<p>I completely blew off sophomore year and it shows in some of my grades and scores. My worst grades, a c in french 2 and an f in chem, hopefully wont look as bad after acing french 3 and getting a solid b in chem, then getting 93 on the exams. I go to the top ranked public hs in the northeast.</p>
<p>Freshman year: 3.4
Algebra: b
World History(year 1): b
Biology:b
French:a
English:a</p>
<p>Sophomore Year : 2.8 (F in chemistry , but I repeated junior year so it wont be counted in my GPA calculation)
Chemistry: f (I didn't have enough lab credits to sit for the exam.)
French 2: c
Geometry: b
AP World History(year2):b
AP English: a</p>
<p>Junior Year: 4.2
Chemistry: b
French 3: a
Algebra 2/Trigonometry: a
AP US History: a
IB English(year1):a</p>
<p>UW 3.2 UC 3.89</p>
<p>Senior Year Courseload:
AP Calculus
AP Statistics
Physics
IB English
Economics/Government(half a credit of each).</p>
<p>I've been volunteering with the black leadership commission on aids since freshman year.
3 Years of Rugby/Chess
I was chess captain every year.</p>
<p>New York State Regents Grades:
100 on US history
95 on World History
94 On English
93 On Chemistry
93 On French Level 3
90 On Algebra 2/ Trigonometry</p>
<p>There are more I can't remember.</p>
<p>AP Grades 5 on AP US
2 on AP English
1 on AP World</p>
<p>730 M/720 W/600Reading 1860 Composite</p>
<p>Ive overcome a lot of hardship, I come from a single parent household and my mother has MS. I'm also URM (AA). I'm going to write about having to take care of my cousin's 4 young children when she lost custody my sophomore year in the personal statement, so hopefully the dip in performance won't look as bad.</p>
<p>UCs are not generous with financial aid to out of state students. Try putting “net price calculator” or “financial aid estimator” in their web site search boxes. If there is no realistic chance of sufficient non-loan aid to be affordable, then it is not worth applying.</p>
<p>Also, your intended major (or division, like Letters and Science versus Engineering) makes a difference in admissions selectivity at UCs.</p>
<p>Stanford is generous with the financial aid, but the relatively low GPA will make your chance of admission even more unlikely than it would be if you had “near maximum” academic stats (it is a reach even with “near maximum” academic stats).</p>
<p>The EECS major at Berkeley is generally considered one of the most selective majors at Berkeley. Do not get your hopes up too high – most successful applicants have UC GPA > 4.2 and 700+ on each SAT section. On the other hand, UCSC may be a more realistic chance with your stats.</p>
<p>You sound like you have an interesting story and some good achievement. That said, you’re aiming too high. Stanford has too many strong AA candidates to accept someone with your stats and the UCs don’t consider race.</p>
<p>You would be best off considering private schools likely to be interested in AA kids with your stats. I’d look at Occidental, Vassar, Trinity, Colgate, Bates, St. Olaf, Carleton.</p>
<p>I have a 700 on every section of the SAT, including a 730 on math. My SAT is far above average for every UC campus. A 2150 is 98 percentile nationally. I know I don’t have the best gpa, but my junior year is really good. I know that has to count for something. I know not everyone that gets in has perfect grades. I have everything going for me (standardized test scores, extra cirriculars, URM, upward trend, overcoming adversity, I have a job, I have 3 different leadership positions at school) except perfect grades every year. I took studio in art. I got a b in that so my UC gpa is a 3.8. You’re saying a 3.8 with a 2150 isn’t competitive at any UC besides UCSC, UCR, and UC Merced? I would be at like the 70th SAT percentile even for Cal. I would be one of the highest SAT scores at Santa Cruz. I thought standardized test scores were the most important thing in college admission? Were they totally ********ting me when I visited UCSB and Cal?</p>
<p>Why would there be a problem with my derivation of california residency from my father? This is a quote from Berkeley’s website:</p>
<p>“If you want to derive California resident status from a California resident parent, you must move to California to live with that parent before your 18th birthday and establish the requisite intent and remain in California until school begins. Otherwise, you will be treated like any other adult coming to California to establish your legal residence.”</p>
