<p>I get it. I mean, it’s something admirable about Berkeley. Some people put it rather rudely and say that Berkeley just takes rejects from other schools. I see that Berkeley recognizes talent that other schools happened to miss out on or just didn’t have room for. In fact, a friend of mine got into Duke MBA… I think he was first rejected. Then, he got into UNC Chapel Hill and sent the acceptance letter to Duke… and they let him in! (I hope this doesn’t spark a mass forwarding of acceptance letters from one school to another.) It’s ballsy, but I guess when they’ve already rejected you, you don’t have much to lose. If your options are limited, Berkeley is a great choice, but I see some of these people turning down some really great schools, only to regret it later on. Anyways, I’m a happy and proud Cal Bear, and I welcome anyone else who wants to be at Berkeley, but if there’s a better option that’s feasible, it only makes sense to strive for that.</p>
<p>@easylife - appreciate your feedback. What I am finding is there is no perfect place. We have friends that went to MIT or Caltech. And they are not 100% happy either - the workload in both those places are insane, I hear. Then I have some in UCSD who wish they were at Cal and vice versa. I also have heard about HarveyMudd/Pomona and they say the tuition isn’t worth the degree…and most people (once out of college) don’t know the names outside CA. I think if the criteria for a good college experience is having school pride (Div 1 athletics), exposure to a broad base of curriculum and activities, Cal sort of fits the mold. USC has mixed reviews too and so does UCLA. And I thought Stanford has it all but went to the Stanford board and there is one kid looking to transfer out. Yes, college is what you make of it…I guess.</p>
<p>Just as a side note - you don’t need to go to a “ranked” university for undergrad. While I am not naming my school, it was one of the big state flagships (top 50 Public). I found a spectrum of kids - some as smart as anybody and some who just wanted to party. If you associate with the right folks, keep your focus on the end result, take all the opportunities that a college offers, you can come out on top. So find the best fit for you and not go by name brand. Get involved, work on campus…(best way to get those hourly jobs at a lab)…Do what interests you.</p>
<p>Chance post like all the rest. I’m a Junior, actually, but, since there’s only one more semester that matters, and I’m pretty confident about my AP’s…</p>
<p>In state, white, female.</p>
<p>GPA: 4.27 weighted currently, but most likely 4.52 if I survive the semester, which translates to 3.83 or 3.88 unweighted. </p>
<p>Course difficulty: one of the hardest in the state. </p>
<p>All three B’s are first semester sophomore year, in Chemistry Honors (pure laziness), Geometry Honors (teacher only gave 2 A’s), and English Regular (petty, organization focused teacher.)</p>
<p>SAT I: 2160 Total, 780 CR, 720 Math, 660 Writing. Should I retake? I’m happy with everything but writing…</p>
<p>SAT II Biology E: 790
I’ll probably take Chem or Physics and Math II at the end of the year, perhaps along with Italian or US History, though I’m less confident in those subjects.</p>
<p>Freshman: AP Human Geography 5,<br>
Sophomore: AP Biology 5,
Junior: AP Chem, APUSH, AP Lang, most likely studying AP Physics B and APES, partially so I can get nerdcred by taking all the sciences, partially as an incentive to learn them.
