Berkeley chances for friend

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Berkeley
1

Doing this for a friend who is applying for UC Berkeley this year. She is international student who can pay full tuition.

Country of education: Canada (Gr 9-12)
US Legal status: perm. resident (would she be considered International or Out of State when applying??)

GPA: 91/100 (grade 10-11) (We were told for Stanford this is 4.0 GPA)
Class size: 700+
Rank: Top 11%

SAT Scores:
SAT 1: 2160 Composite (710Math/730CR/720WR(10 Essay))
IB Scores: 6 Physics/6 Math SL/Taking 1 HL/1 SL exam May 2016

Extracurriculars:
Volunteer at Leisure Center (day camp leader), old-age homes, homeless shelters, zoo (100+ hours/ grades 10-12)
Model UN member/volunteer staff&coordinator (grades 11-12)
Youth Advisory Council member Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation (grades 11-12)
Founder/exec of charity non-profit for regional charity (raised more than $8000) (grades 10-12)
Yearbook designer (grades 11-12)
Poetry club cofounder (grades 11-12)

Awards:
Winner national/citywide category art contest (1 of 10 chosen from more than 450 entries);
3rd place in painting category in citywide art contest;
Verbal commendation (3rd place) citywide model UN conference (1 of 3 in conference of 50+ people);
Top 25% national contestants math contest (twice);
2nd place in citywide speech contest

My friend is not feeling good about her stats, but would like some realistic input from others. Thanks for any help!

2

The extracurriculars are stellar, congrats to your friend on so many accomplishments. The only problem is that they don’t seem to fit a consistent theme and most are only 11/12th grade (ideally they would be starting freshman year). While I think the extracurriculars would be more than enough to impress Berkeley, the UCs generally focus on stats (sat/gpa). Assuming the 4.0 GPA is weighted, it would be decently below Berkeley’s average (4.4), and the SAT score will put her in the running, but not stand out. As an in-state student, I think she would make it, but the standards are incredibly high for international students. There’s no harm in trying, and I hope your friend makes it :slight_smile:

3

Can she afford the fees? Berkeley fees are $55K for students who are not residents of California. Her permanent residency status doesn’t apply to her tuition and fees if she doesn’t reside in California.

Her SATs are not high enough for Berkeley.

4

So she isn’t an actual IB diploma candidate? Where are the rest of the classes? If she has a Green Card and lives in the USA she might well be considered domestic for admission and in state for her state, but only if she and her family live in cali now. She would know that if she lived in Cali though. Does she know here green card will actually work? When did she last enter the USA?