Good day. Briefly, my name is Mina.

- Italian woman. Graduated from an Italian university. LL.B in law.

- Top 3%. 7 Years experience as a lawyer. Written 3 books. TOEFL 115.

- Applied to : Harvard, Yale, Columbia, U C Berkeley.

This is my first time here. Harvard, Yale, and Columbia worked fine with me. I would say my choice would be either Yale or Harvard.Surprisingly, this morning U C Berkeley rejected me. I am not bragging. I would like to know why?

I guarantee they've changed their committee this year. Berkeley has always been the softer choice in accepting students. Some think it is overrated and in decline. Why did I apply?

My sister lives in SF and having some mental problems. I must take care of her. Hence, U C Berkeley would be my first choice. Now, we might ask our grandmother to move to SF to do my task.

Such an annoying decision. I have never encountered anyone going through my situation.

Is it even possible to grasp HLS, YLS, CLS and UC B bites your hand?

Hi MiniLaw,

I am happy for your admissions to top universities.

However, being an Italian law graduate, I am quite curious about how you calculated your ranking in classes. I am quite sure that no law school in Italy ranks student and, even more so, specifies whether you are a top 3%.

Since this is quite a problem for Italian students that cannot compete in this regard with other students, I was quite surprised to read this info.

Could you give some explanation about your info?

With regard to Berk, applying to LLM is rolling dices. You never know what the committe would like about your profile.

Bye.

Raffdon, I truly feel your frustration. I had a similar choice a few years ago with my mom. Don't think that there was something about your qualifications that made UCBerkeley reject you while others accept you. Oftentime it comes down to the dynamic that the committee is trying to set with the incoming class. Perhaps they had already met the quota of students for the program that you applied for.
Have you asked them to reconsider or if you could be considered for a spot on the waitlist? I would let them know of your other acceptances (a very powerful statement about your intellectual acumen) and that your preference is for Berkeley because of the special circumstances. In this case, you might reach an empathetic person who is willing to take another look...especially as I am certain that some of the students that they admitted would choose HYC over Berkeley. If they decline, go to one of those schools and look for jobs on the West coast...those 9 months will be over before you know it and then you can relocate to be closer to your sister and provide some relief to your grandma. With a degree from any of the schools you mentioned, it should be easy.

Good luck and all the best.

Out of curiosity, why didn't you apply for Stanford? Palo Alto isn't that far from San Fran.


Admissions are like having a relationship, you will never know why you're chosen.
From what I know is, LL.M. program tend to allocate seats to different countries in order to present diversity.

Hi MiniLaw,

I am happy for your admissions to top universities.

However, being an Italian law graduate, I am quite curious about how you calculated your ranking in classes. I am quite sure that no law school in Italy ranks student and, even more so, specifies whether you are a top 3%.

Since this is quite a problem for Italian students that cannot compete in this regard with other students, I was quite surprised to read this info.

Could you give some explanation about your info?

With regard to Berk, applying to LLM is rolling dices. You never know what the committe would like about your profile.

Bye.

Raffdon, I truly feel your frustration. I had a similar choice a few years ago with my mom. Don't think that there was something about your qualifications that made UCBerkeley reject you while others accept you. Oftentime it comes down to the dynamic that the committee is trying to set with the incoming class. Perhaps they had already met the quota of students for the program that you applied for.
Have you asked them to reconsider or if you could be considered for a spot on the waitlist? I would let them know of your other acceptances (a very powerful statement about your intellectual acumen) and that your preference is for Berkeley because of the special circumstances. In this case, you might reach an empathetic person who is willing to take another look...especially as I am certain that some of the students that they admitted would choose HYC over Berkeley. If they decline, go to one of those schools and look for jobs on the West coast...those 9 months will be over before you know it and then you can relocate to be closer to your sister and provide some relief to your grandma. With a degree from any of the schools you mentioned, it should be easy.

Good luck and all the best.

Out of curiosity, why didn't you apply for Stanford? Palo Alto isn't that far from San Fran.


