<p>Hi, I’m currently a high school senior from a surburban town in Southern California and am applying to Stanford early decision this year and just wanted to make this post to just really take my mind off the stress of college admissions and see what everyone thinks. These are my stats:
SAT: 760 Writing, 760 Math, 730 Critical Reading
SAT II: Math Level 2 800, Physics 740, U.S. History 730
AP Tests (All 5s): European History, United States History, Calculus BC(AB Subscore), Physics, English Lang, Spanish Lang, Environmental, Chemistry(4 >.>)
AP Tests This Year: Statistics, Biology, English Lit, Art History, Government, Macroeconomics
GPA(UW): 4.0
GPA(9-11 W)- 4.44 No APs allowed in 9th grade
Class Rank(Out of 650): 1 - Valedictorian if I can get an A in my Eng. Lit. class. My teacher is insane.</p>
<p>Extracurriculars(My weak point):
Tennis 2 years JV then Varsity - Was JV MVP first year.
Did summer and winter leagues for tennis as well as the CIF Spring season.
Started my own origami business online to help out my family. I’ve been doing origami for 4 years.
Treasurer of Invisible Children Club at my school - Founding member of the club. Made the club’s bank account for charity donations and did all the economics of the club - since its a charity organization I’d say this was the biggest position besides president. This got me interested in businesses and inspired me to start my origami business as well as participate in a charity organization.</p>
<p>Volunteering(Weak Point):
I started my own free tutoring service at my school for those that can’t afford the astronomically high tuition fees at places like Sullivan and other independent places. I believe that all education should be freedom for everyone no matter what socioeconomic background they are from. Mostly tutor in Physics, Calculus, Algebra and Economics
I volunteer at a local church’s soup kitchen during the holidays
With the Invisible Children Club, I volunteered to raise money about 50 hours a year for 3 years.</p>
<p>Other:
I taught beginner’s guitar lessons for a fellow student and was paid for about 7 weeks until the student moved on to more advanced lessons.
I am Hispanic, both my parents were born in Mexico and migrated here. My dad and mom were the first in their families to go to college. I come from a very tough(to be modest) socioeconomic background myself which explains my vehement feelings about free education.
National AP Scholar my junior year
Honor Guard at my school
Student of the Quarter nominated by my Calculus BC Teacher
I am also applying to Columbia, MIT, UPenn, Duke, UCLA, Northwestern, Northeastern and Johns Hopkins
If I get into Berkeley, what do you think my chances would be at getting a full ride scholarship? The only way I can go to any college (even community) is if my parents dont have to pay one cent. Like I said before, my socioeconomic situation is really bad and if I had to stay in school one more year I would have to drop out and start working. I think I can get into Berkeley and would love to go there but I know their Financial aid isn’t that great. Any thoughts?</p>
<p>I forgot to mention that I am also a Link Crew Leader at my High School. This is the first year that it was run at my high school. I mentor and counsel 10 freshman with a partner as a guidance counselor would.</p>
<p>Regarding admissions, you are a strong candidate for both, although Stanford is generally considered a “reach for everyone”. Berkeley is generally considered more selective for its College of Engineering (especially the Bioengineering, EECS, and Engineering Undeclared majors) than its College of Letters and Science (where all freshmen applicants are considered together and all entering freshmen enter L&S Undeclared, regardless of major selection on the application). What majors are you considering?</p>
<p>Berkeley admissions has a reputation of liking high achieving students from disadvantaged backgrounds. 4.0 UW GPA, presumably lots of honors and AP courses*, 700+ on all test scores, 5 scores on lots of AP tests puts you in the “near maximum” category on academic stats.</p>
<ul>
<li>Note that UC admissions uses GPA from 10th and 11th grade a-g academic courses, with +1 for up to 8 honors and AP semesters.</li>
</ul>
<p>However, be sure you have a safety or two (other UCs? be sure those other schools have enough financial aid as well), since even “near maximum” academic stats won’t make Berkeley or (especially) Stanford a safety.</p>
<p>Thanks for your response! This is very helpful.
So on the Berkeley Calculator it says my Expected parent contribution is $1300 but at the bottom it says net cost is $9000… I don’t exactly understand what my family would have to pay. Is this calculator only need-based? Does Berkeley offer merit based scholarships?
I’m planning on being pre-med, majoring in some biological science. Haven’t really decided yet.
Yeah if you disregard freshman year, my Weighted GPA goes way up…</p>
<p>Net cost may include student loans or the student’s contribution from work-study jobs during the school year or summer jobs. Note that the maximum of government subsidized Stafford loans is currently $23,000 over all four years.</p>
<p>So what exactly does it mean if its a government subsidized loan?
I can’t really make a comparison about the majors because the only other major I would consider is some type of chemistry and they dont have data for that major.
I am also interested in Psychology but thats more of a hobby. That has even less job opportunities it seems like.
I looked up Molecular and Cell biology and it seems to have a good amount of jobs. I would like to work in a hospital in a lab if I don’t get into medical school and it looks like thats what I’d be able to do.</p>
<p>Note that many consider it unwise to take more undergraduate student loan debt than the government subsidized loan limit, or more than half of the typical starting yearly pay for graduates in your major. And if you go to medical school, remember that medical school is expensive, adding more student loans.</p>
<p>Chemistry unfortunately has fairly similar or only slightly better job and career prospects as biology (check the past years). However, chemical engineering does significantly better.</p>
<p>If you like math, you may want to consider majoring in math, applied math, or statistics. Statistics is commonly used in analysis of medical and biological research data, but also has many other applications which can lead to other types of jobs and careers (e.g. finance) as a backup.</p>
<p>Some more career surveys that may help you:</p>
<p>Well I’m not really sure what I’m going to major in but I KNOW I dont want to major in any type of engineering. I can figure the major out once I’m accepted, but I REALLY want to go to medical school. Thanks for you help, I just can’t see myself majoring in any math. Don’t get me wrong, I’m great at math. It’s just so boring. I love biomedical sciences and that’s really where I can see myself.</p>
<p>If you ARE really set on medical, have you looked into some of those 7 year medical programs. Someone I know gave up UCB/Stanford for a guaranteed medical program. Pre-med is very competitive in Berkeley and I am sure Stanford as well.</p>
<p>I suggest you check out the premed boards here. Apply to UCSD, UCD as well.</p>