honors societies. Get involved in a foreign language club or a tech activity. Play a sport. DEFINITELY do some volunteer work. Maybe tutor other students. A few outside ec are important and good to have but remember you are applying to a school and schools want to see how you perform in a school environment. Thus it’s important to have some of the typical ec laundry list.
2nd tip, which I kinda eluded on, was that academic rigor is not considered for UCs. As long as you are taking 12 units that is all that counts.
3rd tip which is not really a tip is that UCLA and Cal use the EXACT same application system. People often say Cal is more holistic but that is completely false. Differences in admissions are simply because of uncertainty. Because of this I would advise applying to some privates as well because they’ll feature different admissions policies. For instance USC puts almost no emphasis in their essays. Common specifically only allows 10 ecs compared to the 25 on UC app so ecs don’t influence admissions decisions as much.
4th tip would be essays.
A. Easy to read - Admissions officers have maybe 10 minutes to evaluate your application. Ain’t no one got time to decipher hieroglyphs. A lot of people try being too fancy and end up writing convoluted essays. Similarly other writers try to cram too many nouns or adjectives into their essays. Of course the essay needs to be well writing but that doesn’t mean it should be complicated. Make sure the skimibility factor is high.
B. Right content - At first glance essays appear to be free responses, anything goes essay, but in fact colleges are looking for certain qualities in students. Harvard has a list right here: https://college.harvard.edu/admissions/application-process/what-we-look
Basically you need to write about the following things. Helping your community, society; empathy and caring for other people and/or improving the lives of others. Passion for learning beyond getting straight As. Good morals/ethics/character. etc. Basically the good qualities in human beings.
To put this in context I read an essay about a girl who loves the piano a few days ago. It was a good essay. She did a good job describing her passion and her favorite composers. Unfortunately it didn’t really give a reason to say, “YES!” So beyond being well written and personal, an essay needs to stress the right qualities in yourself.
C. Be likable -This is the secret sauce. It’s very important to set the right tone or vibe in your essay (unless you are applying to USC 
). If the admissions officer doesn’t like you as a human being after reading the essay then your chance of getting into a selective program is very low. A common pitfall–which I made last year–is talking too much about myself without mentioning other people. Reason being is that comes off very self-centered.
D. Lastly reading a lot of essays on this website will let you see the common mistakes a lot of people make.
Last year I got rejected from Haas but with this new changes I feel that I have a shot of getting admitted into the Ivy League or Stanford.
Great advice, @bomerr, thanks for posting that.
@MikeSauce
CSUs get no respect and most CSUs are bad BUT the good CSUs are better than most UCs. For instance my friend at CSUF said the FBI recruits econ majors, Morgan Stanley recruits finance/accounting majors and Big 4 recruit accounting. Plus because a lot of overachieving students goto UCs, competition is a lot lower and it’s easier to get good ecs. Being a big fish in a small pond has it’s advantages.
I don’t know much about the bay area but it seems like SJSU is your CSUF and shinning there opens up the same doors into silicon valley as Berkeley. So I would defiantly apply to SJSU, it’s probably better than Davis or any other mid-tier UC.
My personal college list right now is: Stanford --> Harvard/Yale/Brown --> Berkeley-Haas --> CSUF.
I am applying to UCI and UCSB but I have 0 intention of enrolling. UCLA I might consider depending on the aid package but I know for a fact it’s a very competitive environment and econ instead of biz; so I’ll graduate but not with the best GPA.
All about the money in the long run. So if my top choice doesn’t offer enough aid than i wont attend
@luckie1367 I didnt want to offend anybody but my personal walk of shame would be UC Riverside D:
@bomerr Yeah Ive heard sac state isnt too bad and that would be better than say merced but they want to many pre reqs. like speech, more business and computer classes, etc. But I hear what youre saying ill look into SJSU and see what they’re requiring
@bomerr thanks for the insight. Any school would be lucky to have you! When do the ivys release their decisions?
@MikeSauce
You’d be surprised with how much you can learn in those CSU courses. I took Speech this year and learned how to properly give a public speech. Now when I see people do poor speeches i know they are uneducated. The computer business classes are incredibly easy. The accounting course was quickbooks and excel–both good things to know–and the regular CIS class is MS Access. Likewise I took Business Com & Business Law, two other CSU classes, and learned a lot as well. With the exception of business com, none of these courses are required for Haas graduation. That’s right, you can graduate Haas without even taking a course on business law. Once you get past the prestige it’s really obvious that In terms of education the good CSUs are going to be better than Haas. Haas has the advantage tho in terns of recruitment. So if you are passionate in actually learning stuff that makes you a better businessman I would not rule out the good CSUs.
