The Official Chances Thread!

Colleges & Universities University of California - Berkeley
1601

<p>UC GPA 4.57
Unweighted GPA 3.97
Weighted GPA 4.55</p>

<p>California Resident, Out-Of-State, or International
CA Resident</p>

<p>SAT Reasoning Scores (by section) or ACT scores
–>ACT
33
10 on writing portion</p>

<p>SAT II Scores
790 Math 2
760 Physics</p>

<p>Which college are you applying to? (Letters and Science, Engineering, Chemistry, etc.)
Engineering</p>

<p>List a few of your most important ECs (a laundry list of 20+ items is not needed)</p>

<p>Track and Field
Model UN
Science Club
Lots of volunteering including at local art museum and library, an organization that introduces children to math and science, and in Egypt during Ramadan
(I am half Egyptian and Muslim and go every year to see family, so it wasn’t a one-time thing)
Tutoring…
And more I can’t think of right now.</p>

<p>Accomplishments</p>

<p>I went to the State Meet for Track and Field</p>

<p>I’ve taken the following AP’s
Chemistry
Physics
US History
Calculus BC</p>

<p>And got 4 or 5’s on all of them</p>

<p>I will take this year
Literature
Composition
Statistics
French</p>

<p>I am going into senior year, so any advice on how to make myself a stronger applicant would be much appreciated.
Thank you very much!</p>

<p>PS. As a female, does that increase or decrease my chances in any way by applying to the College of Engineering?</p>

1602

<p>ACT Composite: 34
(highest subscores)
English:34
Math:36
Reading:32
Science:35</p>

<p>SAT Composite: 2240
(highest subscores)
Writing:730
Math:800
Reading:710</p>

<p>Unweighted GPA: 3.98
Don’t know UC GPA
Class rank: 3 of 200 (based on unweighted gpa)
Took AP Chem (4), AP Calc (5), AP Lang and Comp (5), AP Gov. (4)
Senior year will be taking AP Lit, AP Psych, Organic Chemistry(via Youth Options Program in local University), Calc 2(YO Program) and Calculus Physics(YO)</p>

<p>Applying to College of Chemistry at UC Berkeley</p>

<p>I am an Asian American from Wisconsin</p>

<p>EC’s
National History Day Nationals (Interviewed several professors of astronomy to create documentary about the Hubble Space Telescope)
Volunteer at local at local library and farm, 350 hrs (Designed posters for Library. Earned Presidential Gold Service Award)
Tutor in mathematics at middle school (2 years)
Art Club President(Tentative, but probably will be because all seniors in art club become president)
Senate Scholar Program participant(Government Program offered by Wis State Senate)
Forensics(Speech) State Competitor
Visual Arts Classic State 1st place
Pit Orchestra French Horn Player (Part of nationally recognized marching band)
Self Taught Html, CSS, jQuery</p>

1603

<p>Could you guys chance me as well? I’ll be applying for EECS</p>

<p>Asian male
In-State
School doesn’t rank, but I’m fairly sure I’m top 2% in class of 255–competitive public school (Miramonte HS)</p>

<p>Unweighted 10&11: 4.0, 9-11: 3.93
UC Weighted: 4.50
AP Classes: 5 from sophomore to junior year (Physics C, Chem, Calc AB, Calc BC, USH–all 5’s, took both Mech and E&M for physics)
Senior Year: 5 AP’s: Bio, Lit, Comp Gov, CS A, Latin
SAT: 2350 M:800, W: 790, R: 760
SAT II: Math 2: 800, Chem: 800</p>

<p>EC:
Church Worship Leader–6 years, 400+ volunteer hours
Columnist for thewannabescientist.com–2 years
Christian club pres–2 years
Music Maker’s club VP/co-founder–1 year
Kumon Tutor–2 years
Private Tutor–2 years
Piano–5 years
Guitar–3 years
San Francisco Boy’s Chorus (Don’t know if this applies since it was pre-HS)–6 years, performed at 2008 presidential inauguration, toured around Europe.
intl Chem Olympiad regional finalist–2 years
Public Forum Debate–2 years
CSF
Self taught in Javascript
taking multivariable calc unofficially via MITOpenCourseware</p>