Senior: AP Physics C and AP Calculus BC are definite; probably taking AP Lit and AP Italian; want to take AP Gov and AP Econ, but don’t know if they’ll fit my schedule. </p>
<p>Extracurriculars:
Science Research program, will most likely lead to placement in a biomedical lab this summer. (2 yrs)
Junior Statesmen of America: debate director of chapter Sophomore+Junior year, may go for president or vp next year, depending how much time I have. (4 yrs)
Fencing at school and with private club. No actual ability, noncompetitive. (4 yrs)
A bunch of just-for-fun clubs which I may not even list. (Astronomy, Knitting, Go etc.)</p>
<p>Volunteering:
Probably actually ~500 hours, but maybe only about 300 which I can document in any way, since I wasn’t thinking about college when doing the rest. Most were at a rec center, interning at elementary school summer programs, after school enrichment classes for middle school kids, etc. Others are through my school’s honor society. </p>
<p>My essays will probably be horrible, so I can’t depend on them for much of anything. </p>
<p>I’d be applying for LS, as a Biology (Genetics?) major, if that counts for anything. </p>
<p>Essentially, how confident can I be? Cornell and Harvey Mudd would be my real first choices, but I’d rather not be in debt before I get to grad school, and my average/crappy freshman grades and lack of writing ability make it a lot easier for me to get into a UC than a private school. I’d love suggestions for other schools with good biology programs.</p>
<p>Berkeley is my top choice! I’m a senior, and if I don’t get in here, I’ll be fairly bummed out…</p>
<p>UC GPA:4.18
UW GPA: 3.89
W GPA: 4.32</p>
<p>In State</p>
<p>SAT I: 2160- CR 800, M 650, W 710
SAT II’s: French (w/listening) 640 :(, Literature 700</p>
<p>College: Letters and Science</p>
<p>EC’s: probably about 500 or more hours…mainly cross country, piano, and volunteering at the library and animal shelter, but i also have significant leadership positions in clubs at my school.</p>
<p>Oh, and I’m half latino if that counts for anything! thanks for your help</p>
<p>chance me please! Berkeley is my top choice :)</p>
<p>ACT: 30
SAT 2s: 790 bio m, 750 French, 700 us history
GPA: 3.8 unweighted, 4.5 UC GPA
Rank: 15/ 720 students
Course load: pretty rigorous course load… 9 APs by the end of senior year, 4s and 5s in ones already taken
ECs/community service: varsity sports all 4 years, tutoring, member of some school clubs, graphic designing
Essays: pretty good, but I’m not that good of a writer
hooks: first generation, instate
College: applied to college of arts and sciences. Bio major.
Thanks.</p>
<p>oops sorry meant college of letters and science!</p>
<p>Last 3 posters - your gpa/sat are in range of berkeley admits and you are not in EECS (which is supposedly harder to get in). So I would really think it is a match. Hopefully essays were good…as that really matters, I hear. Good luck. Please post back once you hear the results.</p>
<p>Hey everyone! I’m kind of new at College Confidential, and I’ve sent all my applications in before the deadline (phew!) but I just need some honest/harsh chances so I know what to expect. Anyways here are my uni choices, stats and EC’s:</p>
<p>UNIVERSITY CHOICES (by order of preference)
- MIT (applying for financial aid)
- Berkeley
- Stanford
- Princeton (Applying for financial aid)
- Cornell
- Harvard (Applying for financial aid)
- Georgia Tech
- UCLA
Btw, I’m applying as a mechanical engineering major for all the unis.</p>
<p>SAT (One Sitting)
CR: 650
M: 800
W: 740 (Essay 12)</p>
<p>SAT II (One Sitting)
Chemistry: 780
Maths Lvl 2: 770
Physics: 790</p>
<p>TOEFL (I’m an international student): 113/120</p>
<p>IB PREDICTED GRADES (If applicable)
Physics HL: 6
Chemistry HL: 7
Maths HL: 7
Business & Management SL: 7
English A1 SL: 7
Mandarin SL: 7</p>
<p>GPA: 4.21 (weighted)
Rank: Our school doesn’t rank but I’m in the top 1%</p>
<p>RECOMMENDATIONS
Counselor: Awesome
Chemistry Teacher: Awesome
Physics Teacher: Good
Business Teacher: Generic</p>
<p>AWARDS (Not that much…)
First in my country for the IGCSE Additional Maths exam
Science related prizes from my school every year
Service honor (Patrons of the award include Nelson Mandela, The Duke of York)
Outstanding Scholastic Achievement award
English Literature related prizes
2-Year Academic Scholarship Recipient</p>
<p>EC’s
School Orchestra - Since Grade 6 - Concertmaster since Grade 11
Chamber Orchestra - Since Grade 9 - Violin I
Band - Since Grade 6 - Drummer (Played in several charity events, parties and restaurants)
Musical Productions - Grade 9 ~ Grade 11 - Violinist and Drummer
Musical Charity Events - Since Grade 11
Went to Kenya for 3 weeks to build a library with 40 other Kenyan and international students (Grade 10)
Went to a local island for 2.5 weeks to build a shelter for the locals affected by the Tsunami (Grade 9)
Founder and Chairperson of the Student Executive Committee
- Implemented an environmental policy
- Organized a leadership training camp for students in grade 6 - 8
- Organized the graduation dinner for the previous senior students
- Currently planning an event to promote internationalism in our school
Member of an organizing committee for an international conference taking place - In charge of musical and dramatic acts
Organized a charity for Kenya - Collected an excess in donations. The excess was donated to local orphanages.</p>
<p>ESSAYS
CommonApp: 8/10
Supplements: 9/10 (Especially the Harvard and Cornell essays)
UC essays: 7/10
MIT: I genuinely have no idea. But I was honest so okay I guess?
