But if you’re coming in from out of state, you must posses at least a 3.4 GPA for Berkeley.

(My point — I am a credible, trained alumnus, but NOT AN OFFICIAL SOURCE of information!)

Also, admissions vary within each campus. Each campus determines their own admissions policies.

1) UCLA performs comprehensive review, so it is not just a numbers game. Every application is reviewed by three people (admissions staffers and/or trained alumni volunteers)

2) Leadership and depth in a particular area is typically favored over broad, shallow involvement in extracurriculars.

3) Grades and scores aren’t everything, but they mean a lot.

4) Demanding schedules are given priority over less-demanding schedules. (Take hard classes. Easy ones won’t do you much good.)

5) Within top ten public schools (national rankings, last time I checked, which may be outdated, but these things don’t move around much year-to-year): Cal #1, UCLA #3, UCSD #6, UCD, UCI tied at #10

There are minimums and then there is reality. Most students that get into UCLA have very high GPAs and test scores. Those that don’t have some compelling reason why they deserve to be there and will contribute to the campus population.