This article will cover everything you need to know to write the perfect UC Berkeley waitlist essay. We’ve also provided a successful UCB waitlist essay example.
But, before we get to that, let’s cover a few important details.
The fact that you were waitlisted is NOT proof that the admissions officers have rejected you. The admissions officers at UCB have decided that your application seems close to good enough for acceptance; however, they cannot accept you with full confidence that you will be a good fit for the school. So, relax! From a “glass half full” perspective, UCB has already seen your potential and they at least partially can see why you should get accepted.
On the other hand, it is entirely possible for you to write a short UC Berkeley waitlist essay. Should your essay be poorly written –or at least less strong than that of your competition– you can in fact get rejected.
This means you need to do everything you can to ensure that your admissions essays are written at a high quality. As a side note, I would actually recommend waitlisted students (whether waitlisted from UCB or not) to do what we can “consultation bombing”. This means scheduling as many free consultations with admissions advisors and experts as possible to suck out all that sweet, sweet free advising. That includes scheduling a free consultation with us. If you do, we can also recommend to you a few other advisors who we’ve found gave the most helpful information!
Yeah… okay. We know “consultation bombing” sounds sort of scummy. After all, you’re getting free help from lots of people. However, this is your UCB acceptance letter at stake. When you’re waitlisted, get help from whoever you can get –so long as they are qualified experts, of course!
Alright, with that said, let’s get right to the prompt!
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UC Berkeley Waitlist Essay Prompt
Share, in 500 words or less – anything we may not have already learned about you through your application.
Topics to use for the statement may include: Awards and recognition obtained since the point of application, Explanation of any course changes, challenges faced since the point of application. Please remember there is no right or wrong answer, simply the opportunity to share additional information.
(500 words)
UC Berkeley Waitlist FAQ Page
Preferably, your UC Berkeley waitlist essay should include content not already shared in the original application. They have already received your application and decided to waitlist you. So, this should be an opportunity to share new information that may sway the admissions decision in your favor. Also, note that the topics listed in the prompt are simply examples of topics. You are not limited to those topics only. If there are details explaining the reasons for low test scores or grades, you may put them in your Berkeley waitlist essay too.
Berkeley Waitlist Essay Writing Tips
The important part of the UC Berkeley waitlist essay is this part of the description: “We highly encourage you to be brief in your response, as longer essays are not necessarily better for this process.”
Here are a few tips on how to write the UC Berkeley waitlist essay.
1. How Long You Should Make Your Essay.
When writing your UC Berkeley Waitlist essay, the best word count would be anywhere between 300-400. This is not a hard rule; exceptions can be made. However, UC Berkeley states that it does not want students making their waitlist essays longer than they need to be. Longer doesn’t necessarily mean better.
More importantly, you want to make your statement concise. People who use many words to describe simple ideas often seem more unsure or uncertain about their statements. (think business: all business proposals should be short and sweet!)
2. What To Do If You Have Nothing To Write About In Your Waitlist Essay.
It’s quite common for people to not know what to write about in the UC Berkeley waitlist essay. If you’re struggling to find a topic to write about, you should think about the things you could’ve had in your application to get accepted. Maybe you had lower grades or not as many AP courses as you thought. Perhaps you had a lot of strong marks in your application, but you didn’t have enough extracurricular awards or leadership positions.
The fastest way to figure out what to write in your waitlist essay is to know where your insufficiencies are. That way, you can target and write about those specifically, and hopefully sway the admissions officers to accept you. This brings us to the next point.
3. Know Where EXACTLY You’re Lacking.
To write the UC Berkeley waitlist essay, you should know where you’re lacking. Are you insufficient in your grades? Did you not have enough AP courses? Were your classes not hard or challenging enough? Did you half-heartedly write your UCB application essay because you thought your 4.0 GPA would guarantee your acceptance, thus making the admissions officers think you considered them only as a backup?
You need to take a good hard look at your application and consider the factors that could have convinced them to reject you. This doesn’t mean you should bemoan every insufficiency you had. We mean this as a genuine question: why were the admissions officers not confident in accepting you? Why did they think you were not a good enough candidate?
This could mean everything from an academic background that wasn’t the right fit to admissions officers thinking you would choose another school better than them.
If you don’t know why you were rejected and are having a difficult time figuring out how to write about it in your UC Berkeley waitlist essay, don’t be afraid to give us a call! Schedule a free phone consultation with us! We’ll get back to you over the phone, and help you find out where your application is lacking, then show you how to write it in the essay!
4. Explain Why This Makes You A Fitting Candidate.
Perhaps more important than the actual topics is what follows. Why does your topic make you a fitting candidate?
Maybe you had the grades and marks to prove your academic success. Perhaps you’ve started new clubs and activities that demonstrate your leadership skills more than the original application.
The admissions officers waitlisted you because they felt there was potential to accept you, but not enough to outright send an acceptance right away. Thus, in order to get accepted from UC Berkeley’s waitlist, you need to show how you’re a better candidate than you originally were.
We recommend thinking of this formula: if you were accepted into Harvard, Yale, Princeton, USC, U Chicago, UCLA, and UC Berkeley, why would you HAVE TO accept UCB? Perhaps your background experience and career lie in the fate of your acceptance. That can certainly work as a strong reason to accept you, as you will be demonstrating your determination to attend should you be accepted. You wouldn’t look like any other applicant simply trying to get into Berkeley as a “safety school”.
UC Berkeley Example Waitlist Essay
“Since my November application, I conducted an online campaign: Doctors Without Sleep. The program would help those working in academia escape from the toxic work culture and establish a proper work-life balance, with the focus of getting more rest. To grow the campaign and drive more attention to it, I’ve learned both Google PPC tools and Google Content Marketing tactics to grow my online campaign.
Before launch, I’ve had to take the time to learn all the outreach and online marketing techniques needed for the online campaign to be a success. This required many weeks of rigorous practice in both content marketing with articles as well as experimenting with WordPress UX techniques. Self-teaching these skills, however, took a lot of time out of my hands. I could not provide the attention I thought I could to my classes in Junior year; thus, I’ve had a slight decline in academic performance from Sophomore year through Junior year. Now, I understand how to balance both my online campaign and my academics. I’ve earned higher marks in my senior year whilst launching Doctors Without Sleep. I no longer needed to sacrifice academic performance for online marketing productivity like I did in my original application.
Although I started my application with a general focus on business, these last few days starting and growing Doctors Without Sleep has narrowed my passion. I feel more confident that the world of online marketing and advocacy fits both my academic background and temperament. Attending UC Berkeley would be the perfect fit for my project. Its deep culture for advocacy as well as its hard-working hustle culture in business makes it the perfect place for me to establish Doctors Without Sleep.
To be accepted would mean I can help more people suffering from the toxic work culture in academia. Should I be accepted, I can also learn from other Berkeley students and hopefully grow Doctors Without Sleep enough to help the world of Academia in the Berkeley community.”
UC Berkeley Example Waitlist Essay
If you have any other questions about how to write the UC Berkeley waitlist essay, don’t be afraid to contact us! When you schedule a free consultation with us, you can get a free essay review + advice. We’ve had years of experience helping other aspiring Berkeley students; so, we’ll help you turn your Berkeley waitlist into an acceptance.
