Berkeley Acceptance?

[opt2023]

Has anyone else gotten the acceptance call today? What other schools are you guys deciding between and how are you guys making that decision??

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[aspiringdocfingerscrossed]

I got accepted today too. It was a pleasant surprise to be informed within one week! I’m pretty set on Berkeley. What schools are you deciding between?

 

[opt2023]

I got accepted today too. It was a pleasant surprise to be informed within one week! I’m pretty set on Berkeley. What schools are you deciding between?

Deciding between UCB and SCCO just because SCCO is so close to home but I absolutely loved Berkeley!

 

[puddingcup]

Has anyone else gotten the acceptance call today? What other schools are you guys deciding between and how are you guys making that decision??

I got accepted today too. It was a pleasant surprise to be informed within one week! I’m pretty set on Berkeley. What schools are you deciding between?

Congrats you guys! Would you mind sharing your interview experience?

 

[ODCO2023]

I also got my call yesterday! I missed the call twice since I was in class... x.x

But, I finally picked it up the third time haha! I am deciding between Berkeley and SUNY currently. If anyone have advice for me, please let me know.

 

[passionforvision]

Congrats you guys! Would you mind sharing your interview experience?

I'm a little late but sure!

The whole day is 9am-5pm, and there are four 'evaluated' parts: an essay, a group activity, three MMIs, and a traditional interview. However, all of these happen after lunch (around 1pm), which I thought would be nerve-wracking, but everyone there was so friendly that it helped. There were a LOT of students that answered questions or just chatted with us to soothe our nerves, and they were all so supportive. I already had a good perception of Berkeley going into interview day, but everyone's cordiality really solidified that. Take advantage of it, because it genuinely will make you feel better and you can get tips on things.

I had my essay and group activity first, which were both chill. For the essay, they're seeing if you can make an argument, and the prompt isn't super heavy or serious; it's usually just asking you to discuss a personal experience. This is 30 minutes. The group activity is manageable too, but I had a pretty social group so our discussions were natural.

The MMIs are hard to prepare for imo, since they're just random questions where you have to think on your feet (you get two minutes to prepare and then four minutes to reply). There's a student and a faculty member in each MMI room, and this was the most intimidating part of the day for me because neither of them show emotion. It feels like you're talking to a wall, but I think what I learned was to stick with my answer and provide sound reasoning for it regardless. That's really what they're looking for. Ngl I didn't feel too hot after mine lol, but I did get in so I guess I did better than I thought.

The interview was pretty standard: chill and conversational. I didn't get asked any questions out of left-field, except for what I do for fun (which was at the very end anyway). I believe it is a partially closed file interview; my faculty member and student had my essays and my extracurriculars in front of them. They mainly asked me about those, and of course the biggest question was why Berkeley. I think that's what you should prepare for the most; do research on what Berkeley offers. I believe being a former Opto-Camper really helped on this, since I could actually say I'd experienced and "lived in" the program for five days. Highly recommend Opto-Camp to anyone reading this!

All in all, I was quite impressed by Berkeley, even more than I had been before. And though interview day was stressful, I think it ended up being better than I expected, and it made getting my admission call even more meaningful, lol.

 

[puddingcup]

I'm a little late but sure!

The whole day is 9am-5pm, and there are four 'evaluated' parts: an essay, a group activity, three MMIs, and a traditional interview. However, all of these happen after lunch (around 1pm), which I thought would be nerve-wracking, but everyone there was so friendly that it helped. There were a LOT of students that answered questions or just chatted with us to soothe our nerves, and they were all so supportive. I already had a good perception of Berkeley going into interview day, but everyone's cordiality really solidified that. Take advantage of it, because it genuinely will make you feel better and you can get tips on things.

I had my essay and group activity first, which were both chill. For the essay, they're seeing if you can make an argument, and the prompt isn't super heavy or serious; it's usually just asking you to discuss a personal experience. This is 30 minutes. The group activity is manageable too, but I had a pretty social group so our discussions were natural.

The MMIs are hard to prepare for imo, since they're just random questions where you have to think on your feet (you get two minutes to prepare and then four minutes to reply). There's a student and a faculty member in each MMI room, and this was the most intimidating part of the day for me because neither of them show emotion. It feels like you're talking to a wall, but I think what I learned was to stick with my answer and provide sound reasoning for it regardless. That's really what they're looking for. Ngl I didn't feel too hot after mine lol, but I did get in so I guess I did better than I thought.

The interview was pretty standard: chill and conversational. I didn't get asked any questions out of left-field, except for what I do for fun (which was at the very end anyway). I believe it is a partially closed file interview; my faculty member and student had my essays and my extracurriculars in front of them. They mainly asked me about those, and of course the biggest question was why Berkeley. I think that's what you should prepare for the most; do research on what Berkeley offers. I believe being a former Opto-Camper really helped on this, since I could actually say I'd experienced and "lived in" the program for five days. Highly recommend Opto-Camp to anyone reading this!

All in all, I was quite impressed by Berkeley, even more than I had been before. And though interview day was stressful, I think it ended up being better than I expected, and it made getting my admission call even more meaningful, lol.

Wow, thanks! That's really helpful. And congrats on Berkeley!!

 

[passionforvision]

Wow, thanks! That's really helpful. And congrats on Berkeley!!

Not a problem and thank you! If you (or anyone really) has any specific questions, feel free to pm me too I'll try to respond promptly.