does uc berkeley require an essay

Freshman requirements

• Subject requirement (A-G)
• GPA requirement
• Admission by exception
• English language proficiency
• UC graduation requirements

Additional information for

• California residents
• Out-of-state students
• Home-schooled students

Transfer requirements

• Understanding UC transfer
• Preparing to transfer
• UC transfer programs
• Transfer planning tools

International applicants

• Applying for admission
• English language proficiency (TOEFL/IELTS)
• Passports & visas
• Living accommodations
• Health care & insurance

AP & Exam credits

Applying as a freshman

• Filling out the application
• Dates & deadlines

Personal insight questions

• How applications are reviewed
• After you apply

Applying as a transfer

Types of aid

• Grants & scholarships
• Jobs & work-study
• California DREAM Loan Program
• Middle Class Scholarship Program
• Blue and Gold Opportunity Plan
• Native American Opportunity Plan  
• Who can get financial aid
• How aid works
• Estimate your aid

Apply for financial aid

• Cal Dream Act application tips
• Tuition & cost of attendance
• Glossary & resources
• Santa Barbara
• Campus program & support services
• Check majors
• Freshman admit data
• Transfer admit data
• Native American Opportunity Plan
• You will have 8 questions to choose from. You must respond to only 4 of the 8 questions.
• Each response is limited to a maximum of 350 words.
• Which questions you choose to answer is entirely up to you. However, you should select questions that are most relevant to your experience and that best reflect your individual circumstances.

Keep in mind

• All questions are equal. All are given equal consideration in the application review process, which means there is no advantage or disadvantage to choosing certain questions over others.
• There is no right or wrong way to answer these questions. It’s about getting to know your personality, background, interests and achievements in your own unique voice.  
• Use the additional comments field if there are issues you'd like to address that you didn't have the opportunity to discuss elsewhere on the application. This shouldn't be an essay, but rather a place to note unusual circumstances or anything that might be unclear in other parts of the application. You may use the additional comments field to note extraordinary circumstances related to COVID-19, if necessary. 

Questions & guidance

Remember, the personal insight questions are just that—personal. Which means you should use our guidance for each question just as a suggestion in case you need help. The important thing is expressing who you are, what matters to you and what you want to share with UC. 

1. Describe an example of your leadership experience in which you have positively influenced others, helped resolve disputes or contributed to group efforts over time. Things to consider: A leadership role can mean more than just a title. It can mean being a mentor to others, acting as the person in charge of a specific task, or taking the lead role in organizing an event or project. Think about what you accomplished and what you learned from the experience. What were your responsibilities?

Did you lead a team? How did your experience change your perspective on leading others? Did you help to resolve an important dispute at your school, church, in your community or an organization? And your leadership role doesn't necessarily have to be limited to school activities. For example, do you help out or take care of your family? 2. 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. Things to consider: What does creativity mean to you? Do you have a creative skill that is important to you? What have you been able to do with that skill? If you used creativity to solve a problem, what was your solution? What are the steps you took to solve the problem?

How does your creativity influence your decisions inside or outside the classroom? Does your creativity relate to your major or a future career? 3. What would you say is your greatest talent or skill? How have you developed and demonstrated that talent over time? Things to consider: If there is a talent or skill that you're proud of, this is the time to share it.You don't necessarily have to be recognized or have received awards for your talent (although if you did and you want to talk about it, feel free to do so). Why is this talent or skill meaningful to you?

Does the talent come naturally or have you worked hard to develop this skill or talent? Does your talent or skill allow you opportunities in or outside the classroom? If so, what are they and how do they fit into your schedule? 4. Describe how you have taken advantage of a significant educational opportunity or worked to overcome an educational barrier you have faced. Things to consider: An educational opportunity can be anything that has added value to your educational experience and better prepared you for college. For example, participation in an honors or academic enrichment program, or enrollment in an academy that's geared toward an occupation or a major, or taking advanced courses that interest you; just to name a few.

If you choose to write about educational barriers you've faced, how did you overcome or strive to overcome them? What personal characteristics or skills did you call on to overcome this challenge? How did overcoming this barrier help shape who you are today? 5. Describe the most significant challenge you have faced and the steps you have taken to overcome this challenge. How has this challenge affected your academic achievement? Things to consider: A challenge could be personal, or something you have faced in your community or school. Why was the challenge significant to you? This is a good opportunity to talk about any obstacles you've faced and what you've learned from the experience. Did you have support from someone else or did you handle it alone?

If you're currently working your way through a challenge, what are you doing now, and does that affect different aspects of your life? For example, ask yourself, How has my life changed at home, at my school, with my friends or with my family? 6. Think about an academic subject that inspires you. Describe how you have furthered this interest inside and/or outside of the classroom. Things to consider:  Many students have a passion for one specific academic subject area, something that they just can't get enough of. If that applies to you, what have you done to further that interest? Discuss how your interest in the subject developed and describe any experience you have had inside and outside the classroom such as volunteer work, internships, employment, summer programs, participation in student organizations and/or clubs and what you have gained from your involvement.

Has your interest in the subject influenced you in choosing a major and/or future career? Have you been able to pursue coursework at a higher level in this subject (honors, AP, IB, college or university work)? Are you inspired to pursue this subject further at UC, and how might you do that?

7. What have you done to make your school or your community a better place? Things to consider: Think of community as a term that can encompass a group, team or a place like your high school, hometown or home. You can define community as you see fit, just make sure you talk about your role in that community. Was there a problem that you wanted to fix in your community?

Why were you inspired to act? What did you learn from your effort? How did your actions benefit others, the wider community or both? Did you work alone or with others to initiate change in your community? 8. Beyond what has already been shared in your application, what do you believe makes you a strong candidate for admissions to the University of California? Things to consider:  If there's anything you want us to know about you but didn't find a question or place in the application to tell us, now's your chance. What have you not shared with us that will highlight a skill, talent, challenge or opportunity that you think will help us know you better?

From your point of view, what do you feel makes you an excellent choice for UC? Don't be afraid to brag a little.

Writing tips

Start early..

Give yourself plenty of time for preparation, careful composition and revisions.

Write persuasively.

Making a list of accomplishments, activities, awards or work will lessen the impact of your words. Expand on a topic by using specific, concrete examples to support the points you want to make.

Use “I” statements.

Talk about yourself so that we can get to know your personality, talents, accomplishments and potential for success on a UC campus. Use “I” and “my” statements in your responses.

Proofread and edit.

Although you will not be evaluated on grammar, spelling or sentence structure, you should proofread your work and make sure your writing is clear. Grammatical and spelling errors can be distracting to the reader and get in the way of what you’re trying to communicate.

Solicit feedback.

Your answers should reflect your own ideas and be written by you alone, but others — family, teachers and friends can offer valuable suggestions. Ask advice of whomever you like, but do not plagiarize from sources in print or online and do not use anyone's words, published or unpublished, but your own.

Copy and paste.

Once you are satisfied with your answers, save them in plain text (ASCII) and paste them into the space provided in the application. Proofread once more to make sure no odd characters or line breaks have appeared.

This is one of many pieces of information we consider in reviewing your application. Your responses can only add value to the application. An admission decision will not be based on this section alone.

Need more help?

Download our worksheets:

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Selection Process

Selection is based on holistic review for first-year applicants, and comprehensive review for transfers, of all information—both academic and personal—presented in the application..

UC Berkeley pioneered the holistic review process at UC (now adapted by most of the UC campuses), enabling us to admit a diverse undergraduate class representing 53 states/commonwealths and 74 countries, with 17% who are first-generation college-going and 65% who receive financial aid. “Holistic review” refers to the process of evaluating first-year applications where no one piece of information is weighted more heavily over another. “Comprehensive review” refers to the process of evaluating transfer applications where all academic and personal attributes are considered, but more emphasis is put on academic preparedness for the major.

UC Berkeley is among the more selective universities in the country, becoming more competitive each year. Due to student demand, selectivity varies among Colleges.

The goal of our selection process is to identify applicants who are most likely to contribute to Berkeley’s intellectual and cultural community and, ultimately, to the State of California, the nation, and the world.

• Learn more about first-year requirements and holistic review
• Learn more about transfer requirements and comprehensive review

About transcripts and portfolios

As part of the UC application process, UC Berkeley and other UC campuses do not ask applicants for transcripts, portfolios or other supporting documents. Applicants are expected to self-report their grades from their own transcripts, honestly and accurately. If a student is admitted and enrolled, the official transcripts are checked against what the student reported in the application. Any discrepancies can result in cancellation of enrollment.

When it comes to other supporting materials – such as art portfolios, resumes, etc. – UC Berkeley does not consider these during the application review. We expect the reported grades, test scores, extracurricular activities, personal insight questions, and additional comments to give us the full picture of a student’s experience and aspirations. This is why it is so important to answer each section of the application thoughtfully and thoroughly.

Choose Your Test

Sat / act prep online guides and tips, how to get into uc berkeley: 4 steps to a stellar application.

College Admissions

Wondering how to get into UC Berkeley? Getting accepted to Berkeley can be tough. How hard is it to get into Berkeley? In 2022-2023, Berkeley's acceptance rate was 15%.

This makes UC Berkeley a "strongly competitive school": it's not quite as ultra-competitive as Ivy League schools , but you'll need to have a strong application across the board in order to get accepted. In the rest of this guide, we'll explain:

• The UC Berkeley admissions requirements, when and how you should apply
• Exactly what Berkeley looks at when they review your application

All UC Schools Going Test Optional

Additionally, the University of California system of schools has decided to make one major change that extends beyond the Fall 2021 admissions season. UC schools will no longer consider SAT/ACT scores for admission or financial aid . Instead, they’re used for placement after you’re admitted). For more information about what that means for you, check out this FAQ .

How Does UC Berkeley Evaluate Applications?

Compared to many other schools, Berkeley is pretty transparent about what they're looking for in applicants and how they evaluate applications. They first make sure you meet the minimum UC Berkeley admissions requirements, then they assess your academic history, and then they do a holistic review where they take other areas into account, such as your extracurriculars and responses to essay questions.

UC Berkeley states that they use a "broad concept" of merit, which means no one part of the holistic review is automatically worth more than the others. Below are the factors UC Berkeley evaluates for the minimum requirements, academic assessment, and holistic review.

