The UC system has a lot of great schools, and UC Berkeley is one of them, renowned nationally and globally for the strength of their programs. Understandably, a lot of students want to attend this school, from both California and around the world. Unfortunately, there are far fewer spaces than interested students, especially with well over 100,000 applicants each year. While many students get in, many more end up on a waitlist, neither accepted nor rejected. This is an uncomfortable middle ground, something that students understandably don’t enjoy much. In this article, we’re going to explore what your odds and options are if you are waitlisted by UC Berkeley. Let’s get started!
How Many Students Does UC Berkeley Admit Off the Waitlist?
Each year, UC Berkeley admits some students off the waitlist. How many varies by year; this is because the waitlist is used by Berkeley (and other universities) as a tool to make sure they have a stable level of enrollment. The more students who decide to attend after getting admitted, the fewer they pull from the waitlist; the more students who decide to attend elsewhere, the more they dive into the waitlist to fill the gaps.
Thus, your odds of getting in off the waitlist are entirely dependent on the actions of other students, and the choices they make. To help illustrate this, here’s some data from past years on how many students have gotten accepted into Berkeley off of the waitlist:
| Year | Students Waitlisted | Students Accepting Place on Waitlist | Students Accepted Off the Waitlist |
| 2024-25 | 10,894 | 7,853 | 26 |
| 2023-24 | 7,001 | 4,820 | 1,191 |
| 2022-23 | 8,456 | 4,655 | 44 |
| 2021-22 | 11,725 | 6,871 | 359 |
To help visualize this better, here’s the same data plotted on a graph, comparing the number of students who accept a spot on Berkeley’s waitlist with the acceptance rate off of that list.
The data, here and above, comes from the Common Data Set. We are not including data for 2020-21, as that is the Covid year, when everything was slightly out of whack (as you may recall).
What this data shows us quite clearly is that there is no consistency in your chances of acceptance if you are waitlisted at UC Berkeley. Now, waitlist acceptance rates are always more volatile than first year admissions as a whole, but Berkeley’s have been particularly topsy-turvy over the past few years.
This means, unfortunately, that assessing your odds of getting in off the waitlist are near impossible. For this reason, you should never count on getting accepted if you are placed on Berkeley’s waitlist. You should always accept a spot somewhere else, even if you hold out hope for acceptance.
How Berkeley’s Waitlist Works
As with every university, if you are offered a place on Berkeley’s waitlist, you must officially accept it to be considered for admissions. This is neither difficult nor complicated, but must be done to indicate that you are still interested in attending Berkeley.
It is uncertain whether or not Berkeley has a ranked waitlist, or what metrics they use to determine who to admit. As Berkeley handles admissions by college, the results of who is admitted is likely dependent on which colleges and programs need more students. Thus your intended major and program of study is likely very impactful, just as it is when you originally apply to the school.
Unlike most other universities, Berkeley does not allow you to submit any additional materials if you are waitlisted, from an appeals letter to submissions of accomplishments. This is beyond not wanting it, they do not accept and will not read such materials even if they are sent in.
Thus, if you are waitlisted by Berkeley, there is nothing you can do, directly or not, to impact the chances of your eventual acceptance. It all relies on the strength of your original application, and the actions of other students choosing to attend Berkeley or not.
Appealing Berkeley Rejections
In one odd twist, Berkeley does allow students who were rejected to appeal, though they do not allow similar appeals from waitlisted students. This is not something most colleges allow; in general a rejection is the end of the line, while waitlisting is their maybe category.
That said, your odds of getting accepted off of the waitlist are much higher than your odds of getting accepted if you are rejected and then file an appeal. While Berkeley does not release official statistics on the number of rejected students admitted, it is known to be quite low.
There is a specific form to fill out and send in if you wish to appeal your Berkeley decision; you should not just send items to the admissions office. They state specifically that you should only file an appeal if you have significant new achievements to report to the admissions office from when you applied. All appeals are due in April.
These appeals should focus on what you have accomplished, and how these accomplishments make you a suitable student for UC Berkeley. These should focus on extracurricular achievements; higher grades won’t move the needle, and UC schools don’t use standardized test scores at all when making admissions decisions.
Final Thoughts
The UC schools handle applications differently from most other colleges; this comes from having their own application portal, and the differing standards they have for admitted students. This also impacts students who are waitlisted, and how much influence those students have on whether or not they end up getting admitted.
If you are waitlisted at UC Berkeley, then you may still get in, but you should always make sure you’ve secured a seat to another school in the meantime. Admissions off the waitlist are never guaranteed, and for Berkeley specifically, acceptance rates are highly volatile and specific to the college you are trying to enter. Dreaming big is good, just make sure you have a safety net when you do.
If you are looking for help applying to UC Berkeley, or in filing an appeal if you are rejected, then Ivy Scholars can help (we can also help you send letters to other schools which may have waitlisted you; UC Berkeley specifically doesn’t allow that though). If you want to hear more about how we can make your college admissions process smoother, then schedule a free consultation today. We’ve helped hundreds of students get into their top choice colleges, and are always happy to hear from you.
