University of California Berkeley Guide

Admissions Criteria:

The most important criteria is academic preparation. Berkeley recalculates students’ GPAs without their freshman year grades. They also do not count grades from non-academic courses (such as band or gym) when calculating GPA. The average GPA for Letters and Science is 4.2, for Engineering its 4.3. A 3.4 GPA for non-California residents and a 3.0 GPA for residents is required to have the rest of your application considered.

Your pattern of grades (whether increasing or not), planned senior year courses, and scores on AP and IB exams are also taken into account when considering a student’s academic readiness.

Other factors which are important are extracurriculars, leadership positions, essays, and hardships overcome. 

Berkeley currently does not consider test scores due to a court ruling, and is on their way to phasing them out entirely. They do not consider race or ethnicity at all, though they do consider socio-economic status.

Around 250 students are designated as recruited athletes each year, and they have a major boost in their admissions chances.

What is UC Berkeley Looking For?

Berkeley uses an aggregate points added system to rate candidates, with points being added to the total rating for each category. They look for more well rounded candidates generally, as opposed to the Ivy League, although this does vary some by school. Students must meet academic minimums in order to be considered as candidates as a whole. Students are compared to others from their school who have applied, in order to give context for grades and coursework. 

Engineering has faculty involvement in the admissions process, and a much higher academic bar. They also like to see research experience and heavy involvement in STEM. Due to attempts to maintain fairly even gender ratios, women have a slightly easier time gaining admission to the school, as fewer women than men apply, so a greater percentage of women from the pool are admitted.

More California residents are accepted than students from outside the state, but admissions requirements are not laxer for students within California. Students meeting certain grade requirements in public school are guaranteed acceptance to a UC, but not necessarily to their first-choice UC.

Berkeley has a new initiative in artificial intelligence, and students who have worked with that may have an edge for CS admissions, although it remains the most competitive major, and should never be assumed.

Berkeley Strategy:

As computer science is offered as a major through both Letters and Sciences and Engineering, students who wish to major in the field will have an easier time applying to the major via Letters and Sciences. The College of Engineering is notoriously difficult to get into. The course offerings and professors are the same, but admissions is easier for one.

Students applying to a specific major, especially in Engineering, should use one of their essays to discuss how they have already engaged with the major, and why they are interested in it. Evidence of past competence is seen as a marker for future potential.

While all UC schools are forbidden from considering race in college admissions, they do look at socio-economic status, and they want to recruit students who have succeeded academically in spite of hardships they have endured. If you have undergone hardship, you should definitely use the essay question on that topic to address it.

The most important thing is to ensure your grades are good enough to be both considered, and in actual contention for admission. Barely meeting the minimum for grades won’t be enough for acceptance unless you are a heavily recruited athlete. As Berkeley gets so many applicants, they need a way to winnow those who are unsuited efficiently, and academic preparation, especially concerning grades, is key here.