UC Berkeley Waitlist Acceptance Rate

Last Updated on January 2, 2023

What UC says about getting off massive college waitlists - Los Angeles Times

UC Berkeley Waitlist Acceptance Rate

The University of California, Berkeley is one of the best universities in the world. Not only does it have an acceptance rate of just under 20%, but it also has an impressive list of alumni that includes Nobel laureates, Pulitzer Prize winners, Emmy awardees and more.

While you may be thrilled at the thought of attending UC Berkeley, the university’s waitlist acceptance rate has been on the rise in recent years. In fact, according to [link], UC Berkeley’s waitlist acceptance rate has increased by over 60% since 2010! So what does this mean for your chances of getting into UC Berkeley?

The good news is that there are things you can do to increase your chance of being accepted from the waitlist at UC Berkeley—and they don’t require anything more than time commitment on your part.

One way to increase your chances of getting off the waitlist at UC Berkeley is by following up with admissions officers after applying to their school. The easiest way to do this is via email; however, if emailing isn’t something that comes naturally to you or feels uncomfortable (it can feel awkward when you’re not sure if someone received your message), then consider calling instead. If nothing else works


In 2019, 13% of waitlisted students to UCLA earned admission. In 2020, UCLA’s waitlist admission rate shot up to 19%, consistent with the trend at many highly selective universities since these schools had to fill the seats of admits to the Class of 2024 who opted to take gap years due to the pandemic. At UCSD, in 2019, 22% of waitlisted candidates ultimately earned admission while the waitlist admission rate shot up to 27% in 2020. At UCSB, the waitlist admission rate in 2019 stood at 10% and shot up to an astounding 97% in 2020.

UC Berkeley’s admission rate off the waitlist isn’t as easily accessible, but 1,668 waitlisted candidates earned admission to UC Berkeley in 2020. And while 2020 was an unusual year for sure, the typical waitlist admission rates aren’t exactly in the single digits so we always wonder why so many students — and their parents — all but give up and cut bait once they’re placed in limbo. If a student is waitlisted, he or she absolutely still has a shot and, if they play their cards right, they’ll be able to give themselves the best shot possible.

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UC Berkeley Waitlist Acceptance Rate

For those of you who have been waitlisted at one of your top choices, here’s a list of 2020 waitlist statistics for several popular private and public schools, along with notification dates and latest status where available.  

Our sample of waitlist statistics from 100 private and public institutions paints the following picture:

  • The number of students admitted from the waitlist rose 97 percent year over year from 22,223 in 2019 to 43,867 in 2020
  • On average, 29 percent of students accepting a place on a waitlist were admitted in 2020, up from 18 percent in 2019
  • 33 percent of the schools admitted 10 percent or less of the students accepting a place on the waitlist last year (vs. 48 percent in 2019)
  • 17 percent of the schools admitted 5 percent or less (vs. 29 percent in 2019)
  • 3 percent admitted no one (vs. 8 percent in 2019)
How to Get Off the Waitlist and Into Your Dream College — Shemmassian  Academic Consulting

These results come as no surprise given the uncertainty brought on by the pandemic last cycle. That said, we strongly caution against assuming a similar level of waitlist activity this cycle as much of this uncertainty is now behind us and most schools are resuming normal operations.

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UC Berkeley Waitlist Overview

When your child applies to colleges via regular decision, they will generally receive one of three responses: a yes (accepted!), a no (rejected), or a spot on the waitlist. (This is distinct from the three possible responses your child might get when applying early action or early decision.)

Being placed on the waitlist typically means that your child’s application was good enough, but didn’t land in the definite yes pile when the admissions committee met, whether due to too few spots, a particularly competitive applicant pool, or some other reason. Regardless, your child’s waitlisted application might be reconsidered if too few admitted students accept the college’s offer.

When do waitlist decisions come out?
Waitlisted applicants usually hear back sometime after the May 1 deadline for high school seniors to submit their deposit and confirm their attendance at the college. It’s not uncommon, however, for decisions on waitlisted applicants to stretch on into the summer. This means your child might have to submit a deposit for another institution while holding out for their first choice school to call them off the bench.

