What are my chances at UC Berkeley, UCLA, and Others?

Chance Me / Match Me
1

Hello, I just wanted some input from you guys. I’m going into my senior year, class of 2016. I live in Alabama. My dad lives in California. This is one of the main reasons why I’m looking there. Due to his California residence status, I can receive in-state tuition, but still have to be accepted as an out-of-state applicant. My parents immigrated from Ukraine in 1996, as Jewish refugees. I grew up speaking Russian at home and English in school. I am fluent in Russian. All my non-AP classes are honors(weighted). I intend to apply for Mechanical Engineering. I am a white male

Stats:
ACT: 33 (Superscore: 34)
SAT: N/A
SAT II
US History; 750
Chem: 730
Math: 730
AP
APUSH: 5, I got a 101% for my class grade
Chem: 4
Human Geo: 5
Psych: 4
GPA: 4.0 (Unweighted), 4.49 (Weighted)
Class Rank: 18/438, top 5%

EC:
Varsity Track all years (Discus and Shot put)
Volunteer at Humane Society
6 week Internship at NASA Marshall Space and Flight Center (240 hours)
We The People team, my school is nationally recognized as elite in this competition
NHS
Mu Alpha Theta
Rho Kappa
Worked at Movie Theater
Student Engineering program at KBR
Played Violin for 5 years, Guitar for 3
Online Computer science program
Chess, Computer, and Science Clubs
Huge Liverpool fan, YNWA

Total Volunteering Hours: 300

Only leadership is Varsity Track

Senior Classes:
AP English
AP Physics 1
AP Gov.
AP Micro
AP Calc AB
We The People
Photography
Track

Essays:
Topic on accomplishment: My NASA internship and how it has changed me and my future interests, experience in the field related to my intended major
Topic on background: My Soviet Jewish heritage, the American dream through my family giving up everything to immigrate and give me an American future

  • My English teacher will help me write them

Recs:
I will get recommendations from my NASA boss, APUSH and WTP sponsor, AP Chem teacher, and track coach

I will apply to all UC campuses, Vanderbilt, Georgia Tech, Rice, Purdue, North Western, and other Common App schools

Please feel free to request more information if need

Any input will be greatly appreciated

Thanks

2

What’s your UC GPA? Intended major? Can you afford the UCs?

3

I guess you missed it, my intended major is Mechanical Engineering.

UC GPA around 4.35, I can afford in-state at UC

4

You are a competitive applicant and have a good chance for all the UC’s.

5

Thanks for the response, I certainly hope so :slight_smile:

6

Since Berkeley Engineering’s acceptance rate is only 9.7% and you are applying out of state, I’d say that one is a reach. UCLA Engineering’s acceptance rate is 13.1%, so not a whole lot better. Also, your SAT II math score is lower than the median for UCLA (790) and I would assume Berkeley as well. So I hate to say it but I think both UCLA and UCB are definite reaches for you even though you are a very strong applicant and it is clear that you are hard working and highly driven. I wouldn’t count on either of them, you might have better success with common app schools and mid tier/lower tier UC’s. Good luck!

7

Thank you for your response. I appreciate you giving me a constructive opinion. I’m probably going to retake Math II. What do you think of my chances at the other schools I listed?

8

Georgia Tech and Purdue I’d say are your safeties, while Northwestern, Vanderbilt, and Rice are your matches/possibly low reaches. I truly think you have a great shot at all three of them though. I’d recommend that you check out Carnegie Mellon and Cal Poly SLO, both have great engineering programs and I bet you could get into both fairly easily. That NASA internship will probably be your trump card so definitely emphasize that!

9

Thanks JPhilly99, I’m applying to Carnegie Mellon, they fall into my category of other common app schools. Thank you for the advice, I will definitely stress NASA in my essays.

10

Your math SAT is in the low end for Engineering at Carnegie Mellon. Check CMU’s average SAT’s for Engineering in their admissions statistics webpage.

11

I think it should be a low reach for UCLA/UCB. Applying as an OOS student actually gives you an advantage because the UC system wants money, lol. You should be a match for the other UCs, IMO.