Jeffers223

I visited their campus and absolutely fell in LOVE with it. I know it's where I'm meant to be, I think I'd have a pretty good chance, with the exception of my crappy SAT Critical Reading Score.... Anyway, here are my stats. Let me know if you think I have a good chance!

Academics:
I Plan to major in either legal studies or political science.
UW GPA: 3.95
W GPA: 4.62 (took as many honors/AP classes as I could)
Class Rank: 40/565 (Top 7%)
AP US History Exam score: 4
SAT Scores:
Math: 720
Critical Reading: 610 (this is the part that scares me)
Writing: 690

Community Service:
Sounds of the Community for Kids (founder of this club, we teach music to underprivileged kids)
Music for the Cure (sang at hospitals)
Salvation Army
Feed My Starving Children
Youth Choir Mentor (Helped middle schoolers with their singing)

Work Experience:
Part-time job at a Mexican Restaurant my senior year (roughly 15 hrs/wk)

Awards/Honors:
3rd Place in All-State Jazz Festival
3rd Place in All-State Show Festival
High School Academic Letter (Honor roll)
Musical Theatre Competition honorable mention
National Honor Society

Extracurriculars:
Choir council
Voice lessons
We the People: the citizen and the constitution
Youth in Government
Phoenix Children's Chorus

This is basically exactly what I have on the UC application (they only let you pick 5 for each category). I plan on writing my first essay about how I overcame a speech impediment through getting involved in musical theatre, and how I ultimately discovered that through hard work I was able to succeed. For the second essay I was going to talk about a particular moving experience I had when singing in choir, and how it inspired me to form a club and share music with underprivileged elementary school kids.

There you go! I really hope I get in, please let me know how you think I will do.

basicspace

Wait, you took as many AP as you possibly could and only have 1 AP score?

Remember, UCs only take a certain amount of classes with an additional weighted point. that may bring down your weighted GPA a bit, but don't worry; taking that many college level classes in high school helps show colleges what you can do.

I highly suggest retaking the SAT. Sub 700 scores already push the envelope, and 610 is just a really bad sign, especially with all the reading you'll have to do in political science. The critical reading is definitely the hardest section to improve (being a voracious reader at a young age helps a lot), but you definitely can. Raising it by at least 50 points would make Berkeley a near match for you.

(forgive me for writing horribly)

RisingChemist

Nope

(10 characters)

Jeffers223

Thanks for the feedback basicspace but it's sort of too late for that. The application is due Nov 31, and I don't want to be one of those people who ends up having to put on their application that they intend on taking the SAT at a later date, and then committing to that score :/ what if I end up doing even worse?

RML

SAT is very low for Berkeley, but luckily, your GPA is very high, and Berkeley weighs HS GPA more than they do SAT/ACT. You should definitely apply.