Hoping to put the cherry on top for my application

Colleges & Universities University of California - Berkeley
1

<p>I’m going to be a high school senior when school starts up and I’m going to major in Computer Science. I really want to get into Berkeley’s EECS program and I’d like to share what I have going for me to get everyone’s thoughts on what I can do my senior year to help my chances. </p>

<p>Richardson High School in Richardson, Texas</p>

<p>SAT : 720 math, 650 reading, 610 writing (I am retaking)
GPA : (weighted) 98.50
(I’m not sure what the 4 or 5 point avg is. It should be 3.94 weighted but apparently it’s 4.85 on some college 5 point avg. It’s all very confusing 0_o)
Rank : 20 of 564
AP Scores : AP HuG 4; WHAP 4; (my scores for AP CS, APUSH, AP Physics C, and AP Eng III still haven’t arrived)</p>

<p>Extracurriculars
Varsity Band 2011-2014
Academic Decathlon 2012-2014
School Computer Club 2012 - 2014 (programming team)</p>

<p>Accolades
Superior rating at RISD Chamber music festival 2012-2013 (solos and ensembles)
All-region band 2012-2013 (this is something you audition for)
Marching Band Section leader 2012 (I was not reappointed to section leader this year)
President of Computer Club
Several first and second place finishes at programming contests (I can go into specifics if needed)</p>

<p>I was accepted into my district’s internship program for the spring semester but other than that I have no job experience.</p>

<p>I also did some stuff with parallel programming for my school’s science fair but didn’t win anything for it.</p>

<p>I’d love to hear some advice as to how I could improve my chances to get in.</p>

2

<p>Start writing your personal statement. Like, now. And then put it away and forget about it for a week, come back to it and it’ll be amazing how many mistakes you find. Then rewrite it. And keep doing this until November, giving it to your teachers to read and getting outside critique to improve it. A lot of people have perfect grades and amazing SAT scores, but no one else can tell YOUR story. I seriously think that my personal statement are what really made it for me, because I had poor sat scores (1940…)</p>

3

<p>I’d say increase your SAT scores by quite a bit (EECS is tough to get into from what I hear so you’ll probably need really good scores) and write a really good personal statement.</p>

4

<p>Thanks guys! Do you have any reccomendations for how long my personal statement should be?</p>

5

<p>There should be a limit… I think it was like 500 words or something like that. Just keep it around there. And don’t go over. They might truncate it if its too long.</p>

6

<p>In regards to the personal statement-- make sure your personal statement is a story that only you can tell-- and when you wait for a while to read it again-- see if it’s interesting. If it’s not interesting to you, then it’s not going to sound interesting to the admin. officer~ </p>

<p>(Also, I’d definitely raise the SAT score-- especially in math, since you are going for EECS)</p>