Situated in the vibrant city of Berkeley, California, UC Berkeley has garnered a notable reputation since its founding in 1868. Renowned for its exceptional academic programs and groundbreaking research, UC Berkeley stands as a prestigious institution at the forefront of intellectual rigor and innovation. With a diverse student body comprising individuals from all corners of the globe, the campus buzzes with creativity, activism, and cultural exchange.
It goes without saying that prospective applicants have long wondered about how to successfully navigate the Admission Requirements of UC Berkeley. In this guide, we’ll walk you through how to get into Berkeley.
A quick note on college rankings: we think they’re generally a bad way to think about where you should go to college. We talk about why rankings are bad in greater detail here, but essentially, a lot of college rankings don’t actually tell you whether you and the school would fit well together, or that the school is someplace you’ll thrive. That said, we also understand that many students/families are confused regarding and have questions about aspects of the application process, so we’ve built the post below to hopefully clarify things, so students/families can make informed decisions.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
(click to skip ahead)- How hard is it to get into UC Berkeley ?
- UC Berkeley Acceptance Rate
- GPA Requirements to get into UC Berkeley
- SAT or ACT Requirements to get into UC Berkeley
- What does UC Berkeley look for in students?
- UC Berkeley Application Deadlines
- UC Berkeley Supplemental Essay Prompts
- How to get into UC Berkeley —Essay Tips
How hard is it to get into Berkeley?
It is extremely difficult to get accepted to UC Berkeley. The grade point averages of people who get accepted to UC Berkeley are in the top 10% of their class. People who successfully get into Berkeley also tend to have impressive extracurricular activities and college applications essays.
UC Berkeley Acceptance Rate
The UC Berkeley acceptance rate is 11.4%, making it a highly competitive school. Acceptance rate is generally an indication of how competitive a school is, but it is also an indication of how popular a school is. To get into a school like Berkeley, you will need to perform incredibly well in almost every major college application factor.
Berkeley’s Early Decision, Early Action, Regular Decision, and Transfer Acceptance Rate
UC Berkeley does not have any Early Action or Early Decision options. During Berkeley’s regular decision cycle, it received 128,226 applications and accepted 14,614 students (11.4%). UC Berkeley is one of the most applied schools in the country. In 2023, a record number of California residents applied to UC Berkeley. The University of California Berkeley admission rate continues to decrease each year, in part due to its steeply increasing number of applicants, making it increasingly difficult to get into.
GPA Requirements to get into Berkeley
The recommended GPA requirements to get into Berkeley are between 3.90 and 4.0. You will need a very high GPA and will likely be graduating in the top 10% of your class in order to get into UC Berkeley. If your GPA is lower than suggested at the time you apply, you may have to perform above average on your standardized tests. If your grades aren’t as high as they could have been due to life experiences or hardship, you should consider writing about it in your additional information section.
UC Berkeley Unweighted GPA Requirements
UC Berkeley Unweighted Average GPA: 3.9
| Unweighted GPA Distribution | Percent Admitted |
|---|---|
| 4.0 | 38.8% |
| 3.75-3.99 | 51.8% |
| 3.50-3.74 | 8.0% |
| 3.25-3.49 | 1.0% |
| 3.00-3.24 | 0.4% |
| 2.5-2.99 | 0.1% |
| 2.0-2.49 | 0.0% |
| 1.0-1.99 | 0.0% |
| Below 1.0 | 0.0% |
What GPA is required for UC Berkeley?
Applicants’ GPA when applying to Berkeley should ideally be between 4.31 and 4.66 to be strong candidates. Having less than this will require compensating by having outstanding extracurricular activities or personal statements.
UC Berkeley Weighted GPA Requirements
Berkeley considers weighted GPA as one of its admissions factors. The median weighted GPA for UC Berkeley is 4.48, and its middle 50 percentile ranges from 4.31 to 4.66, indicating that you will likely have to take higher level classes like AP and IB classes in order to be a competitive candidate for Berkeley. UC Berkeley describes how it calculates weighted GPA. UC Berkeley’s website states that it calculates weighted GPA using 10th and 11th grade UC-approved courses only. Berkeley adds an extra point for each semester of a UC honors-level course when calculating your weighted GPA.
SAT or ACT Requirements to get into UC Berkeley
UC Berkeley is a “Test Free” school, meaning it does not use SAT/ACT test scores in any part of its application process. So if you’re one of the many applicants wondering about the SAT requirements to get into UC Berkeley, know that those test scores won’t be reviewed by their admissions team. Although SAT/ACT scores won't influence admissions decisions, Berkeley will consider them for placement or subject credit if a student is admitted. Additionally, Berkeley accepts optional subject test scores as a value-added component in the review process, allowing students to demonstrate advanced proficiency in specific academic subjects. To learn more about the recent changes to Berkeley’s Testing Policy check out their website.
What does UC Berkeley look for in students?
UC Berkeley places a strong emphasis on identifying applicants who have the potential to make significant contributions to the university's intellectual and cultural community. While competitive grades are important, it is essential to go beyond academic achievements and demonstrate how you will actively contribute to Berkeley's community of innovative scholars.
