Demographics
US citizen
State: California
*** Type of high school:** Slightly smaller public school
*** Gender/Race/Ethnicity:** Female, white & hispanic
- Other special factors (first generation to college, legacy, athlete, etc.): first-gen, low-middle income by California standards!
Intended Major(s): Environmental science, MEB (for UCB), and Ecology
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores:
GPA was the weakest point in my application, I struggled with math classes and ended up with 3 C’s in total on transcript.
*** Unweighted HS GPA:** 3.5
- Weighted HS GPA (incl. weighting system): 3.9
*** Class Rank:** 97/447 (was top 10% in my junior year but no longer for some reason)
*** ACT/SAT Scores:** Opted out
Coursework
Since my school only offers ~11 IB/AP courses I ended up taking 4 IB courses total and 1 AP:
IB English HL1/HL2
IB Anthro
IB Enviro
IB Spanish HL1
AP Stats
I took a 0 period (Biotechnology) and a 7th period (Academic Decathlon) for 2 years as well.
Awards
1st place speech in Honors Division academic decathlon
1st place poem in my town’s annual poetry competition
Biotechnoloy CTE Certificate for completing over 300 hours of labs
Extracurriculars
(Got a lil lazy and started copy pasting from my activities section…)
Freshwater ecology internship at UC Berkeley: I was placed at UC Berkeley’s freshwater labs after the American Fisheries Society accepted me into their Hutton Junior Fisheries Program. It was a very selective program but I got to work out in the field and in the lab over the summer. Researched coho salmon return rates and how California drought and damming hurts their populations.
Waksman Student Scholar Program (2 yrs): I worked in this after-school microbiology and bioinformatics program run by Rutgers to experiment with the use of aquatic plants as biofuel and to have my work published. As a research scientist and a mentor to first-year students, I guided DNA replication and cropping labs, helping them in the process of having their own work published. We were also the only public school representing California in the program.
Tracy Poet Comittee (2 yrs): I was appointed as the youth representative of the Tracy Poet Committee which runs under the non-profit organization, Tracy Friends of the Library. The purpose of the committee is to appoint Tracy’s first poet laureate and to organize events at local schools for poetry workshops and lectures to inspire artistic expression among students.
Interact Club (4 yrs): I have been active in Interact club for 4 years, organizing events (senior center visits, book donation drives, canned food drives, preschool readings, park clean-ups), and have amassed 150+ volunteer hours yearly. As a 2-year president, my focus is to support under-appreciated members of our community and work to make our city cleaner.
Artists by Artists: A local artist recruited me to write a collection of essays for her published book which focuses on local artists from underrepresented communities connected to my town. I extensively researched Richard Yip, a watercolor artist who dedicated his life to painting coastal and abstract landscapes. This project ignited my passion for creative writing and lead to my involvement in the arts scene of my town.
Poetry Out Loud Program: Poetry Out Loud is a program formed under the National Endowment of Arts with a mission to provide young poets of each county the opportunity to express themselves by sharing their own poetry in contests. I serve as co-cordinator for the program and have dedicated myself to finding and promoting opportunities for the artistically-inclined youth to participate in.
Link Crew (2 years): The purpose of this program is to welcome freshmen into their first year and give them a resource and advisor while encouraging them to socialize and participate in an enjoyable high school experience. I participated out of a want to help freshmen feel less outcasted through difficult social transitions and to help them find a sense of community.
Academic Decathlon (2 yrs): I enrolled in this 7th period through my high school to compete with our academic decathlon team to study the 10 subjects tested in competition. As the 2022-2023 captain, I was given the chance to lead my team while learning more about my area of interest–environmental science, gained strong public speaking skills, and developed close team bonds.
Earth Club (3 yrs): As a member and vice president of this environmental activism club, I participate in and organize volunteer events, leading clean-ups and tree-planting events in local parks. This club focuses on finding sustainable alternatives to implement in our school and bringing awareness to individual sustainability.
Science camp counselor (2 yrs): I know its not outstanding but here was what I had to say about it: SJCOE Outdoor Education runs this week-long educational camp for middle schoolers to be taught about ecology and conservation to instill environmental consciousness in students. I led middle school students as a science camp counselor and used my experience in ecology to educate kids about California native wildlife and how they can help protect our environment. As most schools do not touch on environmental issues in depth, I wanted to teach them the importance of keeping our ecosystems balanced and respecting wildlife.
Book Club (2 yrs): I serve as secretary of this interest-based club which promotes building community with other avid readers of our school. Aside from book discussions and recommendations, I organize community service events to promote reading and to make free books available to students through book donation drives and giveaways.
Cross country (3 yrs): For 3 years, I have been on the varsity cross-country team. I had lots of experience prior to high school on cross country teams and felt grateful to meet teammates who shared my same level of love for running. I have made long-lasting bonds with my team and unforgettable experiences at our meets and was awarded my varsity letter for my 3 years.
Sidenote: I definitely think being overly involved in extracurriculars was my downfall, although they aren’t things I participated in just for looks and mainly were based on my interests, its not all that compared to having a higher GPA.
Essays/LORs/Other
(I got help from an ex-UCSB admissions officer which definitely helped my essay writing out)
Gardening pretty flowers and being awesome essay: Wrote about the impact tending to my Nonna’s garden with her had on me, building my own garden from her teachings, and using my gardening hobby towards building my school’s community garden for Earth Club. Sounds like a basic concept to some but I liked it! Would give around a 9/10.
She’s a poet! Essay: Wrote about my work in my town’s literary arts community and how I got involved after being invited to a poetry contest and sharing my notebook full of poems I’d accumulated since 11 years old. Concluded with talking about coaching younger kids for poetry contests and hosting lectures and poetry workshops. 8/10 in my opinion.
Obligatory sad essay (kiddinggggg!!!): Wrote about my mom’s diagnosis of stage 3 cancer and having to step up to the plate to care for her, my family while also juggling school and how that hurt my grades but how I recovered from that. Concluded with talking about how my mother’s survival of cancer inspired me to excel academically to make her proud and her life worth fighting for. Showcased a lot of my personal growth and resilience, 9/10.
The fun fish essay: Wrote about my experience on a field work day during my internship where I finally realized I wanted to commit myself to my passions of conserving nature. More in depth about what the conservation project was about and what I did but I’m not gonna type all that out. Afterwards, camping out with the conservation project crew from Caltrout, Conservation Corps, and those buddies and realizing I wanted to be just like them when I grow up!!! No but I made strong connections with the people of that fieldwork day and their passion inspired me to pursue my dreams no matter the costs!!! (9.5/10).
Conclusion: Guys don’t be like me focus on your grades before extracurriculars, obviously still have around 5 activities that make sense for you to be apart of (major-based, your own interest, etc.) and a summer internship or something but gpa over activites.
Schools
Applied to all CSU/UC schools (and UNR)
Safety
UC Santa Cruz (RD)
UNR (RD) – accepted!
Likely
CSU Long Beach (RD)
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Match
SDSU (RD)
UC Davis (RD) -
Reach
UCSB (RD)
UCB (RD) (1st choice but not the most confident)
UCSD (RD)
UCLA (RD)
UCI (RD)