<p>//Summer stuffs:
JHU Engineering Innovation–condensed form of “What is engineering”, a freshman course at JHU. Earned college credit with a B.
SCU Summer Engineering Seminar–1 week residential, free and selective (10-15% of applicants selected), overviews subdisciplines of engineering and “gives a taste of college dorm life”.</p>

1604

<p>Hi, I’m a senior at a fairly reputable high school in California that ranks amongst the highest in IB (International Baccalaureate) schools on the west coast. I am full IB diploma canidate. I’m Korean and was born in Korea. I am the first in my family to be going to college. We are not dirt poor, but our financial situation isn’t great. Lower middle class. My extra-curriculars are fairly strong and shows leadership. I do varsity and club swimming and water polo.
I’d like to go to:(in order of preference)

  1. UC Berkley
  2. Johns Hopkins
  3. Georgetown (EA)
  4. UCLA
  5. George Washington University
  6. USC
  7. UC San Diego
  8. UC Davis
  9. American University
  10. University of Pacific</p>

<p>GPA:</p>

<p>Cumulative Unweighted (out of 4 scale): 3.7</p>

<p>Cumulative Weighted (out of 5 scale): 4.4</p>

<p>Class Rank: Our school no longer has class rank. But I know I’m in top 20%</p>

<p>9th grade: MYP English 4(A/B), Algebra 2(B/A), PE(A/A), Honors Chemistry(B/B), Honors MYP World History(A/A), MYP Spanish 1(B/B)</p>

<p>10th grade: MYP English 5(A/A), Pre Calculus(A/A), MYP Drama(A/A), Honors Physics(A/A), MYP Honors US History(A/A), MYP Spanish 2(C/B)</p>

<p>11th grade: IB English 1(B/A), AP Calculus AB(A/A), IB Biology 1(A/A), IB Chemistry 1 (A/A), IB History of America (A/A), IB Spanish 1(A/B), Natural Resource Management Internship (part of schedule on my transcript)</p>

<p>12 grade: IB English 2, IB Math 2, IB Biology 2, IB Global Studies, IB Spanish 1, IB Theory of Knowledge, Natural Resource Management Internship</p>

<p>Testing:</p>

<p>SAT: 1920 (Reading 610 Math 750 Writing 560)
• I will retake in October: Planning on at least 2100 by increasing writing and reading score.</p>

<p>SAT Subject Tests:</p>

<ol>
<li> Math 2: 780</li>
<li> Korean w/ listening: 770</li>
<li> Chemistry: 740</li>
<li> Physics: 650</li>
<li> Biology M: 650 < Will retake in November.</li>
</ol>

<p>ACT: 28 (English 28, Mathematics 28, Reading 23, Science 31 Essay 9)
• Took very under prepared and ran out of time on every section.
• Will retook this September. Estimating for 32 or higher.</p>

<p>AP Testing:
Ap Calculus AB: 5</p>

<p>IB Testing:
IB Chemistry SL: 5</p>

<p>EC:</p>

<p>• High School Water Polo Varsity Team Captain- Varsity my sophomore year, captain my junior year.
• Club Water Polo- 18 under Junior Olympics
• Captain of Varsity/Club Swimming- Top 3 swimmer in my league, swimming since 6 yrs old. Captain of Varsity men’s swim team. Our men’s varsity swim won first in the league in 2014.
• Boy Scout Eagle Scout- got eagle Oct 1, 2013. Will have 3 eagle palms
• Jade Ribbon Club- Creator/president Club for raised awareness about Liver cancer and Hepatitis B virus. Made and organized Benefits concert for the Asian Liver Center, go to schools educating kids and parents about HBV and liver disease.
• Volunteer at Hospital
• Committee Chair of Key Club
• Science Olympiad (7th grade-10th grade)- several medals
• Worked as Lifeguard- 50+ hours during summer of 2014
• Secretary of HOSA club: competition club in health professions</p>

