Starting the new year with reading, reading, reading

Admissions began the year right where we left off in December - continuing to read through our 50,000+ applications for the fall 2010 term.

People don't believe it when we tell them, but it's true: Each and every application is read carefully, through and through. We have a team of nearly 100 readers, trained to select the best UC Berkeley candidates from a highly accomplished pool.

Here is something for future applicants to consider when working on their college applications next fall: What if you had to read through thousands of applications within a month or two? What would you want from an applicant? What would make you smile, and what would make you scratch your head?

This is why you need to make sure your application is complete and accurate. (We get a lot of applicants trying to change their submissions after the fact, which is never a positive.) Also, be sure to give yourself enough time to write, rewrite, and polish your personal statement. You need to portray who you are clearly, just as if you were in a face-to-face interview, to someone sitting far away, at a desk piled high with paperwork.