Is there a way to get into Stanford or Cal Berkeley graduate school with a terrible undergrad GPA?

No. Sorry, I don't see any plausible scenario for that to happen.

Hmmm. Your scores are pretty low and they do raise several red flags. Right off the bat, I extremely tempted to say no, but there is a good chance I could be wrong. Applying to schools is always tricky. Decisions aren't always made in a black or white manner. There are many factors such as Recommendations, GRE/GMAT scores, Essays, Research Background, Work Experience to be considered. These factors even often take precedence over your GPA. I know that Work Experience and Recommendations are extremely important for an MBA program, while Research and Academic Scores take precedence in a PHD / Masters program. There are several clarifications needed to help me help you: Are you planning on pursuing a Masters / PHD program? What do you plan on studying? Is there a reason your GPA is so low and you stayed for 6 years? How are your GRE/GMAT? What did you accomplish since you have been working full time? How much experience in your field do you have? Why do you want to go to a school like Stanford or Berkeley? (Is the reason purely because they are top Universities in the Country?) What can you bring to the University? After you answer these questions, we can better gauge your chances and help you prepare your application. If you are still planning on applying to these prestigious programs, I suggest we do a bit of self reflection and figure out what you do best and how to present yourself in the best light.

While the chances will still be rather slim, I have one plausible path. Even if this plan fails, you will still have a quality Master's degree. First, be accepted and enroll in a Master of Science degree program in the area that you wish to study at a pretty good school that is known for quality research. It seems basically impossible for a person in your situation to directly get into a top-tier school now, but I bet you could find your way into a lower ranked school that is still decent. This generally means applying to a lot of schools and hoping one decides to take a chance on you. Next, work as hard as you can during the next two years while obtaining your Master's degree. Obtain a high GPA, build up research skills that are in demand, work as hard as you can to publish 2 or 3 conference papers (or better if you can), and write a quality thesis on your research. These actions show high motivation and exceptional performance. This is not a short or easy process, however, you will have a much better shot of being accepted at a highly ranked school if you show exceptional academic performance and real research ability on the graduate level with a respected advisor. Note: This plan would likely require you doing a Ph.D at the second school. Good luck!

1. Get insanely high GRE scores. 2. Depending on what you want to go back to school for, get into a research lab, even if it is unpaid. 3. Go back to CC and retake any prereqs for your chosen field of study. 4. It's a long shot at best for even highly qualified candidates.

From your answers to Simon's questions I think the biggest elephant in the room is that you haven't really demonstrated any exceptional motivation so far. I'd even go so far to say that even if you had a good GPA (3.5~ish), your answers to Simon's questions would pretty much put you on the low end of the application. A poor grade can be easily fixed if you have the will to do better; not being able to demonstrate perseverance... that's another problem entirely. To have a favorable chance to get into any (meaningful) institution, you really need to show that you have been motivated enough to apply yourself, even if the circumstances you're in aren't perfect. If you only have $1K, you need to make the most with that before you ask for a $1M; you can't ask for someone to give $1M to you right out of the bat on the "promise" that you'll do something good with it; plenty of people have done more with less. Many of the peers you will be competing with will have spent years fighting tooth and nail to demonstrate that they have what it takes to succeed. I think the best way for you to get into a prestigious master's program at this point is to spend a few more years at work to demonstrate some meaningful experience or talent in the workplace; something that can be greatly enhanced by a Master's program at Stanford or Berkeley. Either that, or save up some money and spend a year or two doing some self study in a topic that you've become extremely passionate about. After all, this is what schools are looking for; an investment that will produce vast returns. Unfortunately, so far your references to "smart" and "potential" only exacerbate your inability to describe a solid direction in your life that you are already working hard towards. Considering most high school students that apply to these schools must have already demonstrated these qualities, this is an extremely positive red flag. Tip: There'll ALWAYS be tons of people who will at least appear to be significantly more intelligent and have more potential that you, especially at a top tier institution. Don't make the newbie mistake of attributing such qualities to yourself. I know that sounds harsh, but these things will force yourself to be more grounded and spend more effort putting your life in order :)

Edit: Ok, after I saw more description in the question, I thought I would change my response to this question. My original answer was in a different context. I think it's good to have a goal in mind. But that goal should be practical and reachable. You said you want to achieve something great, you think that you have potential and are smart, and you want to go to a great school like Stanford. I think the biggest problem here is that the statement doesn't match the action. Anyone can say s/he is smart or have huge potential, but few people show why they are so. Many people went into Stanford/Berkeley or any other great schools are very hardworking and well-rounded individuals. They are down-to-earth, and have small steps of reachable goals. By doing those each step of reachable goals very well, they are able to become a better person and achieve their overall goals/dreams, and their actions speaks for itself. So my advice would be. If you want to achieve your dream, stop talking about it; use your action to prove it.