Admissions are like having a relationship, you will never know why you're chosen.
From what I know is, LL.M. program tend to allocate seats to different countries in order to present diversity.

As stated above, the decision-making patterns of different Committees varies. I wish you the best at what ever institution you decide to attend; they are all great school.

UC B rejected me today. I got into SLS. I believe they changed their committee. C'est bizarre

Do they really have quotas on nationalities in admission criteria?

Same boat - UC B I'm in the third quartile wait list. Got into CLS, U Chicago and U Penn. Pretty surprising, since I thought Berkeley was my "safety school" and CLS was my "out-of-reach" school!

Same boat - UC B I'm in the third quartile wait list. Got into CLS, U Chicago and U Penn. Pretty surprising, since I thought Berkeley was my "safety school" and CLS was my "out-of-reach" school!

UC B rejected me today. I got into SLS. I believe they changed their committee. C'est bizarre

Same boat - UC B I'm in the third quartile wait list. Got into CLS, U Chicago and U Penn. Pretty surprising, since I thought Berkeley was my "safety school" and CLS was my "out-of-reach" school!

Same boat - UC B I'm in the third quartile wait list. Got into CLS, U Chicago and U Penn. Pretty surprising, since I thought Berkeley was my "safety school" and CLS was my "out-of-reach" school!

I thought and still thinking that Berkeley admission is a piece of cake. In my opinion, UPenn and Georgetown are more selective in admitting students. Something might have gone wrong with them this year. Congrats on CLS. If I were in your shoes, I would enroll .

The situation with your sister is quite unfortunate and I do hope you are able to arrange something for her care.

Although I understand why you might have been frustrated, I must criticize your sense of entitlement to assume something has 'gone wrong' with the admissions committee just because you were rejected.

Decisions are based on varying factors and this whole process is about accepting that you've put your best application forward and the rest is up to chance. I hope you are able to get over how you currently feel.

Same boat - UC B I'm in the third quartile wait list. Got into CLS, U Chicago and U Penn. Pretty surprising, since I thought Berkeley was my "safety school" and CLS was my "out-of-reach" school!

I thought and still thinking that Berkeley admission is a piece of cake. In my opinion, UPenn and Georgetown are more selective in admitting students. Something might have gone wrong with them this year. Congrats on CLS. If I were in your shoes, I would enroll .

I understand your situation; however, what you do here is insulting people who got into Berkeley. Every school has different committees. You never know what they are looking for. You might be superior to some of us, but that doesn't give you the right to write insulting things here.
Btw, I am not trying to pick a fight.

The situation with your sister is quite unfortunate and I do hope you are able to arrange something for her care.

Although I understand why you might have been frustrated, I must criticize your sense of entitlement to assume something has 'gone wrong' with the admissions committee just because you were rejected.

Decisions are based on varying factors and this whole process is about accepting that you've put your best application forward and the rest is up to chance. I hope you are able to get over how you currently feel.

I don't want to seem like "Captain Save-em" but it didn't appear that MinaLaw was criticizing Berkeley, insulting Berkeley students or feeling a sense of entitlement. The point was that MinaLaw got accepted into schools that are admittedly more selective than Berkeley so not getting into Berkeley would come as a surprise. Given that it was the first choice school, anyone would reasonably be disappointed and confused as to what made their application a yes at the other schools and a no at Berkeley.
That is all.

I don't know MinaLaw or her application, but judging from what she posted here, perhaps Berkeley was looking for a 'better rounded profile' (ie. Not just a stellar academic background).

Perhaps she didn't make the most of her personal statement (in how Berkeley would be great for her, and she would be great for Berkeley).

Maybe they had other applicants that were like her. Maybe they are looking for a different profile for their upcoming class.

If anything, this reassures my opinion that we don't know how committees decide, grades aren't everything (a good chunk, yes), and that we should always try.

Anyway, I'm sorry to hear about your situation (sueing SLS must only add stress), but I guess you could try calling them.