UC Berkeley School of Law C/O 2020 Applicants (2016-2017) Forum

[Baby Gaga]

University of California, Berkeley, School of Law
(Boalt Hall)







The application becomes available on September 1st! Deadline is February 1st





Admissions Resources

JD admissions
Applying for JD program
Application forms and procedures
FAQ
Review Process & Timeline
Financial Aid
Info about Personal Statement and Resume
Status Checker


Profile of the class of 2018

Number of Applicants: 5,136
Class Size: 301
Median LSAT: 166 (168 = 75th percentile, 163 = 25th percentile)
Median GPA: 3.79 (3.91 = 75th percentile, 3.67 = 25th percentile)
Mean age: 24
5% age 30 or older
62% women
46% people of color
17% are the first in their family to receive a college degree


Profile of the class of 2019





2016-2017 J.D. Program Expenses

Resident/Non-resident
Tuition and Fees: 48,702.50 / 52,653.50
Rent & Utilities: 13,166.00 / 13,116.00
Food: 7,012.00 / 7,012.00
Personal: 1,580.00 / 1,580.00
Transportation: 3,146.00 / 3,146.00
Books & Supplies: 1,526.00 / 1,526.00
Health Insurance : 4,146 / 4,146
TOTAL: 79,22850 / 83,179.50


Past threads

Class of 2019
Class of 2018
Class of 2017
Class of 2016
Class of 2015


N.B.

The Boalt personal statement is up to 4 pages. They don't do interviews so they want you to flesh out your PS a bit more.

Berkeley has discontinued the matching scholarship program for our year. BOOOOO


Here's the Berkeley Admissions Spreadsheet:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... edit#gid=0

thanks to GoBucks6612 for the spreadsheet

[proteinshake]

is there a point in applying here if you would rather work on the East Coast? (assuming you get into a T14 on the East)

[Mikey]

is there a point on applying here if you would rather work on the East Coast? (assuming you get into a T14 on the East)

I kind of have the same question.

[dietcoke1]

is there a point on applying here if you would rather work on the East Coast? (assuming you get into a T14 on the East)

I kind of have the same question.

anecdotal evidence here.

Last year I attended Berkeley's ASW and during the event, they had a alumni panel. According to the panel, if your looking for Biglaw in NY out of Berkeley, your basically a special kind of unicorn. Top firms in NY like to boast that they have grads from every T10 school but apparently Stanford and Berk grads are the hardest to get because most of those grads stay in CA. So, if you are from Berkeley and want to go to NY, the panel said its rather easy.

Of course this is all anecdotal, and the whole point of ASW was to sell us on Berkeley so take it with a grain of salt.

I will say though that Berkeley seemed like an awesome place to be for three years if your worried about that.

[dietcoke1]

checking in btw. hoping their more generous with schollys this time around!

[Mikey]

is there a point on applying here if you would rather work on the East Coast? (assuming you get into a T14 on the East)

I kind of have the same question.

anecdotal evidence here.

Last year I attended Berkeley's ASW and during the event, they had a alumni panel. According to the panel, if your looking for Biglaw in NY out of Berkeley, your basically a special kind of unicorn. Top firms in NY like to boast that they have grads from every T10 school but apparently Stanford and Berk grads are the hardest to get because most of those grads stay in CA. So, if you are from Berkeley and want to go to NY, the panel said its rather easy.

Of course this is all anecdotal, and the whole point of ASW was to sell us on Berkeley so take it with a grain of salt.

I will say though that Berkeley seemed like an awesome place to be for three years if your worried about that.

Interesting, thanks!

[poptart123]

I see the PS is up to 4 pages. Is writing the whole 4 recommended?

[proteinshake]

I see the PS is up to 4 pages. Is writing the whole 4 recommended?

Yes, strongly.

[RamTitan]

is there a point on applying here if you would rather work on the East Coast? (assuming you get into a T14 on the East)

I kind of have the same question.

anecdotal evidence here.

Last year I attended Berkeley's ASW and during the event, they had a alumni panel. According to the panel, if your looking for Biglaw in NY out of Berkeley, your basically a special kind of unicorn. Top firms in NY like to boast that they have grads from every T10 school but apparently Stanford and Berk grads are the hardest to get because most of those grads stay in CA. So, if you are from Berkeley and want to go to NY, the panel said its rather easy.

Of course this is all anecdotal, and the whole point of ASW was to sell us on Berkeley so take it with a grain of salt.

I will say though that Berkeley seemed like an awesome place to be for three years if your worried about that.