<p>Academic Honors:
• 2nd Place in 2014 KSEA National Mathematics and Science Competition & International Math Competition</p>

<p>I would really appreciated if you could give me a rating of chance of admission. I want to major in biology, so if you know a bit about the school and their biology program please do share about them. Thank you for going through this mess.</p>

1605

<p>@weepingsilently‌ you definitely have a high percentage of getting into UCB. Good luck! </p>

1606

<p>Hello!
So… I have an AIME score of 5. Should I mention the number in my list of honors? Should I say “AIME Qualifier” instead. Or should I just put the regional math awards i got?</p>

1607

<p>@bertramwooster I would suggest you put everything you can for the UC application. More details about your awards/accomplishments can’t hurt. </p>

<p>For more info, you can check out this interview with a UC Berkeley admissions officer: <a href=“http://blog.admissions.berkeley.edu/2014/09/admission-officer-interview-ii-geralyn-yparraguirre/”>http://blog.admissions.berkeley.edu/2014/09/admission-officer-interview-ii-geralyn-yparraguirre/&lt;/a&gt; </p>

1608

<p>I am an OOS applicant, from New York. I am Indian and middle-income.</p>

<p>Grade Point Average: not weighted ~98, weighted 109 (our school doesn’t do 4.0 scale). I am very confused with all this GPA stuff. I will say that I have taken 8 APs in my first three years of high school, plus about 3-4 Honors level classes, and gotten 96+ as an average in all of them. Our school weights an AP course as 1.15 (so if you get a 100 it counts as 115) and a honors course as 1.10 (so if you get a 100 it counts as 110). My weighted GPA is a 109, so very very high, considering that we are forced to take some normal/regents classes which has a 1.025 weighting.</p>

<p>SAT: 2310 super scored, 2270 first time (freshman year - 800 mathematics 750 writing, 720 critical reading)
2240 second time (junior year - 800 mathematics 680 writing, 760 critical reading)</p>

<p>I am not submitting my SAT, unless you think I should.</p>

<p>ACT: 35 (36 math, 36 science, 35 reading, 34 writing, 34 combined (11 essay))</p>

<p>SAT II: Mathematics II: 800, Biology: 790 , US History: 720 (Quite bad), Physics: 800.</p>

<p>Race/ethnicity/background: middle class, Indian (moved from UK), Long Island, New York.</p>

<p>Advanced Placement Classes: I am an incoming senior, so by year:
Freshman - Pre-AP World (1st year), Honors Bio, Algebra 2 and Trig first half of year, switched into Precalculus (normally a 11th grade class at my school), Spanish 2H
Sophomore - AP World, AP Bio, AP Calc, Honors Chem, Spanish 3H
Junior - AP USH, AP Physics B, AP Computer Science, AP English Language, AP Statistics, Spanish 4H
Senior year (PLANNED) - AP Chem, Im trying to get an AP Physics C course created, AP English Lit, AP US Gov’t, AP Spanish, and multivariable calculus (I am trying, once again).</p>

<p>On the 8 APs taken so far, I have gotten 5 on all.</p>

<p>Other courses: 4 years of orchestra, 4 years of science research</p>

<p>Sports: Varsity 4 years X-country (will be a captain next year, most likely), 4 years varsity tennis team (captain junior yr, forecasted senior year, school mvp awards)</p>

<p>Internships: summer (9th-10th), went to India at interned at a tech company (Tech Mahindra), learned Java
summer(10th-11th), went to MSKCC, at did some cancer research (no I have not cured cancer, although if I had I am sure, I wouldn’t be making this thread right now)
summer(11th-12th), intern at SBU Simons program, working again on cancer research
during senior year, I plan to intern at Cold Spring Harbor Labs in a highly selective program</p>

<p>Clubs/memberships:
Mathletes - all four years, do local math league, consistently in top 50 out of ~1000 students. HIghest rank was 5th in sophomore year. Have done AMC 8 (cleared), AMC 12, and AIME, scored well on those. Other math tournaments (highest rank was 2nd). Go to NYSML and ARML. Captain of mathletes team.
Robotics - sophomore, junior, and projected senior year on team, lead programmer, will be an officer this coming year. really love it, even though are team doesn’t do that well.
Spanish Honor Society/National Honor Society
Tolerance Club
Student Civic
Freshman Class Treasurer (did not run for reelection)
Tri-M honor society</p>