Minimum Requirements

• History: 2 years
• English: 4 years
• Mathematics: 3 years required, 4 years recommended
• Science: 2 years required, 3 years recommended
• Language other than English: 2 years required, 3 years recommended
• Visual and performing arts: 1 year
• College-preparatory elective: 1 year
• Have a 3.0 GPA in A-G courses taken in the 10th and 11th grade years (3.4 GPA for non-California residents)

Academic Assessment

• Your weighted and unweighted UC grade point average (calculated using 10th and 11th grade UC-approved courses only)
• Your planned 12th grade courses
• Your pattern of grades over time
• The number of college preparatory, Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB), honors and transferable college courses you have completed
• Your grades in those courses relative to other UC applicants at your school
• Your scores on AP or IB exams

Holistic Review

• Number and rigor of high school courses taken and grades earned in those courses
• Personal qualities of the applicant, including leadership ability, character, motivation, insight, tenacity, initiative, originality, intellectual independence, responsibility, maturity, and demonstrated concern for others and for the community are considered
• Likely contributions to the intellectual and cultural vitality of the campus. In addition to a broad range of intellectual interests and achievements, admission readers seek diversity in personal background and experience
• Achievement in academic enrichment programs, including but not limited to those sponsored by the University of California. This criterion is measured by time and depth of participation, by the academic progress made by the applicant during that participation, and by the intellectual rigor of the particular program
• Other evidence of achievement. This criterion recognizes exemplary, sustained achievement in any field of intellectual or creative endeavor; accomplishments in extracurricular activities such as the performing arts or athletics; leadership in school or community organizations; employment; and volunteer service

Changes to UC SAT/ACT Testing Policy in 2021

As we mentioned earlier, UC schools are now test blind , which means they do not consider SAT/ACT scores for admission or financial aid.

So what does it take to get into Berkeley? Basically, you need to have good grades in difficult classes and show that you'll have a positive impact on campus. In the rest of this article we'll explain exactly what you can do to meet each of the expectations Berkeley wants to see in applicants.

UC Berkeley Application Deadlines

If you want to know how to get into UC Berkeley, you first need to know all the major application deadlines . Berkeley states right on their website that they almost never accept late applications, so don't miss any deadlines! UC Berkeley doesn't offer early action or early decision options, so everyone applying has the same deadlines.

The most important deadline you need to be aware of is November 30. This is the last day you can submit your Berkeley application.

How to Apply to UC Berkeley

There are four main steps to applying to Berkeley. The earlier you begin your application (as early as August 1) the more time you'll have to complete all the steps and the less pressure you'll be under to meet the deadline.

The steps are the same regardless of which UC school(s) you're applying to since all UC schools use the same application (and you only need to submit one application, even if you apply to other UC schools in addition to Berkeley. Below is an overview of how to apply to Berkeley. For more in-depth information, check out our complete guide to applying to UC schools.

Step 1: Create an Account

First you need to create an applicant account. This step will only take about a few minutes since you just need to fill out basic information. You’ll need to enter a valid email address to create an account, so be sure to use an email address that you frequently check.

Step 2: Complete the UC Application

After creating your account, you'll be immediately sent to the beginning of the application. Some of the key parts of the application include:

• Answering demographic questions
• Entering information about which UC school(s) you're applying to (you'd choose UC Berkeley, but you can also apply to other UC schools with the same application) and what you plan on majoring in
• Filling out your eligibility for scholarships
• Filling out your academic history (what classes you took, the grades you got in them, if they were honors or AP, etc.)
• There are eight personal statement questions , and you'll need to answer four of them. Each response needs to be between 250 and 350 words or less.The prompts are listed on the UC admissions website

Step 3: Pay Admission Fees and Submit Your Application

Once you've finished each section of your application, you can submit it, as long as it's between October 1 and November 30. You'll also need to pay a $70 application fee for each UC school you're applying to ($80 each if you're an international student). This means that if you apply to UC Berkeley and one other UC school, you'll pay a total of $140-$160. Then you'll click submit, and your application will officially be sent to Berkeley!

Step 4: Submit Your Standardized Test Scores

While UC schools have gone test blind, you may wish to submit your scores for placement purposes (for example, a high SAT Math score can help you place into a higher math class). If you're still planning on submitting your SAT/ACT scores, we have guides specifically on sending ACT scores and SAT scores to colleges if you need more information.

What You Need to Get Into Berkeley

Berkeley wants top students so you need to make sure your application is strong across the board. Below are the five most important categories Berkeley evaluates when they look at applications. If you stand out in most or all of these areas you'll have a great shot at getting into UC Berkeley!

The classes you took in high school are often the most important part of your college application. When UC Berkeley admissions officers look at your classes, they're looking at two things: the actual courses you took and how difficult they were.

For the first category, they want to make sure you've taken the classes you need to succeed as a college student at one of their schools. This means taking the A-G courses that we mentioned above.

Remember that the A-G courses are the minimum UC Berkeley admissions requirements; most applicants will have gone well beyond these requirements. Some majors, especially those in math or science, recommend or require additional classes before you start college.

For example, if you want to major in chemistry, Berkeley requires you to have taken one year of chemistry, one year of physics, four years of math, and two to three years of a foreign language. Research your intended major on Berkeley's website to check the specific requirements you need to meet.

In general, it's best to take more classes in the fields you plan on majoring in. Berkeley also looks at the difficulty of the classes you took. They're specifically looking for honors, AP, or IB courses since these are more difficult than regular-level classes.

If your school offers these classes, you should take as many as you can without overloading yourself and still maintaining a high GPA. Taking difficult classes shows them that you're focused on your studies and can handle the challenge and workload of college classes.

Also, Berkeley specifically mentions that they look at the "quality of your senior-year program," so don't be tempted to slack off senior year with a bunch of easy classes!

It's not enough just to take the classes Berkeley wants. You also need to do well in them. Your grades and overall GPA are another critical component of your Berkeley application.

For Berkeley, as well as all UC schools, you need to have at least a 3.0 GPA in your A-G classes if you're a California resident, or a 3.4 GPA if you're a non-resident. Additionally, you can't have gotten below a "C" in any of the A-G classes.

However, you should aim higher than this. The middle 50% range for weighted GPA of accepted students in Fall 2022 at Berkeley is 4.17-4.31 . That means 25% of admitted students had a GPA lower than 4.17, and 25% of admitted students had a GPA higher than 4.31.

To give yourself the best chance of getting into UC Berkeley, you should aim to have a weighted GPA of 4.3 or higher. 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 4.3, you'll need to get As in most of your classes, and you'll also need to take advanced classes like honors or AP that'll further raise your GPA.

The University of California system has made some accommodations for students who may have had their GPA affected by COVID-19 as well.  

Pass (P) or Credit (CR) grades earned in spring, summer, and fall 2020, as well as spring and summer 2021, will meet A-G requirements for any student who was enrolled in high school during the 2019-20 and 2020-21 academic years. This includes students currently enrolled in 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th grades. 

If you took the modified AP exams during spring 2020: UC will award course credit consistent with previous years for the 2020 AP exams completed with scores of 3, 4, or 5. You should report 2020 AP scores on your UC application in the same way that you’d report scores from previous or subsequent years.

Test Scores

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.

Your goal should be to submit three AP or IB scores, with at least one related to the area you want to major in (so a math/science score if you want to be a biology major, a social science score if you want to major in history, etc.). 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:

• Who you are
• What you'd contribute to the Berkeley community
• What causes/topics/hobbies are important to you
• What your intellectual interests are

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.

Extracurriculars

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., isn't that important. 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:

• Special talents, awards, or achievements
• Leadership experience
• Significant experiences or achievements that demonstrate the student's promise for contributing to the intellectual vitality of a campus

They list the following examples of strong extracurriculars:

• Special talent in visual and performing arts, communication or sports
• Intensive study and exploration of other cultures
• Significant community service
• Significant participation in student government

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).

What If You Have a Weak Area in Your Berkeley Application?

Not sure how to get into Berkeley if you 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. There are two Additional Comments boxes in the UC Berkeley application, one under Academic History and one under the Personal Insight section. 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.

Conclusion: How to Get Into UC Berkeley

How hard is it to get into Berkeley? Each year, Berkeley admits only about 15% of the students who apply, but you can increase your chances of getting in by understanding how to apply and knowing what the admissions officers are looking for. You can begin the Berkeley application in August, and you have until November 30 to submit your application.

Berkeley wants students who are intelligent, leaders, passionate about what they're studying, and will have a positive impact on campus. To show Berkeley that you're the type of student they want to admit, you should aim to take difficult classes and get good grades in them (aim for an unweighted GPA of about 4.3). You should also have strong extracurriculars and answer the Personal Insight questions thoughtfully.

Keep in mind that Berkeley's testing policies have changed as well. All UC schools are now test blind.

If you're not sure how to get into Berkeley, Berkeley admissions may seem overwhelming, but if you plan ahead and work to make your application as strong as it can be, you'll give yourself the best chance of getting into UC Berkeley.

What's Next?

Applying to other UC Schools? Read our guide on how to apply to UC schools for everything you need to know about the UC application.

Want to learn more about the University of California schools? We have an in-depth guide to the UC schools to make it easy for you to compare the schools and see which is best for you.

Working on your UC essays? Check out our guide on how to answer every UC essay prompt to get great writing ideas.

Christine graduated from Michigan State University with degrees in Environmental Biology and Geography and received her Master's from Duke University. In high school she scored in the 99th percentile on the SAT and was named a National Merit Finalist. She has taught English and biology in several countries.

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UC Berkeley Requirements for Admission

Choose your test.

What are UC Berkeley's admission requirements? While there are a lot of pieces that go into a college application, you should focus on only a few critical things:

• GPA requirements
• Testing requirements, including SAT and ACT requirements
• Application requirements

In this guide we'll cover what you need to get into UC Berkeley and build a strong application.

School location: Berkeley, CA

This school is also known as: University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, UC Berkeley

Admissions Rate: 11.4%

If you want to get in, the first thing to look at is the acceptance rate. This tells you how competitive the school is and how serious their requirements are.

The acceptance rate at UC Berkeley is 11.4% . For every 100 applicants, only 11 are admitted.

This means the school is extremely selective . Meeting their GPA requirements and SAT/ACT requirements is very important to getting past their first round of filters and proving your academic preparation. If you don't meet their expectations, your chance of getting in is nearly zero.

After crossing this hurdle, you'll need to impress UC Berkeley application readers through their other application requirements, including extracurriculars, essays, and letters of recommendation. We'll cover more below.

We can help. PrepScholar Admissions is the world's best admissions consulting service. We combine world-class admissions counselors with our data-driven, proprietary admissions strategies . We've overseen thousands of students get into their top choice schools , from state colleges to the Ivy League.

We know what kinds of students colleges want to admit. We want to get you admitted to your dream schools.

Learn more about PrepScholar Admissions to maximize your chance of getting in.

UC Berkeley GPA Requirements

Many schools specify a minimum GPA requirement, but this is often just the bare minimum to submit an application without immediately getting rejected.

The GPA requirement that really matters is the GPA you need for a real chance of getting in. For this, we look at the school's average GPA for its current students.

Average GPA: 3.9

The average GPA at UC Berkeley is 3.9 .

(Most schools use a weighted GPA out of 4.0, though some report an unweighted GPA.

