I'm devastated, do I have a chance at Stanford or UC Berkely?

Chance Me / Match Me
1

I have a year of high school left with a GPA of 3.9 and SAT of 1250. I don’t know if I’ll get accepted to Stanford or UC Berkely with the score I have. Is it possible?

I’m a first-generation college student without anyone to talk to for support. I don’t have any family or cousins who went to college. No one in my families knows of people who have college degrees that can help. Everyone I know is poor and working class. I’ve never had a father and my mother is never home…my mom just wants me to get a job or graduate since she believes that’s how to succeed in America. This situation is very stressful.

Here’s what I tried to do to create an attractive resume:

  • I am interning at a biotech company in a position as a clerk
  • I am involved in student government as an officer
  • I am running a club as president that has grown the club bigger and more successful than previous presidents
  • I am volunteering locally with rotary and local npo's
  • I speak 3 language, one of which is a dying language
  • I am in the process of manufacturing a product
  • I taught myself guitar, piano, and songwriting
  • I'm female
  • I'm a minority
  • I live off of $2 a day
  • I survive off of food stamps and cash assistance from the government
  • I have no connection except the faculty at school and network I'm trying to build
  • I know how to build robotics and program it thru VEX
  • I am learning Python programming right now

I have scoured the Internet, Wikipedia, Quora, and online forums for information, but I still cannot see…

How I can get into Stanford or UC Berkely
Who I can talk to to help me navigate through this
What can I do now to improve my chances

I’ve watched KhanAcademy and YouTube, but it’s just not enough. I can’t get a tutor because I don’t have money for it. I really don’t know what to do right now. I’ve always taken care of myself since my mom doesn’t know English and is gone most of the time. My family is either in prison or working hard to support their own family.

I depended on myself all this time from walking to school to signing all the forms like free school lunch to doing homework at home without any help. I think I just need some help at this moment. If anyone can offer links, articles, guidance, and/or direction, I’d very much appreciate it. Anything, please. I’m lost.

Can I get into Stanford (or UC Berkely)…?

2

College admissions can be brutal to everyone, regardless of your status. Stanford is the most selective school in America, so you’re most likely not going to get in. However, you can do a couple things to increase your chances of admission. Firstly, retake the SAT. Your SAT score is way to low for a school like Stanford. Try aiming for a 1550+. Your GPA is good, so no need to worry about that. Secondly, try to win awards in the extracurricular activities you are doing right now. I would tell you to get more leadership positions and join more clubs, but since you are a rising senior, I think it’s too late for that. A majority of people who get into Stanford and other top schools earn awards like ISEF finalist or International Olympiad winners. Thirdly, you need to use your poor background to your advantage. Regarding essays, craft an essay explaining your situation and telling the admission officers how you’ve made the most of your poverty. If you can write a good essay, that will most likely be your ticket into Stanford. Regarding your background, you should have a higher chance of admission than most applicants, being an immigrant and first-generation college student. However, that being said, you should definitely apply to other schools. Try schools in your local area or in-state colleges.

Best of luck

3

@Turtle832
First of all, try to remember that you can accomplish your dreams without getting into your dream school. It’s okay to have Stanford and Berkeley as your dream schools, but know that you can be a successful person no matter where you go to college.

Secondly, did you just receive your SAT results? If so, please know the June SAT was graded with a very harsh curve. A lot of people are upset by their scores which actually went down even though they answered more questions correctly. If you took the test in June, check out the thread on College Confidential.

Lastly, if you live in the Bay Area, here is a link to a great program that was started by a San Francisco judge. It’s specifically meant for kids who have an incarcerated parent. They have a team of volunteers who help with college applications, financial aid applications, and provide tutoring and more. Even if you’re not able to join the program, or you live too far away, I recommend emailing one or more of the staff on this link as they may know where you can find help.

