UC Berkeley, UCLA, USC? Chances?

Chance Me / Match Me
1

Hello cc users,

Right now I want to do a “check-up” on myself with my grades, extracurriculars, and goals for college. I’m looking and aiming for top colleges like UC Berkeley, USC, and UCLA. Looking for advice from people who feel their knowledge would be helpful in this thread. I’m also looking for opinions to what I could better improve in myself as well, along with the perspectives and views of others. All positive and constructive comments are welcome :slight_smile:

Information about myself :

  • high school class of 2020
  • looking at and aiming for colleges like UC Berkeley, USC, UCLA
  • transferred mid-year from an AP school to an IB school for the IB Program
  • California resident
  • Filipino
  • female

School Information :
+IB school, however about 3 AP courses are offered

  • over half of school population is low-income
    *I do not come from a low-income family

Academics :

  • current GPA (from freshman year) : 4.125
    *my school has semesters so I am unable to provide my current term and most currently updated GPA
  • all accelerated classes : Art Honors, English 10 Honors, AP Physics 1, Math 3, Honors World History
  • world language : Japanese, currently in Japanese 2
  • plan to earn straight A’s this year in both semesters
  • currently in the top 20% of class

Extracurriculars :

  • Taekwondo
    • plan to compete competitively again, as I have not competed for 2 years
    • will be a 1st degree black belt soon
    • possibility : student teacher as well?
  • Filipino Culture Club (position : secretary)
    • club started this year at my school, I’m a founder of the club
    • I handle a lot of the relations for club- meeting and connecting with other Filipino schools in the district
    • in the future I also plan to connect my club with local, established Filipino organizations as well
  • art ; specifically and mostly based in fine art, freelance
    • plan to compete competitively this year and future years in art competitions
  • Key Club
    • plan to earn graduation cord
  • UNICEF
    • plan to earn graduation cord
  • NHS
    • continuation of membership in this club is uncertain due to scheduling conflicts and member criteria ( ex. honor point system, my school’s NHS requires 30 honor points per semester)

Future Plans and Goals:

  • Academics
    • Full IB
    • Straight A’s (unsure about full IB and straight A’s due to curriculum rigor, but I will do my best!)
    • aiming for top 10% of graduating class
  • Extracurriculars
    • Taekwondo
      • 2nd degree blackbelt in Taekwondo by the end of high school
      • hopefully will be able to compete more competitively
      • possibility : be ranked on the state level by the end of high school?
  • Filipino Culture Club
    + elected president for the next two years
  • 130-150 hours of community service by the end of high school
  • possibility of joining the Academic Decathalon team at my school next year
  • possibility of becoming involved in social activism and organizations

Disclaimer : Activities I do are for my personal enjoyment, not just for college.

Personal Concern : I am scared I have/will have too many extracurriculars to handle. I want to have a good amount, yet not too much to draw the focus from my academics.

Thank you for reading! What are my chances? Any areas of improvement? Like I have mentioned, all positive and constructive comments are welcome. :slight_smile:

2

points under categories may be confusing since the website didn’t format the information like I wanted to, I apologize :-S

3

Wow. That’s a lot. A black belt in teakwondo and all accelerated classes. I wish I could have had the chance to take accelerated classes. It would have been very beneficial. Unicef, nhs, social involvement… wow too. Generally speaking a black belt in martial arts is a good sign. I don’t precisely know the reason, but there seems to be a correlation between this and general being put together. Keep it up :slight_smile: You seem to have realistic judgement as well, so… no worries. But remember, getting to the very top of the top schools, the most competitive ones, especially the ones where they judge you not by test scores (which you can work for), is always a bit of a lottery, so don’t… be very upset if you won’t make it. The perspectives are very similar if not the same if you go to a little bit lower ranked but skill awsome school and keep on being good at what your doing and keep up with the active attitude.

4

what about sat or act??

5

If you are in 10th grade, too early to tell.