With a GPA of 3.9, UC Berkeley requires you to be at the top of your class . You'll need nearly straight A's in all your classes to compete with other applicants. Furthermore, you should be taking hard classes - AP or IB courses - to show that college-level academics is a breeze.

If you're currently a junior or senior, your GPA is hard to change in time for college applications. If your GPA is at or below the school average of 3.9, you'll need a higher SAT or ACT score to compensate . This will help you compete effectively against other applicants who have higher GPAs than you.

SAT and ACT Requirements

Each school has different requirements for standardized testing. Only a few schools require the SAT or ACT, but many consider your scores if you choose to submit them.

UC Berkeley hasn't explicitly named a policy on SAT/ACT requirements, but because it's published average SAT or ACT scores (we'll cover this next), it's likely test flexible. Typically, these schools say, "if you feel your SAT or ACT score represents you well as a student, submit them. Otherwise, don't."

Despite this policy, the truth is that most students still take the SAT or ACT, and most applicants to UC Berkeley will submit their scores. If you don't submit scores, you'll have one fewer dimension to show that you're worthy of being admitted, compared to other students. We therefore recommend that you consider taking the SAT or ACT, and doing well.

UC Berkeley SAT Requirements

Many schools say they have no SAT score cutoff, but the truth is that there is a hidden SAT requirement. This is based on the school's average score.

Average SAT: 1415

The average SAT score composite at UC Berkeley is a 1415 on the 1600 SAT scale.

This score makes UC Berkeley Strongly Competitive for SAT test scores.

UC Berkeley SAT Score Analysis (New 1600 SAT)

The 25th percentile SAT score is 1300, and the 75th percentile SAT score is 1530. In other words, a 1300 on the SAT places you below average, while a 1530 will move you up to above average .

Here's the breakdown of SAT scores by section:

SAT Score Choice Policy

The Score Choice policy at your school is an important part of your testing strategy.

UC Berkeley has the Score Choice policy of "All Scores."

This means that UC Berkeley requires you to send all SAT scores you've ever taken to their office.

This sounds daunting, but most schools don't actually consider all your scores equally. For example, if you scored an 1300 on one test and a 1500 on another, they won't actually average the two tests.

More commonly, the school will take your highest score on a single test date. Even better, some schools form a Superscore - that is, they take your highest section score across all your test dates and combine them.

Some students are still worried about submitting too many test scores. They're afraid that UC Berkeley will look down on too many attempts to raise your score. But how many is too many?

From our research and talking to admissions officers, we've learned that 4-6 tests is a safe number to submit . The college understands that you want to have the best chance of admission, and retaking the test is a good way to do this. Within a reasonable number of tests, they honestly don't care how many times you've taken it. They'll just focus on your score.

If you take it more than 6 times, colleges start wondering why you're not improving with each test. They'll question your study skills and ability to improve.

But below 6 tests, we strongly encourage retaking the test to maximize your chances. If your SAT score is currently below a 1530, we strongly recommend that you consider prepping for the SAT and retaking it . You don't have much to lose, and you can potentially raise your score and significantly boost your chances of getting in.

Download our free guide on the top 5 strategies you must be using to improve your score. This guide was written by Harvard graduates and SAT perfect scorers. If you apply the strategies in this guide, you'll study smarter and make huge score improvements.

UC Berkeley ACT Requirements

Just like for the SAT, UC Berkeley likely doesn't have a hard ACT cutoff, but if you score too low, your application will get tossed in the trash.

Average ACT: 31

The average ACT score at UC Berkeley is 31. This score makes UC Berkeley Strongly Competitive for ACT scores.

The 25th percentile ACT score is 28, and the 75th percentile ACT score is 34.

Even though UC Berkeley likely says they have no minimum ACT requirement, if you apply with a 28 or below, you'll have a very hard time getting in, unless you have something else very impressive in your application. There are so many applicants scoring 31 and above that a 28 will look academically weak.

ACT Score Sending Policy

If you're taking the ACT as opposed to the SAT, you have a huge advantage in how you send scores, and this dramatically affects your testing strategy.

Here it is: when you send ACT scores to colleges, you have absolute control over which tests you send. You could take 10 tests, and only send your highest one. This is unlike the SAT, where many schools require you to send all your tests ever taken.

This means that you have more chances than you think to improve your ACT score. To try to aim for the school's ACT requirement of 34 and above, you should try to take the ACT as many times as you can. When you have the final score that you're happy with, you can then send only that score to all your schools.

ACT Superscore Policy

By and large, most colleges do not superscore the ACT. (Superscore means that the school takes your best section scores from all the test dates you submit, and then combines them into the best possible composite score). Thus, most schools will just take your highest ACT score from a single sitting.

We weren't able to find the school's exact ACT policy, which most likely means that it does not Superscore. Regardless, you can choose your single best ACT score to send in to UC Berkeley, so you should prep until you reach our recommended target ACT score of 34.

Download our free guide on the top 5 strategies you must be using to improve your score. This guide was written by Harvard graduates and ACT perfect scorers. If you apply the strategies in this guide, you'll study smarter and make huge score improvements.

SAT/ACT Writing Section Requirements

Currently, only the ACT has an optional essay section that all students can take. The SAT used to also have an optional Essay section, but since June 2021, this has been discontinued unless you are taking the test as part of school-day testing in a few states. Because of this, no school requires the SAT Essay or ACT Writing section, but some schools do recommend certain students submit their results if they have them.

UC Berkeley considers the SAT Essay/ACT Writing section optional and may not include it as part of their admissions consideration. You don't need to worry too much about Writing for this school, but other schools you're applying to may require it.

Final Admissions Verdict

Because this school is extremely selective, getting a high SAT/ACT score and GPA is vital to having a chance at getting in . If you don't pass their SAT/ACT and GPA requirements, they'll likely reject you without much consideration.

To have the best shot of getting in, you should aim for the 75th percentile, with a 1530 SAT or a 34 ACT . You should also have a 3.9 GPA or higher. If your GPA is lower than this, you need to compensate with a higher SAT/ACT score.

For a school as selective as UC Berkeley, you'll also need to impress them with the rest of your application. We'll cover those details next.

But if you apply with a score below a 1530 SAT or a 34 ACT, you unfortunately start out with the odds against you and have a tiny chance of getting in. There are just too many students with high SAT/ACT scores and strong applications, and you need to compete against them.

Admissions Calculator

Here's our custom admissions calculator. Plug in your numbers to see what your chances of getting in are. Pick your test: SAT ACT

• 80-100%: Safety school: Strong chance of getting in
• 50-80%: More likely than not getting in
• 20-50%: Lower but still good chance of getting in
• 5-20%: Reach school: Unlikely to get in, but still have a shot
• 0-5%: Hard reach school: Very difficult to get in

How would your chances improve with a better score?

Take your current SAT score and add 160 points (or take your ACT score and add 4 points) to the calculator above. See how much your chances improve?

At PrepScholar, we've created the leading online SAT/ACT prep program . We guarantee an improvement of 160 SAT points or 4 ACT points on your score, or your money back.

Here's a summary of why we're so much more effective than other prep programs:

• PrepScholar customizes your prep to your strengths and weaknesses . You don't waste time working on areas you already know, so you get more results in less time.
• We guide you through your program step-by-step so that you're never confused about what you should be studying. Focus all your time learning, not worrying about what to learn.
• Our team is made of national SAT/ACT experts . PrepScholar's founders are Harvard graduates and SAT perfect scorers . You'll be studying using the strategies that actually worked for them.
• We've gotten tremendous results with thousands of students across the country. Read about our score results and reviews from our happy customers .

There's a lot more to PrepScholar that makes it the best SAT/ACT prep program. Click to learn more about our program , or sign up for our 5-day free trial to check out PrepScholar for yourself:

Application Requirements

Every school requires an application with the bare essentials - high school transcript and GPA, application form, and other core information. Many schools, as explained above, also require SAT and ACT scores, as well as letters of recommendation, application essays, and interviews. We'll cover the exact requirements of UC Berkeley here.

Application Requirements Overview

• Common Application Not accepted
• Electronic Application None
• Essay or Personal Statement Required for all freshmen
• Letters of Recommendation
• Interview Not required
• Application Fee $70
• Fee Waiver Available? Available
• Other Notes

Testing Requirements

• SAT or ACT Not used if submitted
• SAT Essay or ACT Writing Optional
• SAT Subject Tests Optional
• Scores Due in Office None

Coursework Requirements

• Subject Required Years
• Foreign Language 2
• Social Studies
• Electives 1

Deadlines and Early Admissions

• Offered? Deadline Notification
• Yes November 30 March 31

Admissions Office Information

• Address: 110 Berkeley, CA 94720
• Phone: (510) 642-6000 x6000
• Fax: (510) 642-7333

Our Expert's Notes

We did more detailed research into this school's admissions process and found the following information:

You will submit a University of California application, which opens in August but can only be submitted during the month of November. The application consists of the online form, including your personal statement, and sending your ACT/SAT scores. Berkeley (and the other UC schools) have an interesting poilcy about letters of recommendation, transcripts and portfolios:

"As part of the UC application process, UC Berkeley and other UC campuses do not ask applicants for transcripts, portfolios, letters of recommendation, or other supporting documents. Applicants are expected to self-report their grades from their own transcripts, honestly and accurately. If a student is admitted and enrolled, the official transcripts are checked against what the student reported in the application. Any discrepancies can result in cancellation of enrollment.

When it comes to other supporting materials - such as art portfolios, letters of recommendations, resumes, etc. - UC Berkeley does not consider these during the application review. We expect the reported grades, test scores, extracurricular activities, personal statements, and additional comments to give us the full picture of a student's experience and aspirations. This is why it is so important to answer each section of the application thoughtfully and thoroughly.

Sometimes, during the application reading process, we do select a very small number of applicants to answer supplemental questionnaires. These questionnaires are designed to add clarity to information or answer questions that may arise during our application reading. Being selected - or not selected - for these questionnaires does not reflect a student's admissions status. The questionnaires are optional, but they do allow for Letters of Recommendation to be sent on the student's behalf. This is the only time we ask for Letters of Recommendation. Applicants are not able to request to be sent a questionnaire."

Other Schools For You

If you're interested in UC Berkeley, you'll probably be interested in these schools as well. We've divided them into 3 categories depending on how hard they are to get into, relative to UC Berkeley.

Reach Schools: Harder to Get Into

These schools are have higher average SAT scores than UC Berkeley. If you improve your SAT score, you'll be competitive for these schools.

Same Level: Equally Hard to Get Into

If you're competitive for UC Berkeley, these schools will offer you a similar chance of admission.

Safety Schools: Easier to Get Into

If you're currently competitive for UC Berkeley, you should have no problem getting into these schools. If UC Berkeley is currently out of your reach, you might already be competitive for these schools.

Data on this page is sourced from Peterson's Databases © 2023 (Peterson's LLC. All rights reserved.) as well as additional publicly available sources.

