UC Berkeley Engineering or Business

Chance Me / Match Me
1

<p>I am currently a high school junior attending Stuyvesant High School (a very competitive and high-ranked public school) in New York, and I am planning on applying to UC Berkeley. I want to major in finance or CS, but I am not sure of my chances of acceptance into either the College of Engineering or Haas. Here are my stats.</p>

<p>Academics
• SAT (November 2011): 2320 (760 Reading 760 Math 800 Writing)
• PSAT: 224
• SAT II World History: 800
• SAT II Math II: 800
• GPA: 94.2 (un-weighted) Roughly 3.8-3.9 out of 4. My school doesn’t give class ranks, but I can safely say that I am among the top 10% of ~800 students in my year.</p>

<p>Education
• Physics Research Course
• Honors Pre-calculus (as well as Geometry and Trigonometry in years previous)
• Honors Chemistry
• AP Physics B (5 on Exam)
• AP World History (5 on Exam)
• AP Statistics (most likely a 5)
• AP US History (most likely a 5)
• AP English Language (most likely a 5)
• AP US Government (Senior Year)
• AP Comparative Government (Senior Year)
• AP English Literature (Senior Year)
• AP Computer Science (Senior Year)
• AP Calculus AB (Senior Year) (Will be taking the BC exam, however)</p>

<p>Extracurricular Activities
• 3 years Physics Research (Research Team Leader)
• 3 years Speech and Debate Team
• 2 years ARISTA (National Honor Society)
• 1 year Mayor’s Youth Leadership Council (internship at NYC mayor’s office)
• 2 years <a href=“http://www.MidnightSwan.com%5B/url%5D”>www.MidnightSwan.com</a> (Founder and Chief Designer of website designed and developed to serve as a social networking tool for schools and students.)
• 1 year Teen Advisory Committee (Advisory council to the Charles B. Wang Community Health Center)
• 2 years Community Jazz Band (Saxophone player)
• 3 years Stuyvesant High School Symphonic Band (Saxophone player)
• President of PQRS (a weekly publication at Stuyvesant High School)
• President of The Society of Independent Filmmakers (competitive filmmaking group)
• Chairperson of the SUVH (Student Union Video Homeroom, the video news department of Stuyvesant’s Student Union) and IT departments of the Student Union
• Producer at Domination Studios (filmmaking group that makes commercial film/video productions for profit)</p>

<p>Awards:
• Semifinalist at Columbia Invitational National Speech Tournament
• Brooklyn Friends of Clearwater Award (Physics Research)
• National Society of Professional Engineers Award (Physics Research)
• Toshiba ExploraVision Honorable Mention (Physics Research)
• 2nd Place Film in Stop Piracy in NYC Advertisement Competition</p>

<p>Language Skills
• Fluent in both English and Mandarin
• Intermediate mastery of Spanish</p>

<p>I have taken all the honors courses that have been available to me, and am engaged in a variety of ECs. I don’t know if this is enough however, especially for an out-of-state student. Please give me an honest analysis based on my current standing, and if you have any recommendations for me, I would very much appreciate them. Thank you.</p>

2

<p>You are a very strong student and have a good chance in my opinion.
When applying to Berkeley, you do have to indicate your intended major, although “undeclared” is an option. “Engineering - Undeclared” and “Undeclared - Pre-Business” are two options you can consider. If you want Haas business, you’ll have to apply to Haas directly in your sophomore year after completing a host of prerequisites. Haas is only a two-year upper division program. </p>

<p>A word of advice: if you have any desire to study engineering/ computer science, IMO, it is easier to do that as an undergrad. You can always serve your business interests by taking electives and getting an MBA later on after your BS in engineering/ computer science. It’s much harder to major in business and then go back to school for the technical/engineering aspect.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

<p>EDIT: Computer science is not as impacted at Berkeley and designating it may be easier to gain admission vs. the undeclared options.</p>

3

<p>Thanks for the advice. I really appreciate you taking your time to write a full paragraph detailing all the steps I should take and all the pitfalls I should avoid. Thank you, I shall take your words into deep consideration.</p>

4

<p>Bump bump bump</p>

5

<p>bumpity bump bump</p>

6

<p>Bump bump bump</p>