I've heard similar things about U of Chicago, so that makes sense

[PrezRand]

is there a point in applying here if you would rather work on the East Coast? (assuming you get into a T14 on the East)

I'm wondering the same thing since I am from TX

[a_j_l]

Anyone else notice that the Matching Scholarship program has been discontinued?! https://www.law.berkeley.edu/admissions ... holarship/

I'm interested in Berkeley, but am wondering if applying is worth it if they don't have much to offer by way of merit scholarships. What are people's thoughts? Is it worth applying on the off chance that they have unnamed funds available?

[Baby Gaga]

Anyone else notice that the Matching Scholarship program has been discontinued?! https://www.law.berkeley.edu/admissions ... holarship/

I'm interested in Berkeley, but am wondering if applying is worth it if they don't have much to offer by way of merit scholarships. What are people's thoughts? Is it worth applying on the off chance that they have unnamed funds available?

I did not notice that, and really that's a big part of why I was considering Berkeley. I'll still probably apply but I am not happy

Edit: I changed the OP so it doesn't lie to people about matching scholarships

[USayinBoalt]

Anyone else notice that the Matching Scholarship program has been discontinued?! https://www.law.berkeley.edu/admissions ... holarship/

I'm interested in Berkeley, but am wondering if applying is worth it if they don't have much to offer by way of merit scholarships. What are people's thoughts? Is it worth applying on the off chance that they have unnamed funds available?

I did not notice that, and really that's a big part of why I was considering Berkeley. I'll still probably apply but I am not happy

That was the only reason why I was gonna apply to Duke and Michigan, guess I don't have to now

[R. Jeeves]

UCs dont have any $. we need a robot to go back in time and kill arnold schwartzenegger.

[Baby Gaga]

Anyone else notice that the Matching Scholarship program has been discontinued?! https://www.law.berkeley.edu/admissions ... holarship/

I'm interested in Berkeley, but am wondering if applying is worth it if they don't have much to offer by way of merit scholarships. What are people's thoughts? Is it worth applying on the off chance that they have unnamed funds available?

I did not notice that, and really that's a big part of why I was considering Berkeley. I'll still probably apply but I am not happy

That was the only reason why I was gonna apply to Duke and Michigan, guess I don't have to now

Same! and UVA too! I got fee waivers so I'll still apply and hopefully be able to negotiate scholarships

[pretzeltime]

UCs dont have any $. we need a robot to go back in time and kill arnold schwartzenegger.

[LikelyThrowaway]

UCs dont have any $. we need a robot to go back in time and kill arnold schwartzenegger.

Yeah but decent chance they're related, and you really don't want a grandfather paradox on your hands. Schollies are important but the fabric of spacetime is probably more so.

[a_j_l]

Anyone else notice that the Matching Scholarship program has been discontinued?! https://www.law.berkeley.edu/admissions ... holarship/

I'm interested in Berkeley, but am wondering if applying is worth it if they don't have much to offer by way of merit scholarships. What are people's thoughts? Is it worth applying on the off chance that they have unnamed funds available?

I did not notice that, and really that's a big part of why I was considering Berkeley. I'll still probably apply but I am not happy

Edit: I changed the OP so it doesn't lie to people about matching scholarships

Yeah, dude, same. Is this a situation where we're just going to have to go in blind and hope for the best? Or do you all think there's a way to sus out if there have historically been other routes to solid merit aid offers?

[Thomas Hagan, ESQ.]

Checking in!

[Baby Gaga]

Anyone else notice that the Matching Scholarship program has been discontinued?! https://www.law.berkeley.edu/admissions ... holarship/

I'm interested in Berkeley, but am wondering if applying is worth it if they don't have much to offer by way of merit scholarships. What are people's thoughts? Is it worth applying on the off chance that they have unnamed funds available?

I did not notice that, and really that's a big part of why I was considering Berkeley. I'll still probably apply but I am not happy

Edit: I changed the OP so it doesn't lie to people about matching scholarships

Yeah, dude, same. Is this a situation where we're just going to have to go in blind and hope for the best? Or do you all think there's a way to sus out if there have historically been other routes to solid merit aid offers?

We go in blind, but most schools allow for negotiating scholarships, and we don't really know how stingy they'll be now. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[USayinBoalt]

Just an FYI

[Baby Gaga]

New poll up cuz all the cool threads have them

[SilverSurfer2020]

Checking in! One of my top choices, I really want to start my California life!

[dietcoke1]

Class of 2019 numbers

163(+1)/166/169(+1)
3.65(+0.01)/3.79(-0.01)/3.89(-0.01)
301(+7)

[RamTitan]

Wow, that's reassuring