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What are your chances of acceptance?

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Your chancing factors

Extracurriculars.

The Role That Essays Play in the UC Admissions

This article was written based on the information and opinions presented by Vinay Bhaskara in a CollegeVine livestream. You can watch the full livestream for more info.

What’s Covered:

Why your essays matter, how to approach your essays, understanding and selecting prompts.

Essays are a critical component of your application to the University of California (UC) system. Since the UC system no longer considers standardized tests, like the SAT, ACT, AP, or IB examinations, when reaching admissions decisions, there are fewer data points with which admissions officers can assess candidates. 

A complete application for admission to the UC system consists of three main components: 

• Academic Performance: All of the schools you have attended, coursework you have taken, and the grades you received.
• Extracurricular Involvement: A list of your activities and awards.
• Essays: Four responses to the personal insight questions. 

Since there are fewer components to the application for admission, essays account for up to 35% of the admissions decision at the most competitive UCs, such as UC Berkeley and UCLA . The essays are still an important component of your application to less competitive but still selective UCs, such as UC Santa Barbara, San Diego, Irvine, Davis, and Riverside. And although UC Santa Cruz and Merced will mostly base their decision on your academic performance, your essays are still relevant to their admissions decisions. 

There are many applicants to the UC system who are all equally qualified and have similar academic and extracurricular profiles. For these students, the essays will likely be the single source of information by which admissions officers differentiate between otherwise comparable applicants before making admissions decisions. In this situation, you want the admissions officers to affirmatively choose you over another applicant. 

Since there is no dominant personal statement that you will submit, it is helpful to approach the UC application essays as if they form a portfolio. Each essay should speak to different aspects of your character, commitments, responsibilities, values, and goals. Your essays should provide context, analysis, and self-reflection, and they should not read like a resume or be overly linear or chronological in structure. If you would like to highlight an accomplishment of yours in an essay, you should make sure that you provide context, craft a compelling narrative, and balance description with sufficient analysis and self-reflection. 

There are eight personal insight questions to choose from, and you must provide four responses that are each a maximum of 350 words. Broadly speaking, the personal insight questions fall under two categories. 

The first category of personal insight questions focuses on personal qualities and includes prompts 1, 2, 5, and 7: 

• Prompt 1. Describe an example of your leadership experience in which you have positively influenced others, helped resolve disputes or contributed to group efforts over time.  
• Prompt 2. 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.  
• Prompt 5. Describe the most significant challenge you have faced and the steps you have taken to overcome this challenge. How has this challenge affected your academic achievement?
• Prompt 7. What have you done to make your school or your community a better place?   

The second category of personal insight questions focuses on your accomplishments and interests and includes questions 3, 4, 6, and 8: 

• Prompt 3. What would you say is your greatest talent or skill? How have you developed and demonstrated that talent over time? 
• Prompt 4. Describe how you have taken advantage of a significant educational opportunity or worked to overcome an educational barrier you have faced.
• Prompt 6.  Think about an academic subject that inspires you. Describe how you have furthered this interest inside and/or outside of the classroom. 
• Prompt 8. Beyond what has already been shared in your application, what do you believe makes you a strong candidate for admissions to the University of California?

To strike a good balance across all four essays, we recommend that you respond to two questions regarding your personal qualities and two questions regarding your accomplishments and interests. Ultimately, you should select the prompts that you are most confident and excited to respond to and that present a holistic view of who you are. 

For more information on writing the application essays for admission to the University of California, review the article on How to Write the University of California Essays .

Related CollegeVine Blog Posts

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Your chance of acceptance, your chancing factors, extracurriculars, uc berkeley essay examples and tips.

Hey everyone, I'm applying to UC Berkeley and I was wondering if any of you might have some essay examples or tips to help me with my application. I want to make sure I'm putting my best foot forward. Any advice will be greatly appreciated!

Hello! I'm glad to see that you're eager to craft a compelling UC Berkeley application. While I cannot provide specific essay examples, I can certainly offer some tips and guidance to help you create an outstanding application.

1. Understand the essay prompts: Familiarize yourself with the Personal Insight Questions (PIQs) provided by the UC system. There are eight prompts in total, and you are required to choose four and write essays with a maximum of 350 words each. Make sure you understand what each question asks and think about how you can best address them in a clear and compelling manner.

2. Showcase different aspects of yourself: When selecting which prompts to answer, aim to demonstrate a variety of skills, interests, and experiences. This will help you present a multidimensional picture of yourself, showing that you are a well-rounded applicant with diverse interests and passions.

3. Use clear and concise language: Since each essay has a tight word limit, it is crucial to convey your story in a clear and impactful manner. Avoid using overly complex language or unnecessary filler words. Get straight to the point and ensure that every single word you use adds value to your essay.

4. Be authentic and personal: Share real, genuine experiences and insights from your life. Your essay should reflect your unique personality, values, and aspirations. Be honest and open, as this will help you connect with the reader on a deeper level.

5. Include specific, detailed examples: Rather than discussing broad concepts or experiences, dive into specific anecdotes or examples to illustrate your points. This will make your essay more engaging, relatable, and memorable.

6. Proofread and revise: Make sure to proofread your essay multiple times to catch any mistakes, ambiguities or repetitions. Seek feedback from teachers, family, or friends who can offer a fresh perspective and help you identify areas for improvement.

7. Think outside the box: Do not shy away from discussing unusual or unconventional experiences or passions. These may set you apart from other applicants and capture the attention of the admissions officers.

For more information on these essays, click here: https://blog.collegevine.com/how-to-write-the-university-of-california-essays

Remember, when it comes to UC Berkeley, competition is high, so taking the time to craft thoughtful, honest, and well-constructed essays may give you an edge over other applicants. Good luck with your application!

About CollegeVine’s Expert FAQ

CollegeVine’s Q&A seeks to offer informed perspectives on commonly asked admissions questions. Every answer is refined and validated by our team of admissions experts to ensure it resonates with trusted knowledge in the field.

University of California 2023-24 Essay Prompt Guide

Regular Decision: 

Regular Decision Deadline: Nov 30

You Have: 

University of California  2023-24 Application Essay Question Explanations

The Requirements: 4 out of 8 essays, 350 words each.

Supplemental Essay Type(s): Oddball , Community , Activity

The UC application sounds like a riddle. Every student must write four essays, but choose from eight prompts. The rules may be unfamiliar, but the game is the same: tell admissions something they don’t know – and then do it three more times! The instructions counsel you to “select questions that are most relevant to your experience and that best reflect your individual circumstances,” and frankly, we couldn’t agree more. A strategic applicant will choose a constellation of prompts that highlight vastly different aspects of their lives and personalities, leaving an admissions officer with a deep and complete picture of who they are. Don’t get hung up on trying to divine the questions admissions wants you to answer. In the end, they just want to get to know the real you, plus the application swears that “there is no advantage or disadvantage to choosing certain questions over others.” So follow your heart (!) and don’t let the fatigue get to you. Avoid robotically starting every answer by restating the question and be as anecdotal as possible. With each essay, your goal isn’t just to answer the question, but to tell a very short story about yourself!

1. Describe an example of your leadership experience in which you have positively influenced others, helped resolve disputes or contributed to group efforts over time.  

Things to consider: a leadership role can mean more than just a title. it can mean being a mentor to others, acting as the person in charge of a specific task, or taking the lead role in organizing an event or project. think about what you accomplished and what you learned from the experience. what were your responsibilities, did you lead a team how did your experience change your perspective on leading others did you help to resolve an important dispute at your school, church, in your community or an organization and your leadership role doesn’t necessarily have to be limited to school activities. for example, do you help out or take care of your family.

When answering this question, avoid the siren song of your resume. This question isn’t asking you for a list! Remember: it’s your job, as an applicant, to use every essay as an opportunity to reveal something new about yourself. Think of a moment when you were in a position where you worked really hard to help a group of people. Maybe you are always the one helping your younger siblings with their homework, and you struggled to find ways to engage your dyslexic younger brother with math. Maybe, as a camp counselor or church volunteer, you were in charge of choreographing and instructing a number for a group of seven-year-old hip hop dancers to perform. Perhaps, on a Habitat for Humanity school trip, you became the head cook, whipping up everything from pancakes to chicken fajitas while galvanizing a team of sous chefs to pitch in.  

The point is, try to isolate a single leadership moment, and bring it to life with vivid details. Describe where you were, what was happening around you, and what you were feeling. Discuss what challenges you faced, and what you ultimately learned from the experience. Don’t shy away from challenges or even failures, since these are exactly the sorts of character-building experiences that can demonstrate resilience and quick thinking.

2. 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.

Things to consider: what does creativity mean to you do you have a creative skill that is important to you what have you been able to do with that skill if you used creativity to solve a problem, what was your solution what are the steps you took to solve the problem, how does your creativity influence your decisions inside or outside the classroom does your creativity relate to your major or a future career.

You may think that this question was geared towards the artistically inclined, but take a closer look. The wording offers many potential definitions that veer away from traditional conceptions of creativity (and actually, it asks you for your personal definition!). Creativity lies in your outlook: seeing the opportunity to use one of your skills in a novel situation; looking at a problem from a new angle to find the solution that no one else could see. This question is, in reality, ideal for the more scientifically oriented to create a more well-rounded profile. Creative types, on the other hand, might want to proceed with caution since, really, every question is an opportunity to show off your talents and describe your artistic endeavors.

No matter who you are, though, remember this classic writing advice: show don’t tell. So, you claim that gardening, or Calculus, or painting is how you show your creative side. Okay. So, then immerse the reader in this activity with you . If you enjoy gardening, describe the plants, their qualities, and how you make your horticultural choices; are you drawn to the aesthetics or are you botanically inquisitive? Similarly, if your subject is Calculus, show the reader how you sat in your dad’s office for six hours straight trying to calculate Pi on a three dozen sheets of paper using red crayon.  If you love to paint, show the reader where you paint, what you paint, and why you paint, describing the colors, textures, materials—the essential process behind your art. Write descriptively so that the reader can feel as if he or she were experiencing your creative passion with you.

3. What would you say is your greatest talent or skill? How have you developed and demonstrated that talent over time?  

Things to consider: if there’s a talent or skill that you’re proud of, this is the time to share it. you don’t necessarily have to be recognized or have received awards for your talent (although if you did and you want to talk about it, feel free to do so). why is this talent or skill meaningful to you, does the talent come naturally or have you worked hard to develop this skill or talent does your talent or skill allow you opportunities in or outside the classroom if so, what are they and how do they fit into your schedule.

If question 3 reminds you of question 2, you’re not alone. Often, when we talk about a talent or skill that we have honed over the course of a lifetime, we’re inclined to describe it as an art — a creative extension of who we are. So if you choose to respond to both of these questions, make sure to highlight distinct skills in each. 