Georgia Tech: 7/10</p>
<p>Anyways thanks so much! Harsh comments are always welcome, if not preferred! :D</p>
<p>Hi! I would like to know my chances for Berkeley in EECS (Electrical Engineering Computer Science)
Asian male (Chinese)
Lives in Sacramento
Born in Sacramento</p>
<p>Academic Info:
~Unweighted: ~3.8
~UC Weighted: 4.28
~Number of AP Classes since freshman year: I’ll have 11 by the end of the year. I’ve gotten A’s on all of them so far: AP Chemistry, AP Psych, AP Calc AB, BC, AP Physics, AP USH, AP Econ, AP Gov, AP Statistics, AP English, AP Biology.
~I’m also taking Differential Equations this semester at city college
Test Scores:
AP Scores: 5 Calc AB, 5 AP Psych, 4 Chem, 4 AP us history, 3 AP Physics
SAT: 1900 (bad)
SAT Subject: 700 Math II, 700 Physics
ACT: 32 (about equivalent of 2130, much better) </p>
<p>EC:
~Key Club 4 year
~NHS 4 year
~Chess Club 1 year, founder and president
~CSF 3 years
~Matheletes 1 year secretary </p>
<p>Essays: They were very good. </p>
<p>Again, please throw what you feel my chances are to get into UCLA and UCB! anything! thanks!</p>
<p>Hey everyone.</p>
<p>I’m trying to transfer to Berkeley next term from a community college. I’m transferring in mathematics.</p>
<p>Here’s my details:</p>
<p>Berkeley’s prereqs look like this for me so far:</p>
<p>Calculus I: A
Calculus II: A
Multivariable Calculus: A
Linear Algebra: A
Differential Equations: A</p>
<p>So as you can see, I managed to pulled it off in the math category at the highest level possible on paper.</p>
<p>My overall GPA is 3.84 which is above the 60 percentile of last year’s transfer class.</p>
<p>I’ll be transferring with 72 units</p>
<p>I have two withdrawals in courses completely unrelated to my major and IGETC</p>
<p>I’m a compensated tutor in my college district; tutoring algebra, calculus, diff eq</p>
<p>I’m the first person in my family to go to college</p>
<p>I am IGETC certified</p>
<p>I’ve been on the Dean’s list twice (not that that’s a big deal)</p>
<p>My high school record was an absolute train wreck, 2.6 GPA ranked 400/600 or something like that.</p>
<p>No SAT, ACT, nothing (although it isn’t required if you don’t have them. My friend transferred last year with no tests)</p>
<p>What do you think?</p>
<p>Objective: Regular decision
SAT I (breakdown):
ACT: 29C, E26, M28, R35, 29S
SAT II: 680 US History
Unweighted GPA: 3.6 W GPA:4.21 UC GPA: 4.43
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 48/519
AP (place score in parenthesis): English Language, Microeconomics,US History
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load: Science Research, AP English Literature, AP Physics , AP Gov, AP Calc AB, AP Euro
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Teen board member, on adult board, (both for a program that I do for 5 yrs) teachers aide at sunday school (5yrs), National Honors Society, indoor and outdoor track,baseball umpire, Agsci for 2yrs/ JSA/ young democrats of america
Job/Work Experience: part time and summer time job, tutor/mentor
Volunteer/Community service: teachers aide (500+hrs)/ nature center/ local,state, federal election polling and campaigning
Summer Activities: 3 summers of a outdoor educational program/ job full time now part time
Common app essay: amazing
Essays: eh they could have been better
Teacher Recommendation: AMAZING!