Best of luck!

https://www.seventepees.org/staff/

4

My advice is to focus on finding affordable match and safety schools. As stated earlier in the thread, you don’t need to have a Stanford or Berkeley degree to be successful and happy in life. There are so many other schools out there that could be a better fit. IMO, spend your time researching those schools. Yes, apply to some reach schools but the acceptance rates are terribly low, even for students with perfect stats.

You have overcome a lot and this shows true grit and resiliency. This will get you far in life!

You will land somewhere great for you and be successful!

5

@Turtle832 Have you looked into QUESTBRIDGE?

Also, what is your minority status? There are different groups that can help guide, but helpful to know where to steer you or which scholarship programs and other helpful programs you may qualify for.

You have a whole world of awesome colleges open to you. People here can help if they have a little more info:

Is your GPA weighted or unweighted?
First SAT taking?
Minority status?
State of residence is CA?
What do you want to study?
Outside of CA, where would you be willing to live for school?

6

A mentor or mentoring program would be invaluable to you. One that I’m aware helps many low income, first generation to go to college students get into top schools is Questbridge. Please contact Questbridge to explain your situation. Even if you’re starting the process a little later than normal, they should be able to either help you or steer you towards other organizations that could help. Again - do not take “no” or “it’s past the deadline” as an answer; ask them to refer you to someone if they can’t help.

Good luck.

https://www.questbridge.org/

7

I will be blunt: you probably don’t have a chance at Stanford, and to be devastated when the odds are not in your favor in the first place means you need to come up with a realistic list. Come now, even for the best of the best, getting into Stanford is at least 96% unlikely. ECs do not get you into a college, with the possible exception of sports or something very specialized/notable. ECs are just part of the package, but grades, rigor, and scores are very important when you are aiming for the most selective schools in the nation, make no mistake. You are clearly going to be a great applicant and if you apply to a sensible range of schools, you should be spoiled for choice. There is no one thing you can do to get into those colleges.

Find colleges where your grades and test scores put you in the fiftieth percentile or above of accepted students. Find colleges with higher acceptance rates where you might get some merit money. Apply to UC. Merced, or a CSU. Look at this website for schools that might offer free tuition or even full rides for a student like you: http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com

Seeking out only the most prestigious colleges is a sure fire way to be horribly disappointed next year. Use Khan Academy and retake your test. Try the ACT. You have several more test dates before apps are due. When I hear students say they are devastated about their chances at an extremely selelctive school, it is a red flag that they need to adjust their expectations dramatically. Going to college isn’t about finding prestige. It’s about preparing yourself for your life as a working adult. The vast majority of colleges can help you do that. You need a college you can afford where you are almost certain you will be accepted. Having a high reach is ok, but only if the rest of the list makes sense.

ETA: Questbridge is a great idea! Make that your first stop.
Also, try posting in this forum, where there are subforums for Black and Hispanic students: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/specialty-college-admissions-topics/

8

Thank you for all your time and information! I didn’t know about Questbridge or SevenTePees. I will check that out immediately. This reminds me of the moment I found out about AP Classes and that Algebra was not the highest math level.

To answer @milee30 :

Is your GPA weighted or unweighted?
A: Weighted. I took the essay part which I found out I didn’t have to.
First SAT taking?
A: Yes. The first time.
Minority status?
A: One of the 55 ethnic minority in China that’s nearly non-existent. Not many people have heard about it where I live.
State of residence is CA?
A: I live in California.
What do you want to study?
A: Electrical and Computer Engineering
Outside of CA, where would you be willing to live for school?
A: I’d prefer to live near the west coast, but I’m flexible.

9

Did you do much SAT preparation? This can help quite a bit. Where we live (a long way from California) the local community center provides SAT preparation classes that were quite good. Some high schools also offer SAT preparation classes. Stanford is a high reach for nearly everyone. To me your story sounds compelling but you will need to get your SAT up for Stanford and even with 1550 SAT it would still be a reach – which means that getting accepted is unlikely.