The good news is: finding your subject should be easy! You just need to answer this question: what makes you proud? Think about the stories that your friends and family like to share about you. Think about moments when your hard work paid off. When you can zero in on an experience that makes your heart swell, you’ll be able to pinpoint your essential subject. If the memory of your first swim meet victory still makes you smile, draw us into your rigorous training schedule; describe the aspects of the sport that motivate you to wake up early and push yourself. What were your challenges? What has this experience taught you? This narrative should have a clear timeline that traces your growth from the past to the present and into the future. How do you plan to further develop your talent in college and/or after college? Show not only that you have grown, but that you will continue to grow as you take your first steps into adulthood.

4. Describe how you have taken advantage of a significant educational opportunity or worked to overcome an educational barrier you have faced.

Things to consider: an educational opportunity can be anything that has added value to your educational experience and better prepared you for college. for example, participation in an honors or academic enrichment program, or enrollment in an academy that’s geared toward an occupation or a major, or taking advanced courses that interest you — just to name a few. , if you choose to write about educational barriers you’ve faced, how did you overcome or strive to overcome them what personal characteristics or skills did you call on to overcome this challenge how did overcoming this barrier help shape who are you today.

This question is tricky because it has two parts. So first break the question down: You can write about either A.) How you have taken advantage of a significant educational opportunity OR B.) How you have worked to overcome an educational barrier. The “or” is key. You are not being asked to write about both parts of this question. Just write about one.

If you have participated in an afterschool program, internship, honors program, or a special class that was meaningful or inspiring to you, you will want to think about choosing option A.  Maybe it was an afterschool program for young, aspiring lawyers, or an advanced history class that you took at your local community college. This is an opportunity for you to showcase your ambition and highlight the kinds of challenges that engage and excite you. Beyond underscoring an academic interest, reflect on the personal qualities required for you to succeed. And remember to show, not tell! It will save you from accidentally humble-bragging your way through this assignment. 

Now, for option B. If you have worked to overcome a disability, struggled in school because you have a different background than your peers, suffered financial hardship, or something along those lines, you can choose to write about option B. To nail this tricky task, you will need to highlight not only the ways you struggled, but also the qualities that helped you succeed. How would you define yourself? Resilient? Hardworking? Brave? Zero in on a quality that resonates with you, and write targeted descriptions that bring it to life. (No one is going to believe you if you just write, “I am resilient,” and leave it at that.) Lastly, reflect on how this barrier shaped who you are today, and what skills you gained through facing this educational barrier.

5. Describe the most significant challenge you have faced and the steps you have taken to overcome this challenge. How has this challenge affected your academic achievement?

Things to consider: a challenge could be personal, or something you have faced in your community or school. why was the challenge significant to you this is a good opportunity to talk about any obstacles you’ve faced and what you’ve learned from the experience. did you have support from someone else or did you handle it alone, if you’re currently working your way through a challenge, what are you doing now, and does that affect different aspects of your life for example, ask yourself, “how has my life changed at home, at my school, with my friends or with my family”.

If you skipped question 4 or chose to write about option A, this question is a gift: a second chance to showcase your resilience in the face of obstacles. On the other hand, if you chose to write about option B in question 4, this might feel redundant. You are free to write about both, but again, proceed with caution and be sure to select a totally different challenge.

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: questions that ask you to describe a struggle or failure are really probing for stories about success. What pro-active steps did you take to address the problem at hand? Even if your solution didn’t work out perfectly, what did you learn? In facing this challenge, did you discover a courageous, creative, or hard-working side of yourself? Did you learn something valuable about yourself or others? Highlight the upside. How did this challenge shape who you are today? And how will the skills that you gained dealing with this challenge will help you in college and beyond?

6. Think about an academic subject that inspires you. Describe how you have furthered this interest inside and/or outside of the classroom. 

Things to consider: many students have a passion for one specific academic subject area, something that they just can’t get enough of. if that applies to you, what have you done to further that interest discuss how your interest in the subject developed and describe any experience you have had inside and outside the classroom — such as volunteer work, internships, employment, summer programs, participation in student organizations and/or clubs — and what you have gained from your involvement., has your interest in the subject influenced you in choosing a major and/or future career have you been able to pursue coursework at a higher level in this subject (honors, ap, ib, college or university work) are you inspired to pursue this subject further at uc, and how might you do that.

If you’ve ever referred to yourself as a “nerd” or “geek”, this question is probably for you. To nail down a topic for this bad boy, you can work in two directions: (1) think about how your favorite academic subject has impacted your extracurricular pursuits, or (2) trace one of your favorite hobbies back to its origins in the classroom. Maybe your love of languages led you to take a job at a coffee shop frequented by multilingual tourists. Or perhaps your now-extensive coin collection was resurrected when you did a research project on ancient Roman currency. Whichever way you go about it, building a bridge between the scholarly and the personal lies at the heart of answering this prompt.

7. What have you done to make your school or your community a better place? 

Things to consider: think of community as a term that can encompass a group, team or a place —like your high school, hometown or home. you can define community as you see fit, just make sure you talk about your role in that community. was there a problem that you wanted to fix in your community, why were you inspired to act what did you learn from your effort how did your actions benefit others, the wider community or both did you work alone or with others to initiate change in your community.

Some backwards advice: When writing about community service, you should always start with yourself. Community service essays are cliché minefields. To avoid drifting into platitudes, you need to ground your writing in the specificity of your life. Don’t start with the action and end with what you learned. Instead, dig into your motivations. If you spent weeks petitioning your school community to raise the hourly wage for custodial staff, what prompted you to act? What assumptions did you have about income inequality and what did you learn about your community in the process? Or, maybe you weren’t too enthused about your community service. Maybe you participated in a soccer-team-mandated day of coaching a pee-wee team. What caused your skepticism? How did you turn the experience around?

Also, don’t just choose a topic that sounds impressive. “This year I acted as the co-chair of the Honors Society, presiding over twenty different cases.” If you didn’t, in fact, really enjoy Honors Society, write about a topic that means something to you instead. Think of a moment where you felt like you made a change in your local community. It can be something small; it does not have to be monumental, but it should mean a great deal to you. Describe the moment, using detail to bring it to life, and then reflect on what that experience taught you, and how you hope to continue these activities in the future.

8. Beyond what has already been shared in your application, what do you believe makes you stand out as a strong candidate for admissions to the University of California?

Things to consider: if there’s anything you want us to know about you, but didn’t find a question or place in the application to tell us, now’s your change. what have you not shared with us that will highlight a skill, talent, challenge or opportunity that you think will help us know you better, from your point of view, what do you feel makes you an excellent choice for uc don’t be afraid to brag a little..

This question is really just what it says it is—an open-ended, choose-your-own-adventure question.  Is there something that you really, really want to tell the UC admissions team that you feel makes you a strong and unique candidate that is not showcased in the other three personal insight questions? As with the other questions, whatever topic you choose, please use detail and description to bring this topic to life for the reader, and include thoughtful reflection on why this topic matters to you. Also, be sure to explain why your chosen topic makes you stand out as a strong candidate for the UC schools, since the question specifically asks you to do that!

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California Today

Richard Lyons, Former Business School Dean, Will Be U.C. Berkeley’s New Chancellor

The appointment comes as Berkeley and college campuses across the country are facing turmoil over free speech, racial and political diversity, and affordability.

By Jill Cowan

Richard Lyons, an economist and a former dean of the business school at the University of California, Berkeley, will be the university’s next chancellor, the university announced Wednesday.

Lyons, a graduate of U.C. Berkeley, was chosen for the job in a lengthy selection process after the school’s current chancellor, Carol T. Christ, announced that she would retire this summer. The University of California Board of Regents voted unanimously on Wednesday to make the choice official. Lyons will take over on July 1.

“It’s one thing to find a person with the appropriate academic and research credentials, the necessary leadership experience and an understanding of what it takes to lead a successful research university in the public setting,” Michael Drake, the president of the University of California, said during the board meeting. “It’s quite another to find a candidate who brings all of that, along with a deep understanding of the landscape in California and an intrinsic love for U.C. Berkeley itself.”

Lyons’s appointment as the university’s 12th chancellor comes as colleges across the country are facing turmoil on campus over free speech, racial and political diversity, and affordability.

Protests over the war in Gaza, and accusations of antisemitism on campuses in particular, have pushed leaders of some of the country’s top universities into the spotlight, where they have faced a barrage of criticism from students and faculty, as well as from politicians.

Though Berkeley is a public institution with a storied history of protest, Christ has largely avoided becoming the center of similar controversies. But recent incidents have tested the university.

On Tuesday, video showed a law professor, Catherine Fisk, trying to grab a microphone and cellphone from a student who had stood up to speak on behalf of Palestinians at a student dinner that Fisk was hosting at her home with her husband, Erwin Chemerinsky, the law school dean.

Pro-Palestinian groups said that the student, Malak Afaneh, who belongs to Berkeley Law Students for Justice in Palestine, was assaulted and that her free speech rights were violated. Chemerinsky said in a statement that the student’s actions were an inappropriate attempt to turn a social occasion at his home into a forum for political speech.

At a news conference after the board’s vote, Lyons did not discuss that incident or other recent protests, noting that he had not yet taken over as chancellor.

But he said that campus officials were considering how to balance the need to protect free speech and keep Berkeley an open “marketplace for ideas” against rules to ensure that protests and speech do not infringe upon the rights of others.

“The world is changing, especially in this area, and we as higher education leaders need to change with it,” he said. “I do believe that if we’re transparent, if we’re thoughtful, if we are listening to the community as much as possible, that we will be able to move forward.”

Lyons — whose only time away from Berkeley since 1993 was when he served as chief learning officer at Goldman Sachs from 2006 to 2008 — is the second business school dean to be tapped recently for a top university job in the Bay Area. Stanford University announced last week that Jonathan Levin , the dean of its graduate business school, would become its new president. He will succeed an interim leader who stepped in last summer when the previous president resigned over questions about the quality of his academic research.

On Wednesday, Lyons emphasized his business background and said that he planned to seek ways for the university to begin “participating in the economic value we’re creating in fresh ways.”

In California, state funding for public universities has slowed over the decades, including for the University of California, frequently called the state’s crown jewel. At the same time, housing costs have skyrocketed in communities where there are U.C. campuses, making it difficult for faculty and students to get by.

The housing problem has led to clashes over the fate of People’s Park in Berkeley, where the university plans to build housing for students and homeless people. (Lyons says he agrees with how Christ has handled that situation.)

U.C. campuses are also some of the most productive research institutions in the world. Lyons said he hoped to expand opportunities to invest in research with more of the returns going back to the university, and to solicit donations more effectively from wealthy alumni whose fortunes are rooted in their time at Berkeley.

It’s an approach that has drawn skepticism from some faculty members.

