Chance Me: ED UPenn, UC Berkeley, UCLA. CA resident, 3.8 UW, 1520 SAT, CS/Engineering + Business

Chance Me / Match Me
1

Stats & Demographics
GPA: 3.78 UW / 4.38 W (rigorous schedule, 11 APs + multiple Honors/Engineering courses + DE).
Testing: 1520 SAT
Ethnicity/Nationality: Indian-American
Income: High income
Intended Major: Computer Science / Engineering + interested in business and tech ventures
Lived in India for 2 years and went to preschool there (born in the US)

Coursework & Rigor
11+ AP courses (AP Calc BC, AP Physics C: Mech + E&M, AP Chem, AP Bio, APUSH, AP World, AP Psych, AP CS Principles, AP CS A if taken later, AP English, etc.)
Multiple Honors (Honors Precalc, Honors Engineering Principles, Honors Biology, Honors Chem, Honors English, Honors World History, etc.)
DE credit (Calc BC Review, etc.)
Linear Algebra at local community college
Overall strong math/science rigor with exposure to engineering and CS

Extracurriculars
Fundraising Manager / Leader for Indian Cultural Organization: Raised about 102K over 5 years through cold calls, events, and sponsorships; organized logistics, scripts, choreography, and built event website
Roblox Game Development / Entrepreneurship: Managed team of devs across time zones; ran advertising campaigns; scaled game to thousands of concurrent players; experience in budgeting, monetization, and retention strategies, over 30 million visits
English Tutor: Taught young girls in India English using my unique perspective and leveraged being bilingual in Hindi
AI / Research: Conducted research with UCSD PhD Candidate, trained environmental AI models using Google Earth Engine; applied computation to air quality and environmental data, publicized research, reached 400 monthly users in targeted areas (using this data to warn people in areas with bad pollution)
OSINT / Cybersecurity: International OSINT CTF competition – silver medal; applied real-world intelligence skills to missing persons case
Cyber Security internship at local company, only high school student selected, shadowed chief architect
Medical Transcription for Veterans Affairs Doctor
Drop shipping: made a Golf Merchandise Website and Clothing Brand
Accounting Internship with mid sized firm, does ecommerce
Tutoring Business: Created website, scaled to a couple tutors, taught chemistry, physics, etc.
Service Work: Helped family responsibilities and balanced cultural/community duties with school
Boy Scouts: Reached Star Rank
Other Activities: Exploring finance, crypto, business operations, moving/landscaping/junk removal small business with ad spend and client base

Awards & Honors
Silver medal in international OSINT competition (Tracelabs CTF)
Group recognized by Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and posted on Instagram page
DECA Top 50 in Regional Stock Market Competition
AP Scholar With Distinction
Commended PSAT Score

Essays / Recs
Essays: Should be strong — cultural leadership, real entrepreneurship, cybersecurity/AI projects
Recs: Strong options from mentors in cultural org, Physics C teacher, AP World teacher

Finances are not a problem.

Likely: UC Santa Cruz, UC Riverside
Toss-up: UCI, SDSU, Purdue
Reach: USC, UCLA, UC Berkley, UT Austin, UCSD, Urbana-Champaign, UDubb, UCSB, Carnegie Mellon, NYU
Far Reach: UPenn (ED), University of Chicago, Princeton, Yale, Stanford, Notre Dame

2

Wow - you’ve accomplished a lot. Congrats.

I think you have it about right. The UCs and likely UW won’t see your test. Nor will the UCs see LORs.

I’d put Purdue into reach. I think UW is the hardest admit potentially on your list - but reach/high reach is quibbling. All your reaches are high reaches etc. they have a 2% OOS acceptance rate for CS.

I can’t judge your UCs but suspect Riverside and you haven’t listed Merced but it would happen. You may consider one of the Arizona schools as both are high level schools but an easy admit if you wanted a near assured safety.

Best of luck.

1 Like
3

Your list is reach heavy as you know. If you are CA resident, and are happy with your sure thing CA public universities, your list is fine.

It’s not easy to chance anyone for a place like UPenn which has a VERY low acceptance rate, but go for it.

