You might have been waitlisted to the University of California, Berkeley Class of 2029, but this is not the end of your rope! You’ve come to the right place to review the actions you can take right now to optimize your odds of getting off of the waitlist and onto that pristine northern Californian campus.

UC Berkeley Waitlist Acceptance Rate and Statistics

For the last four years, UC Berkeley has reported its waitlist data to the federally-mandated Common Data Set, giving us plenty of information to dissect and predict how the Class of 2029 might fare:

UC Berkeley Class Year	Number of Students Waitlisted to UC Berkeley	Number of Students Who Chose to Join the UC Berkeley Waitlist	Number of Students Accepted Off the UC Berkeley Waitlist	UC Berkeley Waitlist Acceptance Rate
Class of 2029	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
Class of 2028	10,894	7,853	26	0.33%
Class of 2027	7,001	4,820	1,191	24.71%
Class of 2026	8,456	4,655	44	0.95%
Class of 2025	11,725	6,871	359	5.22%

Your Chances of Admission to University of California, Berkeley After Being Waitlisted

From year to year, the waitlist acceptance rate at Berkeley has varied widely — from a minuscule .33% for the Class of 2028 to nearly 1 out of every four waitlisted applicants just one year prior. This high degree of variation might be vertigo-inducing, and it certainly reduces our ability to predict the acceptance rate for this admission cycle.

Why? The extent to which Berkeley admissions officers dip into their waitlist to curate their incoming class is determined by the yield rate, or the proportion of admitted students who choose to enroll. The higher the yield rate, the less desperate Berkeley is to draw from the waitlisted applicants they are slightly less enthusiastic about. 

Unfortunately, the yield rate is not among the factors that you, as an applicant, have any control over. But rest assured that it is doubtful that they won’t draw from their waitlist at all — that would mean the precise number of students they predicted to enroll did, in fact, enroll. In other words, if you follow Ivy Coach’s expert advice on making the most out of this circumstance, you very well could earn admission. We know how to considerably improve your odds of making it off of the waitlist by harnessing the power of the singular hook. Here’s how:

Your Chances of Admission to UC Berkeley After Being Waitlisted With Ivy Coach’s Help

So why does Ivy Coach have such success with UC Berkeley’s waitlist? It boils down to Ivy Coach’s tried and true method of optimizing a student’s chances for admission by showcasing your deep knowledge of Berkeley specifics, specifically how they align with your unique interests. That two-step process is as follows:

1. Complete Ivy Coach’s PostMortem application review. We need to see what a student did right and what they did wrong to pivot in a new, more competitive direction. The narrative we help craft can’t be out of left field. It must be consistent with the story conveyed in the application — just told more compellingly (hint: with a singular hook, a.k.a. the pursuit, passion, cause, or discipline that drives you forward and informs every aspect of your application).
2. Submit a compelling Letter of Continued Interest. Most students know they should submit a letter after being placed in limbo. And most know they should do so promptly. But most students submit the wrong kind of letter. Ivy Coach’s letters contain no brags or updates. Instead, it will focus on expressing your continued desire to attend UC Berkeley and how you will contribute to the campus community by pursuing your hook (by showing, not telling!). We inspire admissions officers to root for our students.

Getting Started with Ivy Coach on the UC Berkeley Waitlist

If you’re interested in optimizing your case for admission off the University of California, Berkeley waitlist with our team of former elite college admission officers, fill out Ivy Coach’s complimentary consultation form, indicate that you’ve been waitlisted, and we’ll contact you. We understand that time is of the essence and that your letter needs to go to Berkeley without any delay whatsoever.