poisondart90

I have heard in the past that applying to a few may hurt your chances of getting into one or the other. I always believed this to be a myth and still do. Although it is interesting how some people get into UCLA and not UCB and then there are some who get into UCB but not UCLA.

I am planning on applying to UCLA, UCB, and UCSD. The only one that I am seriously, seriously considering is UCLA. It is actually my second choice behind Stanford. The other two are schools I'd be happy at but not dying to go to. I'll post my information for the past few years below. Can anyone comment on the speculation about applying to multiple campuses? And whether they think I have a good shot at getting into any of the three? I'm from Maryland and come from a school with prestigious academics. Newsweek Top 100... the whole shebang. We have 2,600 students or so and do not rank. My class size is around 650 I believe

GPA - 3.87
WGPA - 4.55

ACT - 35 (I got an 8 on the writing though)

SAT subject tests
Math 2 - 800
Physics - Just took and awaiting score.

APs - US Government - 4, World History - 4, Psychology - 5

EC -
Varsity wrestling (Captain) for first three years
JV Lacrosse freshman year
Varsity Lacrosse sophomore year
260 Hours Community Service
Junior Officer of the National Honor Society junior year, will be President for senior year
Worked as a lifeguard over the 2007 and 2008 summers
During the 2008 summer I was the captain of a community service project that assembles 3000 backpacks for underprivileged students.


Awards -
Certificate of Meritorious Service - 260 hours of community service
AP Scholar
Maryland Distinguished Scholar Honorable Mention

Course load for senior year:

AP Calculus AB
AP Environmental Science
AP Computer Programming 3 (AP Computer Science AB)
AP Comparative Government & Politics
AP Studio Art 2-D Design (Photography)
Honors English 12
Advanced Weight Lifting(Need one gym credit to graduate and still haven't taken gym)

alamemom

Each campus makes their own admissions decisions independantly of the other campuses. Your "chances" at UCLA will not be affected by applying to, or not applying to, UCB.

poisondart90

Oh, OK, thank you very much! I guess each campus looks for different things in their students. This just confirms many people's belief that a lot of the process is a crap shoot. If you are well-rounded and get into one, shouldn't you get into the other? They are very similar in levels of selectivity.

alamemom

They are similar in levels of selectivity, and actually many students are accepted by both (the opposite is true as well: many are rejected by both). Each campus receives approx. 50,000 applications (to be eligible to apply, nearly all applicants are in the top 10% statewide, btw), and at UCLA last year for example, more than 25,000 applicants had OVER a 4.0 GPA. With so many very qualified candidates to choose from, it is not surprising that there are differences in acceptances. Think of a Venn diagram. There will be acceptances unique to each campus, and a group in the middle common to both.

bluebayou

With good essays, you have a great shot. Unless you are applying to Engineering, you could boost your chances (particularly at Stanford), even further by taking a non-math-science Subject Test (demonstrates breadth and depth).