“Private funds cannot begin to replace the scale of lost public investment,” the board of the Berkeley Faculty Association wrote this month in an open letter to the incoming chancellor. The letter also called for more faculty input and transparency in decision-making.

“If you wish Berkeley to remain the best public university in the world, you must improve the working conditions of faculty, restore faculty governance and protect academic freedom,” the letter said. “We wish you good luck.”

The rest of the news

The K-Pop act NewJeans has asked a federal court in California to order Google to release the identity of the person behind a YouTube account that the members say is spreading defamatory statements about them.

Cornel West, the independent presidential candidate, has chosen Melina Abdullah, a Black Lives Matter activist and professor at California State University in Los Angeles, as his running mate.

Federal fishery managers voted on Wednesday to cancel all commercial and recreational salmon fishing off the coast of California for the second year in a row, and only the fourth time in state history, because of dwindling stocks, The Associated Press reported.

Southern California

Ippei Mizuhara, the former translator for the L.A. Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani who is accused of stealing millions of dollars from Ohtani to cover gambling debts, is in negotiations to plead guilty to federal crimes in connection with the purported theft .

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California will raise water charges and property taxes for its customers over the next two years in an effort to make up for revenue declines from conservation efforts related to climate change, Newsweek reports.

One of Malibu’s most exclusive spas, which specializes in long hikes and communal vegan meals , is opening an outpost in the Hudson Valley in New York.

Central California

The intersection of Friant Road and Shepherd Avenue in Fresno is so dangerous that there is a YouTube channel, named the Friant Roulette, dedicated to documenting the crashes that happen there, The Modesto Bee reports.

Northern California

Rescuers are searching for a gray whale that was last spotted off the coast of Northern California with its tail caught in a gill net, The Associated Press reports.

And before you go, some good news

Milo F. Bryant, a trainer based in San Diego, shared ideas about how to build an exercise habit without having to spend thousands of dollars . Building an inexpensive home gym is a great starting point, consisting of some combination of exercise ropes, bands or maybe barbells.

Another frugal way to work out is rucking, which is essentially walking or running with weight on your back. Instead of splurging on a special backpack specifically for rucking, just fill an ordinary backpack with books or bottles of water. Bryant says there are even exercises to do at the local playground.

Thanks for reading. We’ll be back tomorrow.

P.S. Here’s today’s Mini Crossword .

Because of an editing error, yesterday’s newsletter referred incorrectly to vacant commercial space in the Hollywood Entertainment District. The vacancy rate is 30 percent for street-level space along Hollywood Boulevard in the district, not for the district as a whole.

Maia Coleman , Sofia Poznansky and Briana Scalia contributed to California Today. You can reach the team at [email protected].

Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox .

Jill Cowan is a Times reporter based in Los Angeles, covering the forces shaping life in Southern California and throughout the state. More about Jill Cowan

Undergraduate Program

Academic policies, academic guidelines, regulations, and deadlines, academic dishonesty.

Please review the Academic Dishonesty policy  here .

Add/Drop/Grading Option Deadlines

Friday (at midnight) of the weeks listed below will be the last time to make the following changes. All changes must be made using CalCentral.

THESE DEADLINES APPLY TO ALL BUSINESS MAJORS FOR BOTH BUSINESS AND NON-BUSINESS COURSES.

These changes must be made using CalCentral.

Updated: 2/2020

Cancellation of Registration/Withdrawal and Readmission

At the time of admission to the Haas Undergraduate Program, all students sign a Statement of Acceptance that includes an agreement to enroll full-time each semester and to graduate by the date listed (no more than two Academic Years after admission to the major). All Haas students are required to do so.

If you wish to leave campus in order to study abroad, please see  Global Opportunities .

Students that have been suspended from the Haas School and the University because of a Student Conduct case will receive no credit towards their degree for course work taken outside of Berkeley during the period of suspension.

The following information does NOT apply to students interested in international study.

Cancellation of Registration/Withdrawal

If at some point you feel it is necessary to cancel your registration for the upcoming semester, we require that you notify our office in writing with a detailed explanation of why you cannot attend, along with supporting documentation, if applicable, before you cancel your registration.  This does not apply to students that will be studying abroad through a non-EAP Program . If you have already enrolled in classes at Berkeley for the semester in which you wish to be off campus, you must cancel your registration through Tele-BEARS  (http://registrar.berkeley.edu/canwd.html ) . This can only be done prior to the first day of instruction for the semester.

Once the semester has begun, if a student wishes to withdraw, we require that you submit a  Petition  (.pdf) explaining the reason for the withdrawal, along with supporting documentation, if applicable. If a student is allowed to withdraw, readmission is not guaranteed. If readmission is approved, the semester of readmission will be determined by the Haas Undergraduate Program Office. In addition, readmission does not guarantee a change in the date of graduation listed on your Statement of Acceptance.

Readmission

If you later decide that you would like to apply for readmission to the major and UC Berkeley, you will need to complete the Application for Readmission and Statement of Legal Residence. Download the forms from the web at: https://registrar.berkeley.edu/registration/re-admission

Pay the appropriate fee at the Cashier’s Office and bring the form to the Haas Undergraduate Program Office in S450 for processing. Attach a  Petition , and any applicable documentation, explaining your reasons for requesting readmission, outlining how your situation has changed, and showing that you are ready to return to school full-time.

Students are expected to comply with the date of graduation on the Statement of Acceptance. If that would not be possible, the  Petition  (Acrobat PDF) must also include a request to change the date of graduation.

Business Administration majors who have been out of the undergraduate program for five years or more without completing degree requirements will be required to complete the requirements in effect at the time of their request for readmission to the University.

Students who have withdrawn from the Haas Undergraduate Program and UC Berkeley and have earned a bachelor’s degree, regardless of the discipline, while away from the Haas Undergraduate Program and UC Berkeley will not be eligible for readmission to Haas.

Please also expand and review the “Statement of Acceptance” paragraph located lower on this page.

Code of Ethics

Honor code of the undergraduate program at the haas school of business.

As a lifelong member of the Haas School of Business community, I uphold its four  Defining Leadership Principles , and act with honesty, integrity, and respect for all.

This code was created and adopted by the  Haas School of Business Student Association  and the Undergraduate Presidents of Student Clubs and Fraternities at the Haas School of Business – Spring 2014.

Violations of the code will be referred to the University of California, Berkeley’s  Center for Student Conduct and Community Standards .

UC Berkeley Honor Code

As a member of the UC Berkeley community, I act with honesty, integrity, and respect for others.

Date of Graduation

At the time of admission to the business major, all students sign a Statement of Acceptance. This includes an agreement to enroll in 13 units each semester (with the possible exception of the semester of graduation) and to graduate by the date listed (no more than two Academic Years after admission to the major). All Haas students are required to do so. Please note that Haas does not have a unit maximum. Students may complete as many courses as they want, as long as they graduate no more than two Academic Years after admission to the business administration major.

Students scheduled to graduate in a spring term may extend their date of graduation through summer if they wish.

Students who go abroad during their final year at Haas may have to be taken off the Spring degree list and added to the Summer or Fall degree list, depending on when the international transcript is received. This would not entitle a student to enroll in classes at UC Berkeley during the Fall semester. Students completing Simultaneous Degrees, please note that this would affect your date of graduation from both majors. However, their degree(s) will be backdated to the semester that they studied abroad. Please note, if the student is completing a Simultaneous Degree with the College of Engineering or Natural Resources, their degree will not be back dated as those Colleges do not allow for this. Students whose degrees have been finalized and are eligible for Honors at Graduation after their EAP work has been posted to their transcripts, will be responsible for paying for a new diploma from the Office of the Registrar.

Undergraduate Business Majors that have been away from the University for more than five years without completing their degree are required to complete the degree requirements in effect at the time they return.

Please also expand and review “Statement of Acceptance” and “Minimum Units Per Semester” paragraphs below.

Degree List

Students may put themselves on and take themselves off the degree list through Haas Change of EGT Form up to the first day of instruction for a semester.

The deadline to have your name placed on the Fall or Spring degree list is the end of the 5th week of classes.

The deadline to have your name placed on the Summer degree list is  June 30th .

The deadline to have your name removed from the degree list is the last day of instruction for the semester.

The deadline to switch a student’s name from one semester to another in the Spring Commencement Program is April 1st .

Email Accounts and Undergraduate Alias

E-mail is the primary means of communication within the Undergraduate Program and students are expected to use e-mail frequently and appropriately. All Haas students are required to establish and maintain a CalMail e-mail account.

In addition, newly admitted transfer students must update their e-mail address on campus systems.

The Undergraduate Alias is a mailing list of all Haas majors’ e-mail addresses. It is the primary means by which the Undergraduate Program Office can relay important information directly to you.

Enrollment at Another Institution

Business majors may complete non-business courses and business electives at another institution outside of UC Berkeley. The courses may be taken:

• During the summer break
• While abroad (see  International Study  for policies)
• During the academic year while completing a full-time load at UC Berkeley of at least 13 units (possibly fewer during the semester of graduation; see Unit Requirements)

The courses must be verified as UC-transferable by the advisors in the Office of Undergraduate Admission in 110 Sproul Hall. In addition, students who wish to receive upper division credit for the work completed off-campus must support their request with documentation about the school’s numbering system. All business electives must be upper division, cover material not covered in the core classes, and completed for letter grades. Please have the final transcript sent to:

UC Berkeley Haas Undergraduate Program Student Services Officer S450 Student Services Building # 1900 Berkeley, CA 94720-1900

In addition, Haas students can take courses at another UC campus during the academic year if they receive approval from the Undergraduate Program Office to withdraw from Haas for the appropriate semester(s). If a student receives approval to withdraw, the date of graduation will remain unchanged.

Please also expand and review the “Minimum Units Per Semester” paragraph located lower on this page.

Enrollment in Courses

When considering the courses to be selected each semester, business majors should take into account business course requirements, upper division non-business units needed, remaining breadth requirements, University requirements, and necessary prerequisites for courses to be taken in future semesters.  Courses must be chosen to avoid conflicting class times or final examination groups.  Please see Requirements for the BS Degree  (.pdf). Responsibility for completion of requirements for the degree always rests with the individual student.

No more than 1/3 of your total UC Berkeley units may be taken P/NP (including physical education courses).

No more than 4 units of 97, 98, 197, 198, or 199 may be taken per semester.

No more than 16 units total of 98, 198, or 199 may be used for degree requirements.

No more than 4 units of Physical Education courses can be used for degree requirements.

Students should consult a current  Schedule of Classes  and their registration packets for complete Tele-BEARS instructions and information regarding enrollment and registration procedures (including payment of fees and assessment of late fees). Business majors must sign up for UGBA courses before the end of Phase II or risk losing priority access to the classes.

Enrollment in MBA Courses

Undergraduate students may not enroll in Haas MBA courses.