From what you have written, it sounds to me like you would do well in university if you can find one that you can afford. Your GPA and your hard effort up to now will get you into many schools. Paying for it might be the hard part.

For preparing for university applications, your most important task, other than keeping your grades up and staying sane, is to find at least one and preferably two safeties. A safety is a school that you know that you will get into, you would be willing to attend, and you know that you can afford. You can run the “net price calculator” to get an estimate of what a school will cost. Given that your parents are not together, the NPC might be less accurate and you might need to find out what each school does with respect to considering your father’s finances for determining financial aid.

The entire UC system is quite good, including the CSUs. Your grades should get you into one or more of them. I don’t know about need based aid in the UCs and CSUs because we live so far away and haven’t needed to deal with need based aid.

10

I don’t think schools are going to differentiate your being from a Chinese minority group or Han Chinese. At many selective schools you are going to be an over represented minority.

Have you asked your school’s guidance counselor for help, or if there are mentors who can help you? Have you asked at your job? Someone at Rotary might help you, even if informally. In California, there might be CSU or CC that work better with your financial situation than Cal, which is in an expensive COL area.

11

Hardships endured & self reliance develop maturity beyond one’s years. As a mature high school rising senior, you should realize that there are at least a hundred elite colleges & universities which can meet your educational goals.

Prepare for & retake the SAT, or try the ACT. Research & make a list of at least 20 colleges & universities which are of interest to you. This should reduce your anxiety level.

Also, as shared above, contact QuestBridge.

12

Stanford is super selective, as is UCB EECS.

Apply widely to UCs and CSUs which have your majors of interest.

Which part of California do you live in?

13

I appreciate all the advice and encouragement from everyone. I haven’t thought as much about college as this year when it hit me that everyone around me had everything planned out by their parents. My anxiety is at an all-time high. The kind thoughts from everyone are putting me at ease. I’m taking a step back to reassess my outlook.

@DadTwoGirls, @twoinanddone done I’ll have to see if the local college or community centers have support for SAT prep.

@Publisher yeah! I’ll go back to the whiteboard again.

14

Yes the first thing right now is to improve your SAT score, I mean, by a lot. You still have some time. Try ACT to see if you are more comfortable with it.

15

One separate piece of advice – I would move off the notion of having one or two hyper-competitive reach schools as your “dream schools”. The people I have seen most hurt by the college admission process are the ones who pin all their hopes of a couple of “dream” colleges and don’t get in. Don’t do that to yourself!

You have done a great deal and had great success despite your hardships. With your attitude and work ethic you will have a successful outcome at many many schools. Expand your horizons and understand that there are are many wonderful schools out there where you can have a great 4 year experience and get where you want to go in life.

16

UCs and CSUs do not consider race and ethnicity in admissions, although at least the CSU application goes into a lot of detail surveying specific ethnic groups (though most ethnic minority groups in China like Zhuang, Hui, Manchu, etc. have not yet appeared on their radar, so the OP would probably indicate “other Asian” if s/he chooses to answer): https://www.calstate.edu/sas/documents/applicationform-undergraduate.pdf

17

You’re an incredibly impressive person. I seriously admire you for being so focused with so many other things going on in your life. I’m on this website because I’m insecure and try to get advice and reassurance from people on getting into schools, but honestly I’ve realized at a certain point this is all so petty and pointless. It sounds like you’ve worked very hard for what you’ve achieved and you should be incredibly proud of that. I doubt that if I was in your situation I could do the same. Coming from someone who’s the same age is you, I’ve learned that your SAT score is not a barometer of your intellectual capacity, I would say maybe take it once more but please don’t agonize over it. You’re GPA is very good. Stanford and Cal are ridiculously hard to get into and honestly do not offer any secret recipes to success and can’t even guarantee you a job or higher pay over another school once you graduate. Theres no harm in applying, but you’re an incredible person who’s overcome a lot of odds, you don’t need to go to a school like that to define yourself or to prove something- you’ve already proven it. Don’t let this stupid college admissions game consume your life. Don’t let this website with all these honor-students and boasting parents infatuated with competitive-academics distract you. With your background, GPA and test scores, theres no way you won’t get accepted somewhere, likely with some serious scholarships and financial aid as well. I wish you the best of luck.