<p>Columbia SHP
PSAT 233 (I think finalist level?)</p>

<p>Class rank: school doesn’t rank, but school is small so estimated 1st-3rd</p>

<p>Other Awards: I won the RPI medal this year, a few others, Philosophy Slam 4th place, Long Island Science Congress Honors, some music awards, SUNY Old westbury math program, accpeted to PROMYS (didn’t attend)</p>

<p>Volunteer work: not much, tutoring, hospital volunteer work 10th grade, plan to create a tutoring app like SO sort of that school will use, plan to do some things over summer, volunteered in clinic in India (with my aunt whos a doctor)</p>

<p>Recommendations: Teachers I will ask (one english who writes well, she said I had a great personality) and (other math, who has known me for a very long time). I also plan to ask my science internship PI as an extra.</p>

<p>Essays: will be fine, I can write okay.</p>

<p>Please leave comments about anything I am missing.</p>

1609

<p>@‌lb43823</p>

<p>you don’t need recommendations for the UC’s, and definitely put A LOT of emphasis on the personal statements. I’d recommend submitting both the SAT and ACT because i heard UC’s prefer SAT.</p>

<p>What college are you planning to apply to within Berkeley? because the College of Engineering is harder to get in than the rest of Berkeley, such as L&S. </p>

1610

<p>@dragonnelite‌ </p>

<p>Yeah I know you dont need recommendations. I had copy-pasted from another thread and had forgot to take it out. I was planning to apply to the EECS…so yeah :/</p>

<p>Do you think it’s a match?</p>

<p>See I am east coast, and I want Berkeley to be my if all else fails (REACHES = 8 Ivies, JHU, CMU, Northwestern,MIT,Duke, Stanford, Caltech). I have a safe school (which is completely safe I will have no problem getting in, average SAT is 1830), but I would really not want to go there you know?</p>

<p>But I think I have a shot of getting into at least one of the 15 reaches I have. And no, I will not apply to all of those 15, only 7-8, but I think I might be able to get into Cornell RD, and have done Princeton SCEA. But, let’s say I get admitted to Dartmouth, which doesn’t have stellar engineering, I would want to go to UCB over that, even though Dartmouth is on east coast and closer to home.</p>

<p>But, realistically what chance does an OOS 2270-SAT, 35-ACT, 4.0 GPA kid me have?I think CoE has a 9.7% acceptance rate. Would I have let’s say a good shot though, considering 9.7 is pretty bad…?</p>

<p>Again, I do not know how GPA is calculated. All I know is that my unweighted average is like 98.5/100, which is really really good. My weighted is 109, and keep in mind, it is out of 115, but that is if the kid ONLY takes AP classes, and were forced to take a few regents/honors course which have a 1.025/1.10 respectively. I think true theoretical max is like 110-111.</p>

1611

<p>If you don’t want to go to your safety, then I don’t think it really qualifies as a safety.</p>

<p>I don’t think EECS is a safety for anyone, even if your stats are very strong. The admit rate is very low and seems to be getting lower every year. Who knows how many apps they get this year?</p>

<p>There are several state schools with highly regarded CS programs and higher admit rates than UCB EECS that might be worth adding in place of schools like Dartmouth, JHU, and Northwestern.</p>

1612

<p>@YZamyatin‌
No one WANTS to go to their safety. It is a safety for a reason. Obviously, I would go to my safety over OTHER safety-like schools. Most would be disappointed if rejected from their match and reach schools. And I didn’t say UCB EECS is a safety. I was wondering if it was a match. Do I have a solid chance? Around 30-40% maybe? Because, something to be noted is…according to the UCB website, engineering school has 9.7% acceptance rate. UPenn is 10%. Now, let me make something very clear. It is much harder to get into UPenn than UCB EECS. Why? The applicants to UPenn are overall more qualified. It has a higher SAT/ACT/GPA median (of its admitted class). Since UCB is a state school, basically most of California with 2100+ SAT decides to apply to UCB.</p>