Grade I (Incomplete)

An incomplete grade may be assigned only if the student is doing passing work, but is unable to complete the course due to circumstances beyond his or her control. Arrangements for removal of the Incomplete must be made with the Instructor of the course prior to assigning the I grade.

An Incomplete grade received in Fall must be replaced by the first day of instruction in the following Fall.

An Incomplete grade received in Spring or Summer must be replaced by the first day of instruction in the following Spring.

When the course has been completed, the student must obtain the Petition to Remove an Incomplete Grade from the Office of the Registrar and pay the appropriate fee at the Cashier’s Office. The student must then submit the petition to the department in which the course was offered. The department will obtain the grade and instructor’s signature, and then return the petition to the Office of the Registrar for posting.

Honors at Graduation

Students with outstanding academic records may qualify for graduation with Honors, High Honors, or Highest Honors in Business Administration. To be eligible, the candidate must meet the following criteria:

• At least 43 semester units must be taken in residence at Berkeley for letter grades. Physical education activities courses may not be included.
• Courses taken for letter grades through the Education Abroad Program (EAP) are included in the 43 units for letter grades and in the cumulative GPA.
• The student’s GPA as shown on the UC transcript must be equal to or higher than the GPAs established for Honors, High Honors or Highest Honors in the year in which the student graduates. The required minimum GPA is established by the Office of the Registrar and may vary from year to year.
• The GPA in upper division business administration courses must be equal to or higher than the GPAs established for business courses in the year in which the student graduates.
• Upper division business courses completed abroad, whether through EAP or not, must be completed for letter grades and will be part of the business GPA.

Please also review “How to Calculate Your Business/Major GPA” paragraph below.

Candidates meeting these criteria will have the appropriate notation appear on their diplomas and on their Berkeley transcripts after they graduate.

The required GPAs for honors at graduation for students graduating Fall 2023, Spring 2024  or  Summer 2024  are as follows:

At least 43 units must be completed at UC Berkeley (or while on EAP) for letter grades.

How to Calculate Your Business/Major GPA

To calculate your Business/Major GPA, you add up the grade points for all your letter graded upper division Business courses. You then divide the total grade points by the total units for those courses. This includes any upper division Business courses taken outside of Berkeley. Courses that are not included are those from other Departments (e.g. Economics) that were used to satisfy Haas core courses.

To determine grade points, multiply the value of the grade (as listed below) by the number of units.

A+ = 4.0 A = 4.0 A- = 3.7 B+ = 3.3 B = 3.0 B- = 2.7 C+ = 2.3 C = 2.0 C-= 1.7 D+ = 1.3 D = 1.0 D- = 0.7 F = 0.0

For example:

41.7 grade points divided by 12 units = 3.475.

Minimum Units Per Semester

At the time of admission to the Haas Undergraduate Program, all students sign a Statement of Acceptance that includes an agreement to enroll in at least 13 units each semester and to graduate no more than two Academic Years after admission to the major. All Haas students are required to do so.

Students are required to enroll in a minimum of 13 units each semester. However, graduating seniors may take fewer than 13 units in their final term, as long as all graduation requirements are met. Students receiving Financial Aid or other support / discounts / benefits, etc. that are contingent upon full-time enrollment should check with the appropriate agency to determine the minimum number of units required. Be advised that if you are not in the required number of units, you may be asked to return a substantial portion of your aid. In addition, international students must comply with the requirements of their student visa.

Normal Degree Progress, Probation and Dismissal

All Haas Undergraduates must maintain normal progress towards the bachelor of science degree each semester in the major. Normal degree progress is defined as:

• Successful completion of at least 13 units per semester, except possibly during the semester of graduation. Summer session does not count as a semester.
• Overall UC/cumulative GPA at or above 2.00
• Semester GPA at or above 2.00

Academic Probation

Students will be placed on academic probation if their UC Berkeley cumulative GPA is less than 2.00. Students on probation are allowed to return to the Undergraduate Program for the following semester. However, they must enroll in a minimum of 13 units and cannot take any courses P/NP–all courses must be taken for letter grades. If, at the end of the semester, the UC Berkeley cumulative GPA is 2.00 or higher, they will be removed from academic probation.

Students will be subject to dismissal from the Haas School and the University on any of the following conditions:

• If the student fails to make normal degree progress
• If after one semester on probation the student has not achieved an overall 2.00 average (summer session does not count as a semester)
• If the student’s semester GPA falls below 1.50 for any one term

Passed/Not Passed Option

• ALL upper division business courses must be taken for letter grades (with the exception of UGBA 194/198/199 which are only offered P/NP), regardless of whether or not you have completed the 38 upper division business units. This includes the courses listed under “ Core Course Substitutions ,” as well as all business courses taken while abroad on an approved  international study program  even if offered in other departments such as Marketing, Management, Finance, etc.
• No more than 16 units total in courses numbered 98, 99, 197, 198, 199 may be used for degree requirements.
• No more than 1/3 of your total UC Berkeley units may be taken P/NP (including physical education courses). Included in the 1/3 are any units completed in an Education Abroad Program, or on another UC campus. UC Berkeley units DO NOT include exam units such as AP, A, O, IB or coursework from other colleges or universities.
• Students may not receive more than four units of 98, 99, 197, 198, and 199 courses in a single semester. If they wish to enroll in more than four units, they should e-mail [email protected]
• At least 43 UC units must be completed for letter grades in order to be eligible for honors (please review “Honors at Graduation” paragraph above).

Next: Learning Goals

UC Berkeley Library strategic plan

Published: April 2024

We help people find, evaluate, use, and create knowledge to better the world.

We will be a leader and partner in creating and implementing ideas and services that advance research, teaching, and learning.

• Collaboration and community
• Equity and inclusion
• Learning and growth
• Openness and transparency
• Read more: Statement of values  

About the strategic plan

The UC Berkeley Library’s updated strategic plan is designed to:

• Reinvest energy and resources into core Library services that support Berkeley undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty members, and other researchers.
• Confirm and communicate decisions about what we can accomplish — and what we can’t — in the current budget landscape.
• Solidify the Library’s commitment to living up to and proactively acting on our values of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging for our employees and patrons.
• Identify our aspirations as a university library in alignment with advancements in research, teaching, and learning.
• Read more: About the strategic plan

Goal 1: Stabilize core services to support research, teaching, and learning

• Execute the long-term space plan to address users’ evolving needs and fiscal realities; as spaces change, prioritize new opportunities for equitable access and inclusive design.
• Read more: Action progress plan (opens Google Doc)
• Conduct a services review to align Library priorities with the goals of the UC Berkeley academic community; develop a sustainable plan for budget, staffing, and infrastructure for core services.
• Prioritize core services and staffing when allocating resources and making budget decisions.
• Read more: What are the Library’s core services?

Goal 2: Build an inclusive and adaptive culture

• Develop and commit to actions that build trust, transparency, and accountability in the workplace.
• Assess hiring practices, and improve recruitment and retention of an engaged and diverse workforce.
• Foster an environment that promotes racial justice; work as a community to cultivate a sense of belonging for all, elevating the voices of colleagues from historically marginalized groups. 

Goal 3: Improve access to resources

• Incorporate equity and inclusion principles into workflows and practices of all collecting areas and collections services units.
• Create and preserve digital collections that expand the use of the diverse materials the libraries steward; prioritize accessibility and discoverability of materials that represent historically marginalized communities.
• Fulfill research needs by developing collections, and prioritizing collaborative relationships and shared print resources across the University of California system and with peer institutions.

Goal 4: Expand engagement and advocacy

• Prioritize communications that highlight the spaces, services, activities, and expertise that only the Library can provide.
• Grow funding, and elevate core services when cultivating donor support.
• Increase representation of diverse perspectives and the people from historically marginalized communities in our workshops, events, exhibitions, and news stories.
• Read more: Action progress plan  (opens Google Doc)

The strategic plan is founded on principles gleaned from our experience supporting the UC Berkeley academic community and our Library workforce during and after the COVID-19 lockdown, which spurred us to focus more intensively on our most essential functions. Core services are the foundation of this organization and the plan. Our list of core services, as outlined in the plan, is long, reflecting the complex and multifaceted nature of an academic library that supports people at a leading public research university.

The priorities outlined in the plan were developed through the analysis of Library data trends, national academic library trends, and input from Library employees. Many of the actions called for in the strategic plan build on work started in the previous plan; a few are new, having emerged through conversations with the Library community or evaluation of Library data.

In developing a road map for implementing the strategic plan, we will be intentional about setting realistic expectations for what the scope of each action should be and when each action should be pursued. We can’t do everything at once; the Library will embark on this work over the course of several years and in alignment with the organization’s staffing and financial resources.

In the spirit of the strategic plan’s renewed focus on transparency, accountability, and prioritization, the scope and timeline for each action will be confirmed and communicated as part of a forthcoming implementation phase. In addition, deliverables and measurements of accountability and success will be developed, tracked, and published. 

What are the Library’s core services?

• Access services and resource sharing: Study space; circulation services; access to noncirculating materials, special formats, and special collections; Northern Regional Library Facility (NRLF) requests; privileges; course reserves; interlibrary borrowing and lending; collection management; shelving of materials.
• Collections and technical services: Selection, acquisition, management, and licensing of circulating and special collections materials; receiving of materials; cataloging; processing; archival processing; NRLF deposits; scholarly communication services.
• Administrative services: Human resources support for Library employees; hiring; purchasing, contracts, and other financial support; emergency planning and preparedness; annual statistics from the UC Office of the President (UCOP), the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), and the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL).
• Communications: Communications with Library staff, the campus community, and the public; website content; events; signage; exhibitions.
• Development: Fundraising to support our mission; engagement; outreach.
• Facilities and security: Security and building access; facilities maintenance and upkeep of essential building systems; mail receiving and delivery; space planning.
• Information technology: Library employee, spaces, and public computing and printing support; digital collections; imaging services and digitization; network, Wi-Fi, systems, and applications infrastructure; website technology; integrated library system and discovery; research data services.
• Preservation: Binding of unbound and at-risk materials; repairs; special collections treatment; preparation of materials for digitization; disaster and salvage services.
• Public services: Reference; instruction; disability resources; liaisons and outreach to students and faculty through academic departments and academic support units

Statement from Dean Erwin Chemerinsky (4/10/24)

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April 10, 2024

I write this with profound sadness. Since I became a dean, my wife and I have invited the first-year students to our home for dinner. We were asked this year by the presidents of the third year class to have the graduating students over for dinner because they began in Fall 2021 when COVID prevented us from having dinners for them. We were delighted to oblige and designated three nights – April 9, 10, 11 – that graduating students could choose among. I never imagined that something that we do to help our community would become ugly and divisive.