What are the chances of getting accepted after being waitlisted?
You might assume that a spot opens up for a waitlisted applicant as soon as an admitted student rejects a college’s offer of admission, but this is rarely the case. Usually, hundreds of students have to reject an offer of admission for a college to turn to its waitlist.

Some rank their waitlists and immediately admit their highest-rated applicant as soon as a spot opens up. Most, however, do not. They instead reconsider the entire pool of waitlisted applicants, admitting students who are qualified and who compensate for the non-academic qualities which, the committee feels, were lost among the students who rejected their offer of admission. That means that, in theory, if tons of future art, music, and theater majors chose another school, a given college might look for artists in their waitlist pile, even if a number of future computer scientists are equally qualified.

Gender balance and diversity of backgrounds and interests therefore factor into selections from the waitlist, just as they do in regular admissions.

But since colleges are keen to fill up the open spots in their class, they also give greater credit to applicants who have demonstrated interest in attending their university—maybe even citing it as their first choice in short answer responses on supplemental applications or in update letters/letters of interest. This is especially true for the minority of students who had an excellent application, but were waitlisted because the admissions committee felt that they might go on to another, more selective college.

or those of you who have been waitlisted at one of your top choices, here’s a list of 2019 waitlist statistics for several popular private and public schools, along with notification dates and latest status where available.  

Our sample of waitlist statistics from 132 private and public institutions paints the following picture:

  • The number of students admitted from the waitlist more than doubled year over year from 9,882 in 2018 to 21,180 in 2019
  • On average, 15 percent of students accepting a place on a waitlist were admitted in 2019, up from 7 percent in 2018
  • 48 percent of the schools admitted 10 percent or less of the students accepting a place on the waitlist last year (vs. 70 percent in 2018)
  • 27 percent of the schools admitted 5 percent or less (vs. 44 percent in 2018)
  • 7 percent admitted no one (vs. 12 percent in 2018)

Given the uncertainty caused by COVID-19, we fully expect the rise in waitlist activity to continue for 2020 (Class of 2024).

UC Berkeley waitlist acceptance rate 2021

Among the freshmen who applied, roughly 16,400 were offered admission, about 960 more than the prior year. However, because there was such a large increase in applicants, the percentage of applicants offered admission dropped to 14% of the applicant pool for fall 2021, down from about 17% last year. This includes students offered admission from the waitlist.

One year after admitting its most diverse freshmen class in 30 years, the University of California, Berkeley, has met or exceeded last year’s success in its admission of underrepresented minority students for fall 2021.

“We have admitted a class almost identical to the record-breaking class of last year,” said Olufemi Ogundele, UC Berkeley associate vice chancellor of enrollment management and dean of undergraduate admissions. “Faced with a pandemic and a 28% increase in freshman applications, we remained focused on our values of access, excellence and diversity. We have a lot to be proud of.”

Admissions data for fall 2021, which were released today, show an increase over last year in admission offers to African American, Chicanx/Latinx and Native American students. The average GPA of all admitted freshmen remains high (3.7 unweighted and 4.12 weighted) and comparable to that of prior admitted classes.

Increasing campus diversity — such as ethnically, geographically, and in terms of students’ academic interests and socioeconomic status — has been a key goal of campus leaders for several years.

UC Berkeley admission figures were released today in coordination with University of California officials, who posted freshman and transfer admissions data for all nine UC undergraduate campuses.

A record 112,800 students applied to UC Berkeley for a spot in the fall 2021 freshman class. Each freshman application to UC Berkeley is read twice. And with so many more applications received this year, the admissions staff had to change their schedules to provide an additional week to read through them.

Transfer students, additional student demographics

Among transfer students, there was an 8.7% increase in applications, from about 20,400 last year to just under 22,200 this year. For fall 2021, 22% of transfer applicants were offered admission, compared to 23% last year.

Their average GPA is comparable to prior years, about 3.6 unweighted.  About 95% of these admits attended a California community college.

Regarding underrepresented transfer students, while African American and Native American admissions numbers are below fall 2020 numbers, Latinx/Chicanx transfer student numbers increased to 1,296 from 1,215 last year.

