Chances for UCs / Mid-Tier Engineering Schools

Chance Me / Match Me
1

Hi guys! College anxiety is hitting hard so I’d like to know where I realistically stand.

Asian female, CA resident.

Stats:

GPA (UW): 3.8 (W): 4.1 (UC): 4.04
SAT: 2350 (CR 750, M 800, W 800, E 12) (CR+M: 1550)
ACT: taking in September
SAT Subject: Math II: 800
AP: 6 so far, 4 more senior year.
World History (4), English Language & Composition (5), Psychology (5), Calculus AB (5), Environmental Science (4, self), Physics 1 (3 lol), Computer Science A (pending), Government (pending), Physics 2 (pending), Human Geography (pending)

Classes @ local community college:

  • after 10th: Statistics
  • after 11th: Calculus 2

Extracurriculars / Awards

  • Founder/President of a political debate club (10, 11, 12) >Led schoolwide campaigns through this club
  • MESA president (12)
  • Life member of CSF and NHS (9, 10, 11, 12)
  • PTSA student representative (on behalf of the entire student body) (10, 11, 12)
  • Teacher at a foreign language Sunday school (volunteer, not paid) (9, 10, 11, 12) >graduated from this school the summer before 9th grade >scored in the 99th percentile in a national exam in this language (10)
  • Neighborhood tutor, not paid (9, 10, 11)
  • Girl Scouts - 8 years
  • Science Fair >won 1st place in regional and multiregional fairs, minor company award at the state science fair (9, 11) >Junior Stockholm Water Prize - regional finalist (11)
  • random volunteer clubs whatever (9, 10, 11, 12)
  • AP Scholar w/ Distinction (11)
  • NMS Commended (PSAT was 218, not gonna make the cutoff)

Major: Computer Science/Engineering, Civil/Environmental Engineering, something along those lines

Recommendation Letters: 8.5-9/10
Essays: 9-9.5/10

I know my GPA isn’t the greatest and my extracurriculars are kind of bland, but what are my chances at these schools?

UCB
UCLA
UCSD
UCD
UCSC
U of Illinois @ Urbana Champaign
Rice University (just applying for fun)
San Jose State
U of Michigan @ Ann Arbor
Georgia Tech
Purdue

Thank you!!

2

You have an amazing SAT score however your GPA is on the lower side for UCB, UCLA, and UCSD. I’d say you have a pretty good chance at getting into UCD UCSC and UIUC. Your almost guaranteed to get into Purdue and San Jose State. As for Rice, UMich and GTech I dont know much about those schools so I cant really help you there. Sorry :frowning:

Chance me Back?

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-irvine/1799317-chance-me-uc-engineering-ill-chance-back.html#latest

3

Are you calling those top 10 engineering schools mid-tier?
Your SAT score is great, but GPA a little bit low for UMich and UIUC engineering. Your UC GPA is also low for upper UCs. Hopefully your school profile would help your GPA.

4

Good score, decent GPA, good EC’s. But no EC’s related to Computer Science or anything engineering related- this will make you a weaker applicant compared to people who do have such EC’s and experience in these majors

5

Thank you guys for the input!

I’m from a pretty low performing school, so my class rank is 7/560. Valedictorian is usually around 4.2 W.

@spamuser I chanced you back, thank you!

@Dhruv97 I don’t have any tech internships/robotics/whatever else would count as a strong engineering EC, but I did try to focus what I could on it (science fair projects were engineering, math courses at the cc). I’ve taught myself HTML, Java, and C+, made a few minor applets, designed a few webpages, but I don’t see anywhere on the UC app or the Common App I can put those since they weren’t officially published anywhere. Any tips would be appreciated, thank you so much!

6

They don’t have to necessarily be published. You can list an EC as “Programming Projects” and just described your apps, websites, etc and explain that you’ve taught your self programming. This will show that you are truly interested in your major. Also, you can try to incorporate these things into your essay(s)