somewhat feeder, around 50 kids got la/berkely last year, this year class size is under little more than 500
Cost Constraints / Budget
40k, so I don’t think I can afford privates/out of state.
Intended Major(s)
-pre med so biology, biotech/informatics, maybe bioengneering or computational biology
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
3.91 uw/4.53 weighted
UC GPA is 4.1176
ACT/SAT Scores: 1400
List your HS coursework
English: AP Lang, OC AP Lit taking right now
Math: math2,3, calc ab, taking calc bc.
Science: bio honors chem honors physics honors ap chem
History and social studies: dual enrolled at communicty college for world history, us history, polsci/gov, and economics.
Language other than English: 3 years of spanish
Visual or performing arts: symphonic band 2 years, marching band 4 years
Awards
AP Scholar with Honor 2025
Eagle Scout
F1 in Schools National Qualifier
HOSA State Qualifier (Freshman year)
Extracurriculars
Research: Edited 2 research papers (name should be on it); presented research poster at statewide conference, what was presented is in super early stages of becoming a paper
Marching Band: 5 years (section leader junior/senior)
Winter Percussion: 5 years
County honor band freshman/soph year I think I was top 20 chair for both
Internships: Government lab summer 1 week internship; 2 NASA online courses/internships
Community Service/Volunteering: Pet shelter volunteering (4–5 years); total ~300+ community service hours across multiple projects’
Boy Scouts for 8 years, multiple high level leadership positions
took harvard cs50 but never finished
train calisthenics on my own for about 3-4 years, got muscle ups, front lever, straddle planche, oap
Premed does not actually require any specific major, although the overlap in courses is largest with biology majors. But most premeds do not get into medical school, so consider what your other plans could be, and what majors would be suitable for them.
I’ll disagree - depending on where you apply and in some cases, if you have need.
I suspect there are some small liberal arts colleges where this would work and there are definitely OOS publics where it would (if you, for example, didn’t want UCM or UCR).
So if you want some thoughts, let us know what type of college you’d really want - small or large, urban or rural. Obviously, the UCs run bigger but is that settling or you really want that type of school? You also have WUE - for OOS publics to hit cost.
If this is the case, then your guidance counselor would be in an excellent position to tell you your realistic chances for those schools by looking at where you fit into school context. (The same is the case for my daughter’s high school and her counselor was VERY good at guessing who would likely get in and who was a long shot, especially for UCB which is the main UC kids at her school tend to apply to.)
34% for College of L&S/ Capped weighted 4.14-4.29. Average Unweighted 3.91.
UC Santa Cruz
Biomolecular Eng 82.8%/ UC Capped weighted 3.87-4.22
69% / Capped weighted 3.90-4.23
Good luck and UC’s are not the only good schools in California for Pre-med intentioned students, several Cal states are worth considering such as Cal Poly SLO, San Diego State, Long Beach state and Cal Poly Pomona.
Yes, the UCSC major is Biomolecular Engineering and actually I forgot to update with the new admit numbers which was 82.8% for 2024 Freshman applicants.
Your reaches are reaches for everyone, and your targets, despite being an excellent student, are also really mostly reaches as well for your major, so it’s hard for someone to give you odds - the UC’s are hard to predict.
My advice to you would be to make sure that your PIQ’s are really good, as they will differentiate you from all the other top students. Focus on your passion, your leadership and your commitment. It’s a tall order for someone who’s 17/18 to convey, but be as authentic as possible. There are a ton of free PIQ resources online - good luck!!
the biomolecular engineering concentration is “designed for students interested in protein engineering, stem cell engineering, and synthetic biology. The emphasis is on designing biomolecules (DNA, RNA, proteins) and cells for particular functions, and the underlying sciences are biochemistry and cell biology.”
the bioinformatics concentration “combines mathematics, science, and engineering to explore and understand biological data from high-throughput experiments, such as genome sequencing, gene-expression chips, and proteomics experiments.”
Sorry to be picky, but since my daughter is applying for bioengineering / biomedical engineering, I’m more sensitized to these distinctions than I was previously!
For the OP who is thinking about various biology / biotech / bioengineering majors:
My daughter and I found it useful to look at this PDF presentation from UCSD, which talks about the history of biomedical engineering departments, the four majors in the UCSD Bioengineering department, and lots and lots of different research areas and where they might fit into different majors and departments: