Because the Official Thread is more dead than planking

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Berkeley
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<p>I am begging for a chance. BEGGING.
Entering my senior year at a private Catholic School in San Diego, CCHS. I've always had my eyes on the UCs, even though my parents expect me to attend Caltech, Stanford, MIT, Harvey Mudd, etc. (my dad is 50% asian, he's very driving). I believe the UCs are more realistic. Thanks for your time!</p>

<p>LOCATION: San Diego, California
ETHNICITY: Eurasian mutt... White, basically.
MAJOR: One of the following: Chem E., Biochem, some other Engineering</p>

<p>GPA
UW: 3.96
W: 4.45</p>

<p>SAT I Reasoning: 2080 (ugh). 690R, 720M, 670W
SAT IIs: Math II - 770, Chemistry 800
ACT: 34 Composite; 36 science, 33 math</p>

<p>Classes, omitting normals
Freshman:
No 5 point classes offered; notable classes are
Advanced English
Geometry(A)</p>

<p>Soph:
English 2Honors
Algebra 2/Trig Honors
AP European (received a 3)</p>

<p>Junior:
AP Chem (received a 5)
AP Enviro (received a 5)
Pre-Calc H</p>

<p>Senior Year planned schedule is as follows, omitting normals:
AP Gov
AP Econ
AP Phys B
AP Calc BC</p>

<p>ECs are mediocre
-Piano for 10+ years, Sax for 7 years, Tai Kwon Do 7 years
-Science and Engineering Club, 9th-12th grade
-USD Chemistry Olympiad Participant
-JETS 2011 team participant
-2011 Summer Internship at Fitch Even Tabin & Flannery Law Firm. I'm typing this from my desk atm, probably should get back to work soon.
-NHS, CSF, 50+ hours of official tutoring
-I can think of less important things :/</p>

<p>"Awards"
-Certificate of Merit up to level 6
-Bausch and Lomb Science Award (11th grade)
-Honors awards miscellanea</p>

<p>Let me know if you need more info!
Thanks for your time</p>

2

<p>you should get into berkeley…just definitely don’t send your SAT score</p>

3

<p>Intended major?</p>

<p>Certain engineering majors, such as Bioengineering, Undeclared, and EECS have a reputation of being significantly harder to get into than other engineering majors or other colleges (Letters and Science, Chemistry, Natural Resources, Environmental Design) at Berkeley.</p>

4

<p>^Wow, thanks so much for the quick replies.</p>

<p>I was hoping for Chemical Engineering, if not, something closely related that will set me up for a grad degree.</p>

<p>Planning on taking the SAT again, I believe the March one was cursed. Purely going in to benchmark my own knowledge, as I have the ACT to fall back on. Assuming I do better, at what score would it be safe to send in this new SAT as well?</p>

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<p>With a 800 SATII chemistry and 5 on AP chemistry it looks like you are set. Try and get your SAT to 2200+ and with a 4.45 gpa youre in</p>

6

<p>You’ll get into ChemE no problem. Your ACT and GPA are definitely sufficient.</p>

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<p>However, your extracurriculars are, as self-described, mediocre.</p>

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<p>They may be mediocre, but all Berkeley really cares about for people with good stats is that you’ve done SOMETHING. It’s the people with bad stats that need ECs to make up for them. This is not Stanford.</p>

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<p>You guys are just the bees knees. I’ll definitely talk to my councilor about what other ECs I can look to.</p>

<p>I’ll pester you with just one last question; Berkeley’s common data states that 3 years of foreign language are recommended. I’ve only taken two. Will this affect my eligibility, considering I’m going for an engineering major?</p>

10

<p>You’re stats tell me to tell you that you’ll get in no problem. You’ll get in no problem. </p>

<p>On the other hand, I have a friend who had way higher marks than you such as 2300 SAT, 4.0 uw GPA, valedictorian, and was rejected from the engineering school. No I’m not kidding but his ECs were similar to yours as in they were lacking majorly. All he had was Band and 2 club positions at school. Not enough.</p>

<p>Yours are much better than his but I felt like I need to warn you about the engineering school. </p>

<p>I think you’ll get in though. Good luck.</p>

11

<p>However, Chemical Engineering is housed in the College of Chemistry.</p>

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<p>^ Which is a good thing as far as chance of admission goes, unless you’re looking to transfer into another engineering major.</p>

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<p>you’ll most likely get in ^^</p>

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<p>

</p>

<p>[University</a> of California - “A-G” courses](<a href=“http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/freshman/requirements/a-g-requirements/index.html]University”>http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/freshman/requirements/a-g-requirements/index.html)</p>

<p>says “Two years (three years recommended) of the same language other than English” for admissions purposes.</p>

<p>However, some colleges (including Letters and Science and Haas) have a foreign language graduation requirement that would be satisfied by three years (not two) of high school foreign language. This may be relevant if you change majors or do simultaneous degrees with a major in one of these colleges.</p>

<p>Also note that the level of foreign language taken is what counts for UC purposes. So if your two years were (for example) Spanish II and Spanish III (because you took Spanish in junior high school, or have heritage knowledge of the language), those count as “three years”.</p>

<p>You can look up your high school’s courses in relation to UC admissions requirements here (private high schools including Cathedral Catholic High School are included):</p>

<p><a href=“A-G Policy Resource Guide”>A-G Policy Resource Guide;

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<p>Eh. Thanks for that information. Not entirely sure whether I’m covered for Chem E., as I’ve taken only Spanish 1 and 2. Are 3 years required to ENTER some colleges, or required simply before you’ve graduated from them?
I don’t read goodly.</p>