Additional information about the new admitted class includes these data:

  • Compared to last year, UC Berkeley admitted more freshmen and transfer students from families where neither parent has a four-year college degree. The number of first-generation freshman students increased to 4,367 from 4,105 last year. For transfer students, it rose to 2,371 from 2,303 last year.
  • More freshmen students listed their identity as genderqueer/gender non-conforming —131 this year, compared to 76 last year.
  • Freshman students come from 53 of the 58 California counties; 54 U.S. states and territories; and 102 countries, including representation from 28 countries that had no UC Berkeley admits last year.
  • In the past, Berkeley Underground Scholars, students who were incarcerated or from families in which someone was incarcerated, have largely been transfer students, but this year there is a notable number of freshman admits, 94. A dozen are transfer students.
  • More students who participated in campus outreach programs for underserved kindergarten-through-community college students were offered admission —41 more freshmen compared to the previous year and almost 30 more transfer students than last year.

While the increase in applications may be due, in part, to UC Berkeley and all other UC campuses eliminating SAT/ACT scores in the admissions process, starting with fall 2021 applicants, Ogundele believes it is the result, in larger part, of campus outreach efforts that encouraged a broader and more diverse cross-section of students to apply.

UC Berkeley waitlist 2021

The University of California, Berkeley has a waitlist acceptance rate of 30%. This means that for every 100 people on the waitlist, 30 will be accepted.

The process for getting off the waitlist at UC Berkeley is very clearly defined, and it is important to follow the instructions closely. You should also know that it may take several weeks before you hear back from them about your status on their waitlist.

InstitutionWaitlist Offered (2020)Waitlist Accepted (2020)Waitlist Admitted (2020)Admit Rate (2020)Notification DateLink
UC Berkeley8,7535,0431,65133%by 6/1Link
UC Davis    by 6/1Link
UC Irvine18,62111,0812,66424%by 6/1Link
UCLA14,4709,2541,77919%by 6/1Link
UC Merced    by 6/1Link
UC Riverside11,3195,6383,82868%by 6/1Link

Understanding Waitlists

  • How does it work?
    • The waitlist process promotes students based on their position on the enrollment section of the class AND their meeting of class/course requirements. This means that the student at position #1 on the waitlist may not be the next student enrolled, as they might not meet the requirements/reserve caps (such as being in a specific major or grade level)
  • Who can set up a waitlist?
    • Class Enrollment Managers
    • Department Schedulers
  • When should I use a waitlist?
    • In general it’s a best practice to have a waitlist for all classes because of the heavy enrollment fluctuation (enrolling, swapping and dropping) during the enrollment period.
  • When should I not use a waitlist?
    • Independent Study classes (199’s and 299’s)
    • If you don’t want to manage it
    • If the course has a bi-directional co-requisite (this can cause a student to be placed on the waitlist but they will never be promoted)
    • If the class is set up for specific students/student populations only, and will never allow other student populations to enroll
  • How do I use a waitlist?
    • Setting waitlist capacity up on a class section to be greater than 0
    • Make sure that “Auto-Enroll from Wait List” remains checked
    • If the class is cross-listed, make sure to update the combined sections table as well waitlist capacity
  • What blocks enrollment to a waitlist?
    • Class requisites
    • Course requisites
    • Waitlist capacity
    • Add Consent = Department or Instructor consent
  • Do waitlists end or expire?
    • Yes,  at the end of the 3rd week of instruction, the Office of the Registrar stops running the waitlist process for Fall/Spring term
    • Summer ends the waitlist at the end of add/drop period of each session
    • The waitlist is not deleted, and students are not dropped from the waitlist. Enrollment from the list will no longer be automatic, and the department may manually run the waitlist or manually enroll students from the waitlist. After the end of the 5th week of the semester, only the College can enroll students.
  • Why is the student on a wait list if there are open seats?
    • There may be reserve caps set up on the class that student does not meet; e.g. Math majors only, freshmen only, etc.
    • If the classes are set up to not allow time conflicts, the student will remain on the waitlist
    • The student may have hit their unit maximum
    • If it is a combined section, enrollment capacity of the joint class may have been reached
    • If there are required non enrollment components, the student may be on the waitlist for a non enrollment component which is full, though space is available in the enrollment component
  • How long should my waitlist be?
    • Rule of thumb: Make your waitlist ~50% of the class enrollment limit
  • Can I change the size of my waitlist at any point during the enrollment period?
    • Yes

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