Aa you can see CSUF and SDSU are the best CSUs for Accounting/Business, rated right up there with USC. I would advise applying to Santa Clara since you are in the bay area.
Also CSUs are more lenient than UCs in that they allow cross-enrollment with CC. So you can transfer to CSU while still taking courses toward the major or graduation requirement at CC.
@chr1st1
Thanks man. May 15th for Stanford. I won’t lie, I really wanna goto Stanford.
@bomerr always plugs the quantity over quality EC idea. Do not listen! Now I know you are a CC student who did not succeed in transferring into the program you wanted, I would even more strongly tell others not to listen. Your ECs didn’t keep you out. And regarding essay topics , he has not been admitted… Do not think he has any special or even relevant info.
Regarding backup plans, it is only a walk of shame if you talked up your first choice too much and were over confident about being admitted, and if you didn’t apply to matches and safeties you are willing to attend. Most students don’t end up at their reach schools anyway.
@intparent
You really have to stop talking about things as if you know. From your username you are a parent and not a student actually applying to schools.
Last year, including myself, i knew 8 people personally who were applied to Haas. All of us were qualified in that we completed the major pre-reqs. Out of the 8 of us, the only person who was accepted into Haas padded his resume with every single ec offered: Fiscal Affairs, Student Govt, Volunteer work, Tutor, etc. All of us were really surprised he got into because he could barely speak English.
I also knew 2 people who were accepted the year prior. Both of them were also heavily involved in ec such as starting their own business club.
Harvard has a question about a favorite book, Yale asks what you would contribute to your roommates [dynamic] and intellectual vitality, Stanford asks what matters to you and a problem facing society. Berkeley-Haas has one additional essay–not all that dissimilar to the UC essays-- and a resume with16 COLLEGE-ONLY ecs slots. Furthermore the UC application allows listing of over 20 ecs. TWENTY PLUS!
So instead of having a place to talk about personal qualities, likes and passions, pursuits, etc. like the privates, Berkeley-Haas end up giving is an application that is very ec heavily. Hence why everyone who gets accepted has multiple ecs.
You’re right, most people do not end up at their reach schools and it’s precisely because they are not optimizing their applications. On the one hand this is a website about helping people get into college. At the same time your advice goes against that. I don’t understand what your goal is but like I said, you are a parent and so you lack on the ground knowledge.
Lol… My D 2 got in everyplace she applied 2 years ago, including U of Chicago, Swarthmore, Harvey Mudd, Carleton, and several lower ranked schools with great merit. Parents tend to have a much clearer perspective than students who have not been accepted yet.
I echo intparent’s sentiments. Quantity over Quality does not and will not get you into any top tier schools. It’s the depth and breadth of your ECs that will get you noticed, as long as you know how to leverage them. If you list 25 ECs without addressing any of them in your essays, what good are your 25 ECs?
If you “lack” ECs, admissions officers look for other compensating factors. The other factors? Your GPA, and ultimately, you essays. The essays are unbelievably important since this is where you show the admissions officer who you are. However, the essays are usually the weakest part of the application - either cliched, or vanilla.
@bomerr Yeah thats what my counselor said, i mean its not like Im against learning I just dont have the time to take all those classes. Plus Im already taking 70 units already so most of my spare time is spent on EC’s. But I get what youre saying about qualified applicants getting rejected, so I’m not betting the farm on UCB.
And I hear what mom and pop are saying, joining a bunch of EC’s and just kinda floating probably wouldn’t help. BUT when push comes to shove and 500 other applicants are exactly like me GPA wise then its really gonna come down to who looks better on paper. Ive talked to a berkeley rep through TAP and she’s encouraged me to get involved in the community as much as possible, without jeopardizing my GPA of course.
i think it’s great advice and wish I had spent more time on this site squeezing info out of @bomerr BEFORE my submitting my app
@bomerr schools do look at course rigor. The Haas transfer page explicitly states “course load” as a factor in its decisions.