Yes, it is called the back door that involves taking courses in "open registration" at Stanford or UC Berkeley and networking. You will need to establish a track record by getting good grades, all A's, in the courses that are prerequisites for the courses at Berkeley or Stanford and in the Extension courses at Berkeley or Stanford, and then getting the Stanford or UC Berkeley professors to recommend you to be admitted as a graduate student. This is not an easy task: it will take time, money and has a lot of risk, and to be honest, what worked for me but may not work for you. You must understand that you need to A's in these courses demonstrating that you have the ability to do graduate work. Else you are in the wrong program. But first things first: You need to a get job especially with one that has education benefits and ideally with one that has a connection to Stanford or UC Berkeley. This is where the networking begins, knowing people who know people at Stanford or UC Berkeley. Second, you will need to start over mastering the undergraduate material. http://Coursera.org and http://Edx.org is a great way to review this material for free. I recommend that you look at http://www.usnews.com/education/online-education/articles/2014/01/08/us-news-releases-2014-best-online-programs-rankings for accredited courses. It is extremely important that you do A's work in all prerequisite courses. For example, if you are interested in Engineering, I recommend http://msengrol.seas.ucla.edu with the goal of creating a track record to strong enough to be admitted to Stanford http://cee.stanford.edu/prospective/grad/honors.html. (By the way, there is nothing wrong with staying with UCLA: It has the second highest ranking for Public University behind UC Berkeley.) Bottom line: I recommend you concentrate on getting a full-time job ideally one with education benefits and explore online part-time programs options to complete prerequisite courses - usually one course per semester - before tackling Berkeley or Stanford courses. Note: I can be more specific if you tell me what Department you are applying to.

I had offers from both Stanford & Berkeley, and am finishing my PhD at Berkeley right now.Standford is most likely out of your reach. I had a bad undergrad GPA (worse than yours) from my undergrad, but my undergrad was in applied math and my PhD is in computer music. I also had a perfect GPA from my master's and some impressive bullets on my CV by the time I applied to Stanford and Berkeley, so the low undergraduate GPA shouldn't have mattered ... but at Stanford it did. In spite of having a Stanford professor reach out to me during admissions and pushing for me, I was put on wait list and was not offered a spot until someone else declined. The professor who was kind enough to reach out to me did make it clear that his enthusiasm for my work was not enough, as a lot of people would look at my records. He also asked me a lot of tough questions regarding my low undergraduate grades, which was the only time that ever came up during graduate admissions in the 5 schools I got into.Worth mentioning: I am as far as you can get from a business person, spent the entirety of my life working on music and writing code. My presence in graduate school is due to wanting to figure out how to survive while doing creative work. (And it's working out, it seems.)I have no idea how MBA programs work, but I can tell you that most of the admissions in big schools receive an overwhelming number of applications. That means that if the program you're applying to cares about GPA, your application may end up in the "discard" pile from the get go. Your safest bet is to contact the departments you would want to join and to speak to professors both honestly and candidly about things that you would want from the program. Professors will probably be able to assess you immediately and at the very least give you some advice. (Avoid saying things like "if I had the opportunity" when it comes to applying yourself. That opportunity is always there to apply yourself and to figure something out. Some have it a lot harder than others, but that's how it goes, life's unfair, those who try hard don't necessarily win, but those who don't are guaranteed not to.)In my field, I would lose nothing by applying to a program several times. (Make sure that is true for your field as well, just in case you would do better to apply next year.) Applying to schools is a soul-crushing process. Use the Stanford / Berkeley preparation to apply to a lot of others, as well. You can always reject ones you don't want to go to, but getting a glimpse as to who does and does not want you may answer the "any hope for Berkeley / Stanford" question better than Quora can.And expect this process to take more than one try to succeed. It may not happen at all, it may happen the first time, but it's not the kind of a process you can predict, so if you fail the first time, try again.

Your background has some extraordinary parallels to my own experience, but their are some glaring differences as well.   I graduated from a prestigious Engineering school with a 2.1 GPA (this is not a typo two-point-one). I started my career at an A/E firm in building design (one step removed from Construction Management). After five years in the workforce I decided to pursue an MBA. I asked around for advice, just as you are doing, and the problem was explained to me this way. Each school will look at five factors: Grades - They suck. There's no hiding it so 'fess up , have a good explanation, shift the focus to the four points below, and move on. Work Experience - When I applied I was working as a NASA contractor and had been repeatedly recognized for my work in engineering design as well as in more business oriented projects, such as, rewriting contract specs for NASA's benefit saving millions. GMAT Scores - Crushed the test, but I also studied round the clock for three months. I had never studied for ANYTHING as hard as I studied for that GMAT. Application essay questions - Each essay was written and rewritten a minimum of 10 times. I crafted each sentence as well as I possibly could. Other - My differentiator was the work I did for a charity with personal relevancy to me and my family. Your grades are an albatross around your neck, but that needn't sink you. Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING else about your application has to be above reproach.   The end result, I applied to four MBA programs : Columbia, Michigan, NYU, and University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. I was accepted to Michigan and NYU outright, rejected by Wharton (not really a surprise, they are selective and I applied after finding an unexpected connection to the school. I was rushed and half-assed it and the result was expected.)   I was wait-listed at Columbia.   Final piece of advice. When I received my wait list notice I made some calls and was given this piece of advice. Respond to every additional request for information promptly and if all else fails, BEG! I did and I graduated from Columbia with my MBA. For perspective, I had one of the highest GMAT scores at Columbia and by far the lowest GPA of the entering class.   Apply yourself to the problem at hand, work your butt off (more than you ever have before), and good luck!!