Chance for Berkeley EECS? Weak GPA

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>asian, out of state student
top 50 ranked in nation high school
GPA:
I am a year ahead in math and science
9th Grade:3.57 (did badly) *2 honors classes
10th Grade: 3.925, 3 AP classes, 2 honors classes
11th Grade: 3.855, 4 AP classes
12 Grade: 5 AP classes </p>

<p>Class rank really low cuz of freshmen year....down at 100/450</p>

<p>AP classes:
stats, econ, environmental science, calc, world history, physics B, computer science, comp gov, chinese, physics C, psych, chem</p>

<p>Tests:
SAT score: 2210
Math 2: 760
Physics:700
subject test scores suck i know as well.......</p>

<p>AP Scores are total crap...people told me that ap scores dont matter for college admissions so i didnt give a s***.
Soph Year:
Physics B: 3
World:3
Comp Sci:3</p>

<p>Junior: *i studied for everything cept psych after i found out they did matter....
Micro Econ:5
Macro Econ:5
Calc:5
Environmental Science:4
Psych:4</p>

<p>ExtraCurriculars and awards: </p>

<p>Volunteer:
Girls Swim Team manager (20 hours or 2 months)
Program in which i teach younger kids how to swim for free (2 summers)
Mentor and helper in a chinese leadership community program in which i teach kids about random stuffs (2 summers)
Computer lessons teacher in senior home *Trying to make it my essay topic talking about the lack of technologies that are usable for seniors and how i have been developing workarounds to make these usable.
peer tutor (2 years)</p>

<p>Awards/Honors:</p>

<p>AP scholar with distinction
National honor society (2 years)
9 years of swimming *high school swimming i got top 6 in county and districts. Won 6th, 8th, 12th, 7th place awards in districts, 6th and 8th place in state and made state team(10,11,12).varsity swimming(9-12). Regionals Championship Swim Team (9,10),
6th Place in State Mu Alpha Theta Math
6th Regionals Robotics Team
3rd Regular Season Water Polo County Championship
Coaches Award
9th & 12th place Midlakes Swimming State Championship 2010</p>

<p>Jobs:
lifeguarding
Swim Instructor
Internship under medical university in Oregon, computational biology. I program applications that help look into treatments for malaria.
iOS Programmer </p>

<p>Clubs:
3 years of key club *Treasurer, project head of multiple events
2 years of Robotics, Ranked top 3 nationwide.
1 year of high school water polo
4 years of math club *varsity math club
2 Years of Computer Club *Founder/President...compete in ACSL, President of Hardware Division
2 Years of Business Club * Co-Founder/Vice President...compete in FBLA</p>

<p>over 100 hours of community service</p>

<p>i know my gpa sucks but it would be nice to get your guys's opinions!</p>

<p>essay prob gonna be on how my mom was paralyzed during my freshmen year
chance for berkeley eecs and carnegie mellon university computer engineering early decision?</p>

2

<p>also I’m pretty lost at where to apply to other than berkeley cmu and university of washington seattle any other advice would be nice</p>

3

<p>Both Berkeley and CMU would need high scores/GPA all around. So I would think those are a reach. I would have some in-state safety schools. (Not sure what state you are in). Swim EC is good. That may be a hook, not sure what your current status is, if you are making top times recently. Someone I know (local in state) got into UCB as a swim athlete but he has been making olympic trials past couple years. If you looking at engineering in CA, Cal poly SLO might be another potential match…?</p>

4

<p>and umm what exactly does reach mean?
yea haha im not that good i used to be then i quit club swim sophomore year but maintained high school swim. um what would u say is a high enough sat score for my case to push me up a bit? i still have two more times to take the SAT</p>

5

<p>I think your SAT score is fine for Cal. Realize that UCs barely take into account 9th grade, especially since your GPA is 10th and 11th grade courses with 8 semesters of the extra weighted point allowed to be calculated in it. Look it up or research more because I think they might not restrict the amount of weighted points, but I’m not sure. </p>

<p>I love your ECs, they seem and genuine to me. Good luck! Maybe I might see you there (let’s cross our fingers!)!</p>

<p>P.S. I wouldn’t write the essay about your mom, maybe you can mention what happened within a greater, even more personal subject. Make it a PERSONAL statement and try not to talk mainly about someone else.</p>

<p>Also, why not just apply to the Letters and Sciences college (everyone is undeclared) and then declare your major as CS only later on? Do you really want the EE part? I know the first option is what I’m doing as of now.</p>

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<p>UC Berkeley does not care much about 9th grade. You have decent chances there.</p>

7

<p>I’m just afraid that i won’t get into EECS school later on…my dad’s pretty strict on it too if i don’t get in pre admit i can’t go there at all. what about engineering undeclared? he just wants me to get into the engineering school at the least</p>

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<p>If you are targetting UCB EECS, then it is a reach (that is, it may be hard for you to get in). I think your SAT scores are ok. Not sure who told you AP scores don’t matter. They do, it adds credibility to your AP Grades. EECS does need strong SAT2 subject scores…maybe you can retake the science ones? About your concern that you won’t get into EECS later, that is a genuine concern. </p>

<p>If you really really want to do computer engineering (it is different from CS), then you should get into the college of engineering. It will be very difficult to transfer. Especially Berkeley is supposed to be cut throat.</p>

<p>From a parent who works in the computer engineering field, here is what I will say. Getting a computer engineering degree (if that is what YOU want to do) from a mid-tier university is FAR better than settling for a science major from top tier. If engineering is what you want, get into engineering at a college that will accept you. Have you considered Purdue/Rutgers/UNC/university of maryland/virginia tech. If focussed on CA, apply to all the UCs (you can calculate your UC GPA from the website) and cal poly sLO. Good luck.</p>

9

<p>UCB is definitely a reach, as is CMU. You have a slim chance, but your SAT is very good, why not apply to some schools on the east coast in NY and massachusetts? Good luck!</p>

<p>Chance me back?
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1215251-chances-nyu-cas-early-decision.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1215251-chances-nyu-cas-early-decision.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>what schools are there in the east coast that i should apply to?</p>

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<p>UCs don’t count 9th grade at all, their gpa is 10th-12th grade!</p>

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<p>Here you go <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/531728-east-coast-engineering-schools.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/531728-east-coast-engineering-schools.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>You can use US college rankings, google…come on, get creative. You all are lucky. We had to go check out the big books in a library.</p>