18

You will likely be able to get a UC education if you want to, as you’re probably in the top 9% of your class and will qualify for the ELC guarantee. It’s unlikely that you’ll get into Berkeley, but you can get an excellent EECS education at any of the UC’s. Look into the opportunities at Merced, Riverside, and Santa Cruz… and look at Irvine and Davis as reach schools.

In the CSU system, look at these schools that offer EE, some of which offer honors programs/scholarships:
Cal Poly Pomona
Sonoma State
Cal State LA http://www.calstatela.edu/honorscollege/honors-college-and-csu-scholarships
CSULB https://www.csulb.edu/university-honors/presidents-scholarships
Fresno State https://www.fresnostate.edu/academics/honors/application/
Northridge, Fullerton, Bakersfield

If you are willing to look farther from home, you might be able to get an even better financial aid package from a private college or university will meet full financial need. Here are some schools to look at, all of which have EE, and some of which will consider you an under-represented minority as well as giving you some advantage for being first generation.
Full need met schools:
Lehigh U ¶ - apply to their Diversity fly-in https://www1.lehigh.edu/admissions/undergrad/visit/dap
Union College (NY)
Case Western Reserve U (OH)
Lafayette College ¶
Trinity College (CT)

Almost full need met schools that could offer good aid
Tulane U (LA)
U of Rochester (NY)
U of Miami (FL)

If you are willing to consider schools that do not have engineering but do have computer science, then the list of possibilities will get much longer.

In addition, there are a number of full-need-met colleges that have “3:2” engineering programs where you spend three years at a liberal arts college studying math, science, and CS, and then spend the last two years at a university with an engineering program. Through a program like this, you could potentially end up at a more “elite” engineering school than you could get into directly out of high school, if you do well in the first three years. Here’s one example: https://www.oxy.edu/physics/3-2-engineering-program (Occidental is a full-need-met college in California that would be a reach with your current stats, but not impossible, particularly if you can raise your test scores; and there are other full-need-met LAC’s outside of CA that are a bit less competitive and also have 3:2 programs.)

Make sure that your guidance counselor at school is fully aware of all the challenges you have overcome to get where you are. This person will need to write your counselor recommendation, and this is where colleges should get the full, unvarnished picture of how remarkable it is that you’ve accomplished all that you have. Also start thinking about your own personal statement, but that is not the place to detail all of your challenges - focus on one topic or vignette that gives a window into who you are, and let your counselor fill in the blanks about the background.

(Also, I agree with the advice to try the ACT. Sometimes a person is just better suited to one test than the other. Also, when you say you have “watched” Khan academy - have you used their test-prep app where you answer practice questions, or just watched review videos?)

It’s unfortunate that two hyper-competitive schools have been held up to you as emblematic of success, but it’s good to see that you’re seeking more information and broadening your horizons. You’ve already accomplished so much - you will get the rest of the way!

19

I’m just gonna be dead honest.

  • GPA is excellent but SAT needs to be at least 1500
  • Your extracurriculars are all over the place, are you a businesswoman? Engineer? Biologist? You're good at everything, but you seem to have no specialization.

Realistically, even the most qualified candidates get rejected from Stanford and Berkeley. Raise that SAT, and make sure your passion for what you want to study comes through in both your resume and your essay, and you have a strong chance. Fight on!

20

Tip: Never sign any forms that are supposed to be signed by your parent. When you do that, you are putting yourself in a very serious situation. You could lose everything that you have gained and risk losing diplomas.
Be honest. Don’t sign as your parent.
When you fill out college applications and FAFSA forms you are indicating that all of the information has been signed by both you and your parent. Don’t lie. You could lose funding or worse, get expelled.