Can I get into UC Berkeley with a 590 CR for SAT?

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

<p>My SAT scores are quite low
1st sitting: 1860 ( cr:570 m:720 w:570 essay:8)
2nd sitting: 2060 ( cr:590 m: 770 w:700 essay:9)
SAT 2: will take it in November</p>

<p>but my Ecs are pretty ok.........I guess?
-National champion of the Trilingual speech competition
-Placed third in 2 other national competitions
-won numerous best speaker awards in state level English and Chinese debates
-Chief organiser of the First chinese speech competition in my current school
-Founder and President of 2 clubs ( entrepreneurs' club and chinese debate club)
-school prefect
-President of school's choir since grade 8
-best student award
-best academic performance award
-instruments: piano (grade 8), violin (5) and alto-saxophone
-performed piano duets in a few major school events
-Amcee for various events
-Volunteered in charity talks and youth leadership camps
-Community service director of interact club
-raised funds in school
-can't take part in sports due to severe eczema
and blah blah blah
SO, CAN I GET INTO BERKELEY WITH SUCH LOW SAT SCORES? ESPECIALLY MY PATHETIC CR SCORES!!!
Btw, I studied in a Chinese Independent High school from grade 7 -11, and spoke Mandarin 24/7......should I tell them this? Will it make a slight difference?
I am female, from Malaysia.</p>

2

<p>Your second sitting showed a lot of improvement in terms of math and writing, and people like to see improvement. About your CR, though; my math scores were very similar.
And I think your ECs look friggin awesome :D</p>

3

<p>Yeah I agree with lemoncat. It doesn’t just depend on all that though. I think they look at your personality/character the most in your essay. They can tell if your arrogant or if you truly want to help people/are a nice person. Most people at Berkeley are generally good-natured people (from what I’ve noticed) and I think that comes out in the essay.</p>

4

<p>They’ll probably figure out the fact that you were in a Chinese high school.</p>

<p>However, I suggest you take the SAT a third time just to see how it goes. Also, consider taking the ACT too. Cal will take the “best” of the two scores using their scale.</p>

5

<p>I’m not sure how “can’t take part in sports due to…” is considered an EC, lol. I’d try to tak the 1’s again and see how that goes. A lot also depends on your major, btw.</p>