Counselor Rec: AMAZING
Additional Rec: Lovely!
Interview: none
Other: I am an LD student with documentation/ upward trend in grades
Applied for Financial Aid?: NO
Intended Major: Polisci
State (if domestic applicant): CT
School Type: Competitive Public
Ethnicity:
Gender: Female
Income Bracket:
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):LD student</p>
<p>OK honestly, the number of people posting stats here is crazy. The trend in my days of applying to Berkeley was that students with high stats get in over those who don’t, but once you drop below a certain threshold of “high stats,” the going gets much more subjective. </p>
<p>I’m posting here after ages, in hopes this will help somewhat diminish the urge to hope for “chances” replies, as I know it will not fully stop by any stretch of imagination.</p>
<p>As a rough guideline, if you have nearly straight A’s in 2 years worth of around 4+ AP classes every term and a 750+ on ALL sections of all SAT or SAT II tests you’ve taken, you have a fairly good chance if you put some effort into essays and aren’t completely full of BS, and your letters are pretty good. The trouble with high school is that a ton of letters will invariably read the same, because you’re talking thousands of applicants. And there’s a reason I mention this - I find my head spinning just reading all of your posts. You represent a small fraction of what admissions has to deal with. </p>
<p>Your GPA is more important than your SAT’s, but your scores are very important too.</p>
<p>See someone like Conan419? That’s a pretty typical EECS applicant in terms of classes. If your SAT scores were higher by far, you’d have a good shot, but I think those scores can hurt. </p>
<p>A state school like Berkeley tends to sort a lot of stuff out by your scores, but like I said, if you don’t have truly excellent scores, you’ll have to rely on your luck with other stuff on your applications holding out.</p>
<p>@Wronskian: despite your high school record, if you have nearly a 4.0 GPA from community college (a good one, at that) you should have a good shot. </p>
<p>For non-state schools (ThePost, for example) - it depends on the school, but for a school like MIT, your stats are enough to get considered (that’s all MIT really seems to use stats for), and it depends how good of a fit you’re deemed for them; do you exhibit evidence of being good with teamwork, do you plan to proactively advance society using science, do you display immense talent in math/science (all these help, and not all are required). For Caltech, your stats are a bit low, because of your SAT, but your SAT IIs look good. Caltech cares a lot about your stats.</p>
<p>Remember: I’m just a random person throwing out what I’ve heard about these schools. I’m probably more accurate than a lot of people online will be, and that’s not to my credit - rather, it should tell you to take many things with a grain of salt. The key is to apply to a lot of schools, never expect a hypercompetitive private school to accept you (but you can hope), and only if you have immensely high stats can you expect to be nearly guaranteed to get into a school like Berkeley. Even immensely high stats do not even close to guarantee admission to a private school.</p>
<p>Further, my impression is that admission to even a school like Berkeley grows more unpredictable (at least based on basic academic stats) over the years.</p>
<p>By the way, my post was (with <em>good reason</em>) pretty much talking about all of you as if you’re a bunch of words on a screen. </p>
<p>That is, indeed, all the picture I get to see of you actually shows.</p>
<p>In reality, I’m sure regardless of stats, you are wonderful people in your own ways, but my post reflects what you’re asking for when you ask for a “chance”.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Yes, it definitely takes a lot of rejects. 1) It serves CA students, so it is obligated to take many more of them, when other schools can’t. 2) It is bigger than a lot of schools.</p>
<p>The thing is that admission to top ranked undergrad schools is so random that “rejects” can be just as good as admits in every way, if not sometimes significantly better in some ways. For example, I imagine a lot of people see Cornell as a place for rejects from many other Ivy Leagues. I guarantee you a lot of people who go to Cornell are just as successful as their Yale and Harvard peers. They go to top grad schools and law schools, get great jobs, etc. </p>
<p>The problem is that people are too young when applying. They don’t know what they want to do, and a few factors that can involve a high level of randomness (does your parent work as a professor where she/he can get you a research position that you can put on your resume…did so and so top school think you’re the “best fit available” when there are hundreds of other applicants who could have done fine in your shoes) heavily influence whether they get into certain schools.</p>
