Should i apply to berkeley

For service hours, office information, or to submit an inquiry, visit Contact Us. When applying to Berkeley, you will be asked what major you are interested in. If you are still trying to determine your major, Berkeley Guide can help. Rausser College applicants may also select the "intended" division in the "Undeclared" section in that college. While the College of Engineering offers undeclared as an option, we recommend that applicants select a major if you know for sure your intended major.

Interested in Engineering and Business? UC Berkeley applicants must meet a specific set of academic requirements that apply to all the UC System schools to qualify for admission. In-state students need to earn at least a 3. UC Berkeley looks for students with research experience, which makes it a good avenue for STEM students to bolster their odds of admission.

Essays play a considerable role in admissions decisions at UC Berkeley and are an area where competitive candidates can separate themselves from the competition.

Attention-grabbing essays highlight the qualities UC Berkeley values that a candidate possesses—UC Berkeley is interested in students who demonstrate initiative, motivation, leadership, persistence, service to others, special potential, and substantial experience with other cultures. Our free chancing engine takes into account your history, background, test scores, and extracurricular activities to show you your real chances of admission—and how to improve them. Good grades are often not enough at competitive colleges like UC Berkeley, they must come in the most rigorous coursework available.

All of the UC System schools, including UC Berkeley, require applicants to answer four essay questions from a collection of eight prompts:. Describe an example of your leadership experience in which you have positively influenced others, helped resolve disputes or contributed to group efforts over time. Every person has a creative side, and it can be expressed in many ways: problem-solving, original and innovative thinking, and artistically, to name a few.

Describe how you express your creative side. However, you should aim higher than this. This means you'll have a higher GPA than the majority of accepted students which gives you a great chance at getting in. To get a weighted GPA of 4. U C Berkeley is test optional for all students for the Fall application cycle due to COVID, and it will be changing its testing policies for in-state students in Fall and beyond.

For more information about those changes, check out this article. There is no minimum SAT or ACT score you need to get into Berkeley, but you'll want to aim high to give yourself the best chance of getting accepted.

Again, you want to aim for the higher end of this range, so your goal should be either a on the SAT or a 35 on the ACT. Remember, it's completely possible to get into Berkeley with scores lower than these most admitted students will have scores lower than these , but setting that as your goal gives you a good score to aim for so you can maximize your chances of getting into UC Berkeley.

While Berkeley doesn't require any AP scores or IB results, having at least a few of these will further strengthen your application by showing you can score well on tests that cover different topics. For these exams, you should aim to get at least a 4 on the AP tests and a 5 on the IB. You'll need to answer four of the UC personal insight prompts , and your responses should show:.

Maybe you've always been fascinated by space and want to attend UC Berkeley and major in aeronautical engineering, or maybe you dream of being a writer and want to major in English or Creative Writing. Whatever your story is, this is the place for Berkeley to hear it, and it's the best place in your application to show them who you really are as a person. This is the part of your application where you can really show Berkeley who you are, so be sure to put time and thought into your responses.

Berkeley also specifically mentions that the personal insight section is one of the parts of the application they look at most closely. For a more in-depth look at how to stand out with your responses, read our guide on how to write outstanding UC essays.

Your extracurriculars are another important part of your Berkeley application. The best extracurriculars show your leadership skills and passion for whatever the extracurricular focuses on. Exactly which extracurriculars you choose, whether they are related to sports, academics, arts, volunteering, etc.

What will make your extracurriculars stand out is if you can show that you're passionate about them , have dedicated significant time to them, and have taken on a leadership role or important responsibilities. Some factors Berkeley states they're specifically looking for in extracurriculars include:. Don't feel like you need to have all or even any of these experiences; they're just given so you can get an idea of what Berkeley is looking for.

Pretty much any extracurricular that you're passionate about, skilled in, and have shown some leadership potential for is a great extracurricular to include on your application. Note that, even if you send in additional materials, such as an art portfolio, Berkeley won't take these into consideration when evaluating your application, so be sure to do a good job describing your talents and accomplishments within the application.

You can also use the Additional Comments box in the Personal Insights section see the next section for more info on this.

Not sure how to get into Berkeley if you got a lower SAT score than expected, flunked math freshman year, couldn't participate in extracurriculars for an extended period because you had mono, or something similar? If there's a weak area on your Berkeley application, don't think it automatically means you won't get in. The majority of Berkeley applicants will have at least one part of their application that isn't as strong as the others, and very few candidates have a stellar application across all areas.

One way you can reduce the impact of these weak areas is to discuss them in the Additional Comments boxes. It's in these boxes that you can explain any information you'd like the application readers to know. For the academic history box, you could, for example, explain why some of your grades are lower than what you wanted and what you did to raise your grades in future classes , or explain you didn't get to take as many advanced classes as you wanted to because your school didn't offer many.

For the personal insight box, you should include any relevant information about your extracurriculars there wasn't a spot for in the application, such as a time you showed exceptional leadership, took initiative, solved a serious problem, etc. Strong extracurriculars can help reduce the impact of a low grade or test score. If you have a weak area of your application, do your best to explain what you've learned from it and how you've improved.

Your maturity and self-awareness will impress the people reading your application. You can begin the Berkeley application in August, and you have until November 30 to submit your application. Please do not submit supporting documentation such as awards, photographs, poetry, etc. They will not be forwarded, returned, or retained. Learn more about transcripts, exams, and documentation. Search form. Apply to Berkeley.