<p>Furthermore, how easy is it to change majors? Could I apply to, let’s say…um another one within the school of engineering and stand a higher chance of acceptance? Thanks~</p>

<p>And can you name some schools with good engineering (state schools) that have high admit rates? I think UMichigan Ann Arbor is pretty well respected, no? Any others? Perhaps, any state schools in the tristate + Pennsylvania area that are good? </p>

<p>My safety was Stony Brook University, by the way.</p>

1613

<p>Hey lb!</p>

<p>Not to start an argument, but there are many kids out there who have found safeties where they would be happy to attend… especially STEM kids, as there are so many great programs out there that don’t come with high prestige status and single digit admit rates.</p>

<p>Wisconsin is higher rated than Harvard in undergrad CS!!! So are Illinois, Texas, Washington, Maryland, GeorgiaT, UCLA, UCSD, and Michigan.</p>

<p>Seriously, there is a whole universe of schools in between Stoney Brook and UCB in CS, but not if you are looking for bumper sticker props over actual program quality.</p>

<p>To answer your question, I would be surprised if you are only accepted at a safety school… your profile looks great! But you described UCB as your “if all else fails” school, and whether you define “if all else fails” as a match or a safety is really just semantics. Typically people do not define their “last resort” school as a match. You need something else… -just in case-, and the schools mentions above are just a small sample.</p>

<p>Best of luck to you!</p>

<p>PS I grew up on LI so I understand the resistance to Stony Brook. They have come a long way and are still moving forward rapidly in reputation, but if you don’t want to attend just drop it. You will get merit to make costs equivalent at other state and private schools with equivalent program quality. You need to dig deeper than the USNWR list, and find another safety if you resent SUNY so much.</p>

1614

<p>On a seperate note, I actually think UCB EECS is harder to get into than U Penn, especially ED U Penn. My prediction is UCB EECS will see a record breaking number of apps this year, and U Penn won’t. </p>

1615

<p>Sorry, I tried to add this to my last post and just couldn’t get the edit box to open on my screen.</p>

<p>I’m curious what makes you so absolutely certain that the applicant pool to Penn is better than that of UCB EECS. Frankly I would be very surprised if what you claimed is true… higher median SAT/ACT/GPA of admitted class when comparing U Penn to UCB EECS.</p>

1616

<p>@YZamyatin‌
Good sir, you make some very good points. I am going to take all of them into very good consideration…
Right now I have applied to Princeton SCEA, so based on its results, I will make my decisions during regular based on whether I am accepted or deferred/rejected.</p>

<p>As to that, I cannot testify for UCB EECS as those stats are not released. However, as UCB as a whole compared to UPenn, there is a very glaring and significant difference. See the UCB student profile vs UPenn student profile for comparison.</p>

<p>However, a point I really want to stress is that of ADMISSION RATE. 9.7% at UCB == 9.7% at UPenn! Overall, the average UCB applicant is less qualified and that is an indisputable fact. You have literally almost every kid in California trying to get in. UCB is a GREAT school, and furthermore its only 10k a year for Californians! If I lived in California, I would turn down Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Cornell, any east coast school, even MIT, for UC-Berkeley. Because it is THAT good for Californians. Best value for money school in entire country, no doubt, esp for Californians. Thus, you have a LOT more people applying to UCB as a reach school that simply can’t get in, because why not? Take the chance! </p>

<p><a href=“Student Profile - Office of Undergraduate Admissions”>http://admissions.berkeley.edu/studentprofile&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>According to this, the average SAT of a Californian resident that APPLIES (not accpeted average) is 1837. 1837!! That, my friend, is pretty UnBerkeley-like if you ask me. It just goes to show…a lot of less qualified applicants apply. Thus the 9.7% at UCB cannot be the same as the 9.7% at UPenn. Just more people can afford/take their chances with UCB than do with UPenn…</p>