<p>Honestly, every school (INCLUDING BERKELEY) makes lots of misjudgments and mistakes. Their assumptions about an 18 year old cannot be fully correct. They still have to do something, though, so they do.</p>
<p>In the test of time, usually what someone has to offer will come out in some way or another if he/she repeatedly tries very hard.</p>
<p>Bottom line: if you get into a good school, be very thankful for the spot and use it well. Someone just as good as you probably got denied. It can be easy to feel special for the wrong reasons when you get accepted to colleges. Again, time will correct these misconceptions the hard way if you don’t yourself.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Applying to the wrong college? Like I say, heaps of applicants out there - many more than this crazy thread represents. Of course they’re going to sort by scores to an extent.</p>
<p>Almost every school will sort by scores to an extent. For example, MIT has a reasonably high threshold of wanting 700+ on all SAT type testing (roughly, at least) to consider the applicant qualified.</p>
<p>After which, they’ll look at other evidences of talent (when they can admit IMO gold medalists, a difference between 750 and 700 on the SAT I math doesn’t matter THAT much).</p>
<p>I fully sympathize you are stressed, but you really can’t be serious expecting Berkeley to admit any good international student out there, just because it needs funds; the process still remains very competitive, because lots of international students crush the standardized tests. Given even international olympiad medalists get rejected from schools like MIT, you can bet not every applicant with perfect standardized test scores has a billion options or something.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>A lot of things about Berkeley can’t be beaten (but yes, they can be equaled). It offers such immense variety of top academic resources. The problem is if you’re in an overcrowded major! Then it’s pretty likely another school would be a better place to go to.</p>
<p>One thing I think that’s really important for undergrads is being able to take classes in lots of things at a very high level, balanced with a broad and strong department in your major.<br>
This is when you can build the foundations to stuff you can learn for the rest of your life. The combination of sheer breadth and strength of departments here means lots of experts lecture on amazing subjects. </p>
<p>There are definitely schools that offer better networking opportunities for some professional paths (I bet Harvard is an example here), but you can easily get yourself an Ivy League level education at Berkeley. We have the breadth and depth to do it. </p>
<p>It really depends who you are and what you plan to do. For a lot of people, things that are “better” about some schools are not even relevant.</p>
<p>I’m a senior from Maryland.
Rank: 2/19
SAT: 2180 (710CR/670M/800W)
GPA: 4.0 UW/4.15 W</p>
<p>Very strong EC’s.</p>
<p>Arts and Sciences.</p>
<p>@ThePost1994
“AWARDS (Not that much…)”</p>
<p>Son of a B**** !! Are you kidding me?!!
You seem to have a pretty decent shot for atleast Berkeley, UCLA, Georgiatech and maybe Cornell…
Cant say about the other colleges cos those guys are frikking insane!
All the best! :)</p>
<p>My son, who is a senior, is hoping for Berkeley since his older sister, his father, and his grandfather all graduated. Will it happen? Who knows. But here is what happened to the three Golden Bears–and his mother who did not attend Berkeley. Grandfather: became an attorney and distinguished jurist. Father: Majored in Engineering (so difficult at Berkeley) and became a realtor after a stint in software development. Sister: Attorney with the largest law firm in the world after a graduate degree at Oxford. Mother, who wanted Berkeley: It was the early '70s and my father would not let me attend Berkeley because of the Viet Nam War stuff going on. I attended a small, private university, but always envied everyone “Berkeley” around me. Many years later with a doctorate in hand, landed an appointment at Berkeley. I often say Berkeley is a great place to be FROM. It is a rough place for aspiring faculty, but it set in motion the opportunity for a career in the Academy. I am now a full tenured professor at another private university and very happy I finally “got” Berkeley one way or another. If you don’t get Berkeley right out of the shoot as a freshman and you really want it, do your best at another institution (either community college or four-year), work with UC Admissions so you understand transfer requirements, and then go for it. It’s the very advice I have given my son, the aspiring Golden Bear.</p>
<p>If you are crappy at essay writing, I suggest you get started early. My son’s junior English teacher had him write one of his essays as a final project and he wrote it for one of the UC prompts. Since universities look at everything you submit–particularly the Ivies–work hard on the writing.</p>