Last week, there was an awful poster, on social media and bulletin boards in the law school building, of a caricature of me holding a bloody knife and fork, with the words in large letters, “No dinner with Zionist Chem while Gaza starves.” I never thought I would see such blatant antisemitism, with an image that invokes the horrible antisemitic trope of blood libel and that attacks me for no apparent reason other than I am Jewish. Although many complained to me about the posters and how it deeply offended them, I felt that though deeply offensive, they were speech protected by the First Amendment. But I was upset that those in our community had to see this disturbing, antisemitic poster around the law school.

The students responsible for this had the leaders of our student government tell me that if we did not cancel the dinners, they would protest at them. I was sad to hear this, but made clear that we would not be intimidated and that the dinners would go forward for those who wanted to attend. I said that I assumed that any protest would not be disruptive.

On April 9, about 60 students came to our home for the dinner. All had registered in advance. All came into our backyard and were seated at tables for dinner. While guests were eating, a woman stood up with a microphone, stood on the top step in the yard, and began a speech, including about the plight of the Palestinians. My wife and I immediately approached her and asked her to stop and leave. The woman continued. When she continued, there was an attempt to take away her microphone. Repeatedly, we said to her that you are a guest in our home, please stop and leave. About 10 students were clearly with her and ultimately left as a group.

The dinner, which was meant to celebrate graduating students, was obviously disrupted and disturbed. I am enormously sad that we have students who are so rude as to come into my home, in my backyard, and use this social occasion for their political agenda.

The dinners will go forward on Wednesday and Thursday. I hope that there will be no disruptions; my home is not a forum for free speech. But we will have security present. Any student who disrupts will be reported to student conduct and a violation of the student conduct code is reported to the Bar.

I have spent my career staunchly defending freedom of speech. I have spent my years as dean trying hard to create a warm, inclusive community. I am deeply saddened by these events and take solace that it is just a small number of our students who would behave in such a clearly inappropriate manner.

Dean and Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law University of California, Berkeley School of Law

Entertainment | David Sedaris bringing trademark wit to the Bay…

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Entertainment | invasive mosquitoes were spotted in east san jose. here’s how you can stop the dangerous pests., entertainment, entertainment | david sedaris bringing trademark wit to the bay area.

“If I were to read things from a book or to read old things, the audience would think, ‘God, haven’t you done anything since we saw you three years ago?’” he said in an interview with the Sentinel.

Thus, Sedaris’ current tour consists of essays he recently wrote but has not yet published, inspired by his travels and other topics. His sardonic wit and way with words will be front and center when he stops by UC Berkeley, Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa this May.

Sedaris grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina, as the second oldest of six siblings — including his sister Amy, a comedienne and actress with many credits — and his upbringing is a frequent subject in his writing. In the early ’90s, future “This American Life” host Ira Glass saw Sedaris reading a diary he had kept since 1977 at a Chicago club and asked him to appear on his local radio show “The Wild Room.” That led to his first NPR appearance in 1992, where he read his essay “The Santaland Diaries” about his experiences working as a Christmas elf at Macy’s iconic Herald Square location in New York City.

The reading was a success, even going so far as to be adapted into a one-act play at New York’s Atlantic Theater Company with Timothy Olyphant in the starring role. It also launched Sedaris’ writing career, propelling him to write 11 essay collections, including “Barrel Fever,” “Me Talk Pretty One Day,” “Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim,” “Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls,” “Calypso” and “Happy-Go-Lucky.” Many of his books have topped the New York Times Best Seller list, and he is also the recipient of two Lambda Literary Awards and two Audie Awards for his audiobook readings.

Sedaris’ newest book, “Pretty Ugly,” is his first children’s book. Illustrated by the late Ian Falconer, it tells the story of an ogre girl whose attempts to gross out her family backfire so she becomes stuck with a face that her ogre peers consider hideous: that of a picturesque, rosy-cheeked human girl.

The story was actually first published in 2001 in Francoise Mouly and Art Spiegelman’s comic book anthology “Little Lit: Strange Stories for Strange Kids.” Mouly, the art director for the New Yorker, recruited well-known illustrators such as Jules Feiffer, Crockett Johnson, Barbara McClintock and Maurice Sendak. She paired Sedaris with Falconer, best known nowadays for his “Olivia” series and for creating the covers for 30 New Yorker issues, who also previously worked with Sedaris on the set design for “The Santaland Diaries” and later did the illustrations for Sedaris’ short story collection “Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk.”

The story was republished in February as a standalone book by Mouly’s Toon Books. Sedaris said he never expected to write a children’s book, as he never had any interest in it, but it took him five minutes to write the story.

Falconer never got to see the story’s wider publication as he died in 2023. Sedaris praised him as a brilliant artist and loved the way the book turned out, despite the story and illustrations being worked on separately.

“I handed (the story) over to Ian, and he came up with the drawings and I didn’t question them,” he said. “We just completely left each other alone, and it worked out great. I don’t know what the experience is like for other people — I don’t know if there’s a big back and forth between the illustrator and the author — but there have been times in my life when I’m working with a professional, and I figure this is what they do for a living, and they’ve made a name for themselves, and I’m certainly not going to tell them what to do, and that was the case with Ian.”

Sedaris hasn’t gotten many reactions from kids to “Pretty Ugly,” except for the goddaughter of his partner Hugh Hamrick who said she wanted to have it read to her over and over again.

“That seems like a pretty good endorsement,” he said.

Apart from that, children’s books are a new world for Sedaris.

“As a rule, I’d say it’s a pretty bad idea to write books for people that don’t have any money,” he said. “It’s not like children can go out and buy the books themselves, so I guess the real audience are parents and grandparents.”

Sedaris will not be reading from “Pretty Ugly” on his tour, nor will he read from any of his other published books. Instead, he will be reading from essays he recently wrote.

“Some of them I wrote a few months ago, and then I just put them in a file called ‘Spring 2024,’” he said. “I’m looking back on them and saying ‘Hmm, OK, this ending isn’t strong enough’ or ‘Wow, this really works’ or ‘Maybe I need to scrap this.’”

Sedaris said the process allows him to test out and tinker with his essays if they ever do get published.

“I had an essay in the New Yorker in January ,” he said. “It’s one of the ones I brought with me on my fall tour, so I read it out loud, I don’t know, 30 times? Every night, I would change it, even if I was just changing a word or two, but I had the audience in front of me, so I thought, ‘Why would I waste this opportunity to discover if this word works better than this one?’ By the time I gave it to the New Yorker, the rewriting was really minimal.”

Most of the essays Sedaris is reading on his tour are about places he has visited, such as France, England, Kenya, Tanzania and Pakistan. He said these essays have taught him why he does not write for travel magazines.

“Travel magazines, you can never say anything bad about a place because the hotels and the restaurants and such are the advertisers, so they simply don’t allow it,” he said.

Thankfully, Sedaris had positive experiences in all the places he visited, especially Pakistan.

“I’ve never been to Disneyland, but it would really have to work to outdo Pakistan for the title of ‘The Friendliest Place on Earth,’” he said. “It was insane how friendly people were, how welcoming they were, complete strangers stopping you over and over and over in the street: ‘Can we get a picture together?’ ‘Can you talk to my wife on the telephone?’ … They don’t get any visitors, so when you bother going there, they’re just so friendly and honored.”

In addition, Santa Cruz audiences might hear some essays Sedaris had written during the previous tour alongside stories he wrote for this tour.

“Depending on how the new stuff goes, I might find myself reading things from the last tour at this show as well, but none of it will have been published in a book,” he said.

BAY AREA TOUR DATES

MAY 5: BERKELEY | CAL PERFORMANCES, UC BERKELEY

MAY 6: SANTA CRUZ |  SANTA CRUZ CIVIC AUDITORIUM

MAY 7: SANTA ROSA  | LUTHER BURBANK CENTER FOR THE ARTS

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University of California

UC taps Rich Lyons as next Berkeley chancellor

Campus' chief innovation and entrepreneurship officer will take over july 1 at fraught time for university.

Michael Burke

April 10, 2024.

Rich Lyons, UC Berkeley’s top innovation official and former business school dean, will become the next chancellor of the campus, the university announced Wednesday.

Lyons, 63, an alumnus of Berkeley, will start in the role on July 1, when current Chancellor Carol Christ will step down. 

“I am humbled and thrilled to become UC Berkeley’s next chancellor, following the remarkable leadership of Chancellor Christ. Berkeley is one-of-a-kind, and I will endeavor to honor its traditions and history while guiding the campus into its next chapter and growing its impact,” Lyons said in a statement. 

When he assumes the role this summer, Lyons will take over at a particularly fraught time in higher education, including at Berkeley. Israel’s war in Gaza has divided the campus, where there have been numerous protests and demonstrations since last fall. Last month, the U.S. Department of Education announced it is investigating Berkeley over potential incidents of discrimination related to the war.

Faculty at Berkeley, meanwhile, “have never been more demoralized,” the Berkeley Faculty Association wrote in an open letter to the next chancellor last week. In the letter, the faculty lamented that they have not received a raise in line with inflation for many years and that their salaries lag behind the faculty at peer institutions.

The result, according to the faculty, “is a campus that is close to the breaking point,” with faculty who are burdened with maintaining Berkeley’s reputation despite “ever-diminishing resources and ever-deteriorating working conditions.” Faculty have also struggled to afford housing in the expensive San Francisco Bay Area, they wrote. 

At the same time, Berkeley is “struggling to maintain its reputation as a bastion of free speech and academic freedom,” according to the faculty. “Across the country, the alt-right has sought to neutralize universities as spaces of critical thought. They have found allies on our own campus who are worried that potential donors may be alienated from the Berkeley ‘brand,’” the faculty association wrote.

In a statement to EdSource responding to the faculty letter, Lyons said he plans to prioritize shared governance with faculty upon assuming his new role.

“Coming from over 30 years on the Berkeley faculty, I have great appreciation for our faculty’s excellence and the context in which that excellence is delivered. I see many opportunities for new investment in our faculty and all that they need to thrive,” he said.

Lyons served as dean of the Haas School of Business from 2008 to 2018. He is also a professor of economics and finance at the school. Since 2020, he has been in his current role as Berkeley’s chief innovation and entrepreneurship officer.

UC systemwide President Michael Drake, who helped select Lyons, said in a statement that he would be a “bold and visionary leader” for the campus committed to “preserving Berkeley’s academic and research prowess.”

As chancellor, Lyons will earn an annual salary of $946,450. 

After earning his bachelor’s degree in business from Berkeley in 1982, Lyons also received a Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1987. He joined the Berkeley faculty as a professor of finance in 1993 and has been on the campus ever since, other than spending two years working as the chief learning officer at Goldman Sachs beginning in 2006. 

Lyons’ predecessor as chancellor, Christ, said in a statement that she is “thrilled and reassured” by the selection of Lyons as the next chancellor. “In so many ways, Rich embodies Berkeley’s very best attributes, and his dedication to the university’s public mission and values could not be stronger,” she added.

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