1617

<p>Not sure UCB school-wide stats have anything to do either the discussion or your chances as the whole point is that EECS, supposed by me, is much more selective than the school as a whole. I suspect it is at least as selective as Penn, but mostly my point is that your assertion that “it is much harder to get into U Penn than UCB EECS” is almost certainly incorrect. </p>

<p>As you say, the matter cannot be settled due to lack of data, but as an applicant I would be very careful looking at school-wide stats in assessing selectivity of programs within large schools that accept direct admits. </p>

1618

<p>Hey Ib43823, I did Princeton SCEA too!! Best of luck.</p>

<p>Basic Info:Indian, parents are from India (the usual)</p>

<p>I didnt calculate my UC GPA
4.0 Unweighted (All A’s 4eva)
Rank 12/Just under 1000 </p>

<p>Test Scores:
December 2013 SAT: 2350 (750 CR 800 M 800 W) thats the only SAT ive taken
World Hist Subject Test- 760
Math II/Chemistry- 800
8 AP Exams, all 5’s: World Hist, Compsci A, Spanish Lang, Chem, English Lang, Statistics, Calc BC, US Hist</p>

<p>Senior Year Classes: AP Spanish Literature and Culture, Speech/AP Psych, AP Art Hist, AP English Lit and Comp, AP Gov/Eco, AP Bio, AP Physics II </p>

<p>Honors:
Chem Olympiad Top 158 National Finalist (this past school year)
Science Olympiad 4th place national medal in Chem Lab event (various other medals at invitational, regional and state levels)
Eagle Scout
National Spanish Exam Gold Medal 3 yrs in a row
National Merit Semifinalist
Gold ratings for local solo/ensemble contests
Silver ratings for solo at state solo/ensemble contests</p>

<p>Main Activities:
Boy Scouts (Leadership position as Patrol Leader and Troop guide)-Done lots of service through this, either as campground restorations, Eagle Scouts projects, etc.
Science Olympiad (Lab event leader since 9th gr, Team Captain this yr)
Orchestra (since 6th grade, Varsity Symphony Orch since 10th gr)
School-based volunteer club all 4 years
National Honor Society
Mu Alpha Theta</p>

<p>Summer Stuff:
Welch Summer Scholar Program (Texas-based research program)
Concert master of a small city-wide Indian orchestra that performed music of R. Tagore at ceremonies and stuff
Shadowed 3 specialists at a clinic last summer for a week.</p>

<p>Applying for College of Chemistry (Chemical Engineering).</p>

<p>I’m really really worried bout getting in because I heard that Berkeley really compares you to your schoolmates based on GPA and class rank and I know that our rank 1, 2, 5, and 8 are all applying. I have better ECs and Honors than all but probably rank 2 and I have highest first-time SAT score out of all of them, but rank 1 and 5 retook and got 2370s.</p>

1619

<p>Applying EECS
4.31 UC GPA ( lower than expect because I have more a-g courses in 10-11 than usual, but they are college level)
UW GPA: 4.0 Rank 1 (about 20 others, school ranks UW)
4 APs: AB, BC, eur. hist, APCS all 5
took college level bio and discrete math courses at community college over summer (A’s)
Currently taking 5 APs + 1 college CS class
ACT 35/SAT 2320
Math 2: 800 Physics: 800</p>

<p>Honors:
several sports honors (swimming, water polo) AP scholar, NHS, no major awards though</p>

<p>Main Activities:
4 years of swimming/polo, team captain, varsity letters, several school level awards
started a community organization to teach music to children
also started a volunteering program to interest children in math, specifically contest math
founder of school’s CS club
a lot of school tutoring, i coordinate this
besides the above, a lot of volunteering through school clubs
work experience tutoring math (paid) and internship at a tech company (summer)
aformented college classes (summer)
website design classes at community center (summer)
volunteer at food bank (summer)
offseason conditioning (summer)
play at a somewhat high level in a private orchestra for 4 years, not amazingly good though
designed and maintain two websites for my organizations</p>

1620

<p>Notsmokeythebear - i would say really good chances. nice 7 senior classes - that makes me jealous because I can only take 5 right now at school</p>