On Monday, March 14, California State legislators along with Governor Gavin Newsom, ratified legislation amending the California Environmental Quality Act, so UC Berkeley (Cal) admissions officials will not need to reduce Fall 2022 enrollment for first year, transfer, or graduate students, as previously predicted.
As a result, UC Berkeley officials will no longer encourage 1000 first year students to enroll in online courses, transfer students to delay their start until January 2023, or reduce graduate school enrollment by 400 students.
However, UC Berkeley officials did not confess being aware of a possible court-ordered reduction in acceptances since August 2021, three months before UC applications were due on November 30, 2021, leaving some applicants dismayed, being both surprised, then worried that they may have fewer chances for admissions, frustrated their work from the past 12 years of schooling may not be recognized.
Then, most recently on March 4, 2022, Cal officials announced a plan to offer alternate forms of admissions, like delayed starts until January 2023 or online enrollment, promoting hope to applicants still waiting to receive Fall 2022 admissions decisions. Yet, having spent nearly half their high school sequestered at home, online college, or sitting on the sidelines for a semester wasn’t appealing.
Thus, next week on March 24, when UC Berkeley sends Fall 2022 first year admissions offers, the news may be met by a muted reaction. Is Cal prestige enough to entice students to enroll, while recovering from sentiments of being “toyed” by the university?
For more details about the legislative changes, see CalMatters, March 14, 2022
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