How do you know if you can contribute to the Berkeley community? And how do you demonstrate to the school that you think you will?
Start by exploring Berkeley's mission, history, and principles. Dive into the UC’s Mission Statement, Berkeley's Principles of Community, and the school's discussions on leadership. Observe how leadership, authenticity, and innovation are recurring themes. UC Berkeley seeks students who are passionate about addressing global challenges and who aspire to make a meaningful impact, contributing to the betterment of future generations. They want students who will “contribute even more than California’s gold to the glory and happiness of advancing generations.”
How do you see yourself aligning with this mission and these values? What parts of your story demonstrate that you have already worked toward these things, and that Berkeley is the place for you to take your next steps? How will you and the Berkeley community make great partners in exploring new ideas, asking thought-provoking questions, and striving to improve the world?
How else can you demonstrate that you and Berkeley fit together? Think about your answers to these questions:
How have you collaborated with others in the past, and how can you showcase this to UC Berkeley admissions readers?
Where have you taken initiative in your education, and how will you continue to do so at UC Berkeley?
Share instances where you have taken risks and learned resilience, as UC Berkeley recognizes that facing failures and overcoming them is an integral part of life.
Discuss your explorations of creativity and highlight specific experiences that demonstrate your innovative thinking and approach to problem-solving.
Articulate how and why you value community, and explain how you envision contributing to the vibrant and inclusive community at UC Berkeley.
Reflect on where you find balance in life and explain how you plan to maintain that balance while pursuing your academic and personal goals at UC Berkeley.
UC Berkeley Application Deadlines
The UC Berkeley application deadline for regular decision is November 30th. There is no Early Action or Early Decision at UC Berkeley. Below is a table showing the deadlines for each of the steps of the Berkeley admissions process.
| Notification Plan |
Application Material |
Application Deadline |
|---|---|---|
| Regular Decision |
Submit Application |
November 30th |
| Submit Financial Aid Application (if still pending) |
March 2 |
|
| Admissions Decisions Released |
Late March |
Berkeley’s Single-Choice Early Action Policy
The University of California Berkeley does not have an early decision application process.
UC Berkeley Supplemental Essay Prompts
To complete Berkeley’s supplemental essay requirements, applicants must complete four of the UC Personal Insight Questions (PIQ). Their prompts are below and the UC Berkeley supplemental essay guide that they were sourced from can be found here.
The UC Personal Insight Questions (PIQ) Prompts:
Describe an example of a leadership experience in which you’ve positively influenced others, helped resolve disputes, or contributed to group efforts over time.
Every person has a creative side, and it can be expressed in many ways: problem solving, original and innovative thinking, and artistically, to name a few. Describe how you express your creative side.
What would you say is your greatest talent or skill? How have you developed and demonstrated that talent over time?
Describe how you’ve taken advantage of a significant educational opportunity or worked to overcome an educational barrier you’ve faced.
Describe the most significant challenge you’ve faced and the steps you’ve taken to overcome this challenge. How has this challenge affected your academic achievement?
Think about an academic subject that inspires you. Describe how you’ve furthered this interest inside and/or outside the classroom.
What have you done to make your school or your community a better place?
Beyond what has already been shared in your application, what do you believe makes you a strong candidate for admission to the University of California?
How to get into UC Berkeley—Essay Tips
The Personal Insight Questions are entirely different from the Common Application essay prompts. So if you’re applying to any non-UC schools, know that you won’t be able to simply copy and paste your Common App essay to use at Berkeley. The good news is that we’ve created an entire online course for tackling the PIQs in addition to our comprehensive guide. Below, we’ll outline some general guidance for responding to UC-specific prompts, but if you want to really dive deep, definitely check out our other resources.
Here’s a key difference between your response to the Common App prompts and the PIQs: how much you should care about the prompts. As we’ve said elsewhere, the admissions officers reading Common App essays spend very, very little time (maybe no time), thinking about which prompt you chose. In contrast, UC Admissions Officers are paying very careful attention to how you fulfill the 13 Points of Comprehensive Review.
So with that in mind, in addition to the 350 word limit for each PIQ response, know that you don’t have nearly as much space as the 650 word Common App essay. This means that you’ll need to be much more efficient with your writing, explicitly detailing how you answer the “Q” of the PIQ. In fact, a good rule of thumb is that by the time your reader gets through your second paragraph, they should have a fairly confident idea of your overarching answer to the PIQ.
There are a few other key considerations to have in mind when writing your PIQ responses. If you want to dive deeper, be sure to check out our PIQ course and guide.
Nick Muccio
Rather than candy, Nick (he/him) went searching for people’s vacuum cleaners when trick or treating. He’s since found other ways to help people clean, usually involving their essays (though he has great ideas on carpet maintenance, too). He earned a degree in Psychology from Bates College, where he rowed boats and acted in plays. Teaching high schoolers English for seven years taught him about the importance of presence and knitting sweaters. He sweats a lot, usually on purpose, and usually involving running shoes, a bike, or a rock climbing harness. His greatest fear? Heights. His greatest joys? Numerous, though shared laughter is up there.
