chance me!!! thanks

meakame
Wed, 28 Jul 2010 12:29:28 +0000

Overall: Very good chance (expect an admit, but don’t be too shocked at a deny, thanks to unpredictability. Check your school’s Berkeley admit stats).


Ethnicity - I suppose Asian males are over-represented in CoE but that shouldn’t affect your chances too badly considering your achievements.
Academics
Your SATs are fine. I got in with SAT scores lower than yours (I applied College of Chemistry).
4 IBHLs will certainly shine as you mentioned. Though I’m curious; why did you take Chinese HL instead of Chemistry HL considering your lower Chinese IGCSE score?
ECs
Very good math olympiad achievements, plus most of them are at international level so that helps.
Piano FTCL - my eyes are popping out. Wow. I don’t know if Cal takes music tapes but you should certainly send them in if they do. Mention and highlight this - an FTCL at 18 is no mean feat.
Basketball is more of a side notation than anything but at least it shows you play sports and keep fit.
Leadership, try to highlight the math competition planning and student council positions. You can really “milk” those two.
As for volunteering, here’s where you have a slight disadvantage: you haven’t really done any volunteering over an extended period. You can try starting now.
Honors & Awards
Math awards + music awards + overall school award = very good.
Languages - not sure where these go on a UC app but like the basketball it’s more of a side notation. Three languages isn’t really that unusual for applicants living in SEA. If you could speak five or seven languages, maybe.


Cheers.