4

Congratulations on a competitive academic record and wonderful accomplishments.

Can you calculate out your 3 UC GPA’s and repost? GPA Calculator for the University of California – RogerHub

Here is some 2024 Freshman admit data for CS/Computer Engineering:

Campus CS Computer Engineering/CSE
UC Berkeley 1.9%/ UC Capped weighted GPA 4.20-4.30 Campus UC unweighted 3.89-4.00 Campus Weighted uncapped 4.31-4.65 EECS 7.6%/ UC Capped weighted 4.20-4.39 Unweighted 3.89-4.00 Weighted uncapped 4.31-4.65
UC Davis 19% Selective Major/ UC Capped weighted GPA 4.19-4.30 Campus UC unweighted 3.80-4.00 <25% Selective Major/ UC Capped weighted 4.09-4.29 Unweighted 3.80-4.00
UC Irvine 21% Impacted Major/ UC Capped weighted GPA 4.12-4.29 Campus UC unweighted 3.83-4.00 28% CE/CSE 24%/ UC Capped weighted 4.11-4.29 Unweighted 3.83-4.00
UCLA 4.1% Impacted Major/ Capped weighted GPA 4.25-4.32 Campus UC unweighted 3.90-4.00 CS Weighted Uncapped 4.66-4.92 Comp Eng 4.7% CSE 4.1% /UC Capped weighted 4.25-4.32 Unweighted 3.90-4.00 Weighted Uncapped 4.54-4.91
UC Merced 90%/ UC Capped weighted GPA 3.59-4.15 91%/ UC Capped weighted 3.59-4.15
UC Riverside 31% Impacted major/ UC Capped weighted GPA 4.03-4.28 42%/ UC Capped weighted 3.95-4.24
UC San Diego 12% Selective Major /UC Capped weighted GPA 4.19-4.31 Estimated <18% / UC Capped weighted 4.15-4.30 Unweighted 3.84-4.00
UC Santa Barbara 10% Impacted Major/ UC Capped weighted GPA 4.23-4.31 18%/ UC Capped weighted 4.20-4.30 Average unweighted GPA 3.91.
UC Santa Cruz CS BA 57% and CS BS 68% Impacted Major/UC Capped weighted GPA 3.96-4.26 57%/ UC Capped weighted 3.87-4.22
San Diego State 28% Impacted Major/ CSU GPA Campus Avg. 4.06 43%/ Campus GPA average 4.06

Best of luck.

1 Like
5

I am an in state california applicant btw probably should’ve mentioned that, and it’s a 4.41 weighted and capped and 3.68 unweighted (yikes)

6

sorry i calculated it wrong, it’s a 3.77 UW, and 4.30 capped

1 Like
7

I note you have a lot of midsize private universities among your Reaches, but no Likelies or Targets like that. Many Likely or even Target privates might also offer you merit.

Even if you eventually decided to choose an in-state option, having some merit offers and such to consider is often nice.

If you are interested in suggestions along those lines, let us know.

1 Like
8

Have you looked at USC’s CS & Business and AI for Business programs? They are joint degrees between the Viterbi School of Engineering and the Marshall School of Business.

How interested are you in the business component and why are you interested in the joint degree? Admissions to the programs at USC are competitive. You would need to show that you know about the programs and do a good job articulating your reason for applying to them. Attending open houses, informative webinars, etc. prior to applying makes a difference at USC.

Within the UCs, a few offer undergrad business degrees. Berkeley and Riverside have had programs for several years. UC Davis opened their business school to undergraduates in 2025. Irvine offers a BA in business. Someone correct me if I am wrong, but I believe it is more difficult to double major or combine degrees across colleges at Irvine than it is at the other UCs.

9

Purdue as a Toss-up seems right to me. Wouldn’t put it in reach.

10

Semantics - toss up or reach, what is assured and affordable?

Not on his list but I assume UCM. And likely UCR.

The rest could be a shut out so if ok with that, then it’s ok.

If not, the student should find an assured or nearly so and affordable, hence I mentioned the Arizona schools.