informant

Oh boo freaking hoo, psych face. You are a student I would probably reject if you made it to our interview phase, because you're so freaking unpleasant to listen to. Your insecurities have sullied my good intentions. I have things to lose too, you know. Goodbye, you little shit.

I came here because I genuinely wanted to help you all. There are a lot of things, especially about specific professors, that I feel prospective students have the right to know. But you guys, by talking about it to YOUR professors and generally calling attention to it, have compromised my identity. I am not thrilled that you would use me that way. You'll get no more information from me.

Everything except GRE is weighted pretty heavily. GPA is a factor but not as important as a lot of the other stuff. I can only speak to the first round (student panel) however. Already we have seen one student who has a great application, but is interested in working with someone who is not a good fit for them - someone else in the department would be far better (should have done their research)! Someone else applied to a POI who is not taking students. Other people have terrible SoPs, which pretty much eliminates them immediately. One had no (or at least mentioned no) research experience in their SoP.

I was around last year... you can look up my previous post(s) as to why I am here and what I know.

Grad student committee ranks each applicant on a scale of 1-5, 4s & 5s are passed on to the next round. ~110 apps this year. What do you want to know? They are looked at in waves, in alphabetical order (the way the system orders them). Rated the way an adcom would, based on SoP, letters, etc. GRE is really not as big a factor, FYI. Other big schools do the same. UMichigan, for example. It is normal when you have a very high volume of applications. Professors are busy people.

Berkeley SP program started looking at applications this week. First the student committee rates applications, then ones with a high rating are passed on to professors. They're taking it slow, though. Only looking at >10% this week. Should be another 5-7 weeks before you hear anything.

Anyone applying to Berkeley? I already have an account on GC but I created this one with the intention of sharing my knowledge about the program without having my name linked to the information dispersed. Anyway, I have thoughts I can share about the department/school/funding/city but mostly what I want to let you guys know is about POIs. There is information that I think candidates should be aware in order to make an informed decision about where to go. The department itself is good, but mentoring styles... differ, to put it lightly. If you get an interview MAKE SURE YOU ASK THEM DIRECTLY ABOUT MENTORING STYLES. They may lie to you though, or even misrepresent themselves without realizing it. Honestly some are pretty oblivious. If you PM me I can answer your questions. I really want to share what I know, but I won't exactly be in a position to be blunt during the interview days. By the way, if anyone doesn't know, those should be February 10/11 I think? Invites go out end of this week or early next. Good luck all!