UC Berkeley is my dream school (UCLA is second) but I have pretty low SAT and ACT scores by their standards. I got at 1290 on the New SAT (about 1810 on the Old SAT) and 26 on the ACT. Besides this I have a pretty strong app all around. I have a 4.0 unweighted, 4.32 weighted, and 4.6 UC GPA. I have plenty of extracurriculars such as being a member of the Science and Engineering Club at the local community college, JROTC, and this following year I will be the President of the Student Body at my high school. I also have a strong life story. I am a first-gen Hispanic student whose mother disappeared in the fourth grade due to mental illnesses. I haven’t seen her since then and yet I still was able to accomplish everything that I did. I was wondering what my chances were for getting into either of these schools with these statistics.
Normally, I would tell someone with your stats that they’re so-so. However, I think your life story will help you shine in your application. Write a wicked good essay and apply to all of the UCs! Don’t aim for only one school! Good luck, I think you have great chances!
The only thing colleges see when they look at a high GPA and low standard tests is either “Wow their school must really inflate GPA’s and that doesn’t actually reflect how good they did” or “I wonder if they just aren’t good test takers, I wonder if the can even succeed at our school.”
See I don’t know if either of those are true, but that just runs through my head when I think of it. Plus I would recommend trying to get leader positions in the clubs you are in, but the life story is definitely a good topic for an essay
Chance back? http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1903603-harvard-and-mit-chances-any-advice-welcome.html#latest
The reason why my gpa is so high is because I go to an early college high school. All my classes since the beginning of my junior year have been at a community college. I plan to study and try to raise my SAT to 1350-1400, but I struggle on the Reading Section because I am a slow reader. I want to major in Physics so would it be better to shoot for a perfect Math score to get my overall score into this range or work on Reading?
Thank You, but everything that I planned to shine in was removed from the application. I took Calculus AB last semester at the community college and spent countless hours studying for that class. I was one of the only people who got an A in the class and only 2 out 15 students (both seniors and juniors) from my high got an A. I was really looking forward to getting a letter of recommendation from my Math College Support Teacher but UC Berkeley doesn’t take them anymore. They also are not going to have the traditional personal statements anymore and now have “Personal Insight Questions”.
Apply for the Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) on the UC application. This may greatly increase your chances. This is my best tip for you. I applied to the UC system a few years back and am unaware of the new “Personal Insight Questions”.
The Personal Insight Questions are like four mini personal statements except there is a 350 word limit for each so isn’t really much space for creativity. Thank You for your advice. I did a little research on EOP and the program can benefit me greatly. Just out of curiosity, how much does it improve my chances? I was also alerted a few weeks ago by my counselor that I was a candidate for Eligibility on a Local Context (ELC).
ELC only guarantees that if you are not accepted at your choice UC, you will be given a spot at UC Merced (sometimes UC Riverside) if room is available. Basically you have a safety, if all else fails.
Yes, it does that but it also adds an extra point to your application.
Personally, I know someone in EOP who did not have very strong stats (1300/2400 SAT, 3.1 UC GPA). He was accepted to CSULB, SDSU, CSULA, SFSU, and CSUN before everyone else got their responses. In addition to that, he was accepted to UC Santa Cruz and UC Riverside. Make of that what you will.