<p>I graduate on June 21st. I turn 18 on July 20. I’m moving to california on June 22nd. I plan on immediately registering to vote and obtaining a California driver’s license.</p>
<p>I can’t edit my first post for some reason but here are some more of my ECs:</p>
<p>Founded political awareness club senior year
Worked at Delta Sonic Car Wash senior year
Participated in Babel series junior and senior year, leadership position senior year.</p>
<p>UCSB is my target school, UCSC is a safety. The rest I know are reaches. Oh and I know Stanford considers senior year. I have a 4.0 UW for this year.</p>
<p>I can’t edit my post for some reason, that I made in another section a while ago and copy pasted to here. My unweighted gpa is a 3.2. My uc gpa is a 3.8. My SAT score:</p>
<p>Your SAT is higher, but your GPA is lower than the typical admitted student at Berkeley, Los Angeles, and Santa Barbara. Also note that Berkeley’s EECS major is significantly more selective than the overall average, and it would not be surprising if something similar were true at other campuses. Berkeley also appears to favor high school GPA more heavily than SAT scores.</p>
<p>Based on [University</a> of California: StatFinder](<a href=“http://statfinder.ucop.edu%5DUniversity”>http://statfinder.ucop.edu) , for 2008-2009, applicants to engineering with UC GPA 3.80 to 3.99 and SAT-R scores over 2100 had the following rates of admission:</p>
<p>Berkeley: 17.6%
Los Angeles: 27.3%
Santa Barbara: 89.5% (SAT-R > 1800)
Santa Cruz: 95.6% (all SAT-R ranges)</p>
<p>However, this is for 2008-2009, the latest year in UC StatFinder. Admissions selectivity may have gone up since then, and EE may have a different level of selectivity compared to engineering in general.</p>
<p>Note: UC does not consider current rank in class.</p>
<p>Thanks guys. My school does not rank. Not to nitpick or anything, but wouldn’t an admit rate of 17.6 be almost favorable for me? Because people that get in with those stats would have come from adverse situations like I have. Obviously it’s not a guarantee or anything though. At least the admit rate isn’t zero. And it’s not like recruited athletes and the like would make up that population, I doubt they get 2100s or major in electrical engineering.</p>
<p>And Waverly, what do you mean as an AA applicant? My SAT would be good for anyone, thank you very much.</p>
<p>While Berkeley does have a reputation of liking essays about overcoming adversity and the like, that is still only starting from about a 1 in 6 chance. And, not in your favor is the likelihood that admissions selectivity has gone up since then, and that EECS is generally considered to be more selective than most engineering majors. So, while it is not impossible to be admitted, it is nowhere near a sure thing.</p>
<p>It does look like you are quite likely to be admitted to Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz.</p>
<p>Thanks. One in six is actually pretty good to me honestly. What technicalities are you talking about? Based on the quote from above it seems like an open and shut case to me. What does SAT-R mean?</p>
<p>Billybeer, in all honesty, a 2150 is a great score for a hooked candidate to top schools, and an unlikely score to get you in without a hook. So it puts you in the running at Stanord (forgetting the GPA for now). Again, UCs do not look at race. A 3.8 weighted is significantly under average for the top UCs. I’ve seen many URMs get into Stanford who were rejected from the top UCs.</p>
<p>Oh ok. Thanks Waverly. I know UCs don’t look at race, but race shouldn’t factor into college admissions, or anything else. In place of that should be overcoming low income and adversity. Which I have done. Would I have a shot at honors at UCSB and UCSC?</p>
<p>I’ve worked with many talented URMs and my advice is head for the privates. Especially if you’re low income. A top private is highly likely to cost a low income student much less than a state U. And be a much better experience. I encourage you to look past the UCs and if you want CA look at the Claremont Colleges, Occidental, Santa Clara and USD.</p>