Chance for UMich, UCBerkeley, NYU

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hello,

New member to these forums here. I've tried plenty of online chance tools, but they are based off mathematical calculations from reported "averages" of ACT and GPA, and oftentimes, EC's and other aspects don't fit into these. Also wanna know (for fun) chances at Harvard, UPenn, or Columbia (although I doubt I'd attend).

ACT/GPA:
–ACT: 36 composite
–U-W GPA: 3.7
–W GPA: 3.96 (both GPA’s subject to change after this 1st trimester and go up. Reason for poor GPA was laziness, losing care of school for some time, and from an F in AP Lang Part B due to family health issues making school hard. I am retaking it 2nd trimester of Senior year, although unfortunately after application deadlines.)
–Class Rank: 122/684
–AP Scores: 4, 5, 3, 4, 4 (in respective order to the AP classes below. Haven’t done calc or gov test)

EC’s*:
–Tutored throughout Freshman-Senior year through high school
–Won 1st place nationals at the 2017 BPA NLC for a Start-Up Enterprise (The National Leadership Conference for Business Professionals of America) in Orlando, Florida
–Played baseball for the high school 9th and 10th grade
–Ran track for high school 11th grade
–Speech 11th grade
*I know my EC’s are weak :frowning:

Classes:
–AP: Human Geo, US History, Stats, Lang & Comp, World History, Calc, Government
–Honors: Algebra 1 & 2, English 9, Physics 9 (CEMS), Civics, Comp. Skills, Comp. Prog., Engineering Design Intro, Spanish 3, Chem, English 10, Geometry, Engineering Principles, Spanish 4, Precalc, Comp. Sci., Aerospace Engineering, Engineering Design & Development
–CIS*: Biology, Writing, Literature
*CIS is known as College in Schools in Minnesota, a program where I took courses ran from the U of M - Twin Cities at my high school. They have AP class difficulty and work load.

Service Hours: Not sure on the amount, but I’m guessing ~60-70.

Rec Letters: [I’m assuming are/will be top quality and not mediocre b/c of relationship]
–1) Super close relationship-wise to my Assistant Principal
–2) CIS Biology teacher who retired last year after 30+ years. I was a favorite of hers, and I email her regularly as we are close as well.
–3) Might get one from counselor (her dream school was UMich), although not close to her.

***Additional Info: I attend a HS in its reputable CEMS (STEM engineering-focus) program for all four years with classes weighted as honors. Class culminates with a 3-trimester class of a senior design/capstone project (emulated after college engineering senior design). I am in a team of 5 given $500 and all school year to provide proof/need to invent or innovate a product for an unsolved problem. My team is working on sound pollution (from shipping, sonar, seismic surveying) and its detriment to marine species and ecosystems. Program may have weight, so I'm including it.

I know I wrote a lot — unsure if that is standard or not — so I apologize. My plan is to go into economics (2nd choice Electrical Engineering) at UMich or UCBerkeley, my dream schools. I just want to be as descriptive as I can so I get accurate replies. Thanks!

2

UCB like all UC’s have their own UC GPA calculation: https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/

Excellent test scores and good EC’s but for UCB, GPA is king. Make sure you have some great essays and hopefully your UC GPA is at least 4.0+ for the best chances.

Since you are OOS, just be aware that you will be full pay at $60K/year with little to no financial aid.

UC’s also do not consider Senior grades in their GPA calculation, so no help there.

3

EDIT: May take subject tests such as Math 1&2, Biology E/M, and English

Also got AP Scholar award.

4

@Gumbymom
Thanks, I never knew UCB did it that way. I posted the fixed GPA’s below for others.

Unweighted GPA: 3.73
Weighted GPA: 4.65
Weighted and Capped GPA: 3.98

5

You have a competitive Fully weighted UC GPA but your capped weighted is slightly low.

The following data is based on capped weighted UC GPA and not major specific. Expect Engineering majors to require higher stats:

Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 3.80-4.19:

UCB: 14%
UCLA: 14%
UCSD: 44%
UCSB: 54%
UCD: 58%
UCI: 65%

UCB’s application review criteria:

  •   Berkeley

*

  •   Very important: Academic GPA, Application essay, Rigor of secondary school record, Standardized test scores

  •   Important: Extracurricular activities, Volunteer work, Work experience

  •   Considered: Character/personal qualities, First generation college student, State residency

  •   Note: Thorough review of academic performance; likely contribution to intellectual and cultural vitality of the campus; diversity in personal background and experience; demonstrated qualities in leadership, motivation, concern for others and community; non-academic achievement in the performing arts, athletics or employment; demonstrated interest in major.
  • LOR’s by invitation only as of 2017
6

BUMP. UMich is really my main focus at the moment, so I was wondering if anyone could give insight into that. I’ll be going into either (in descending order of choice) a) Economics, so LSA, b) Ross School of Business for Finance, or c) CoE (College of Engineering) for Electrical Computer Engineering. I know I’ll be faced with the specific college’s admissions rather than UMich as a whole, so I just want to know what others think. Thanks!

7

Have you submitted your application to UMich? If so, which school did you apply to?
UMich considers GPA and course rigor to be most important. If you are OOS, UMich is a low reach to reach for you. Your GPA is the major issue. You may try to recalculate your uwGPA without subgrade to see if it helps. The admission average GPA at UMich has been 3.87 in the last couple years. For CoE, it has been 3.9+. Ross pre-admit is even more competitive than CoE.

8

@billcsho I haven’t submitted my app yet, but plan on doing so soon. I am OOS living in Minnesota currently. If CoE is difficult, and Ross even more so, I might just apply to LSA for Economics and go from there (as it is my first choice). And what do you mean by recalculating uwGPA “without subgrade”? Sorry if this is a stupid question, but what is a subgrade?

9

That means without + or -. Just give 4 for all A, 3 for all B, etc.
You know UMich EA deadline is 11/1 and you need to have everything received by them by the deadline.

10

@billcsho My plan is to do regular admission, but do it asap, as I know it’s a rolling admission. The reason for postponing till regular was so that I could improve my GPA through my 1st trimester classes, which end on Nov. 30.

I also realized that Ross requires a student portfolio (500 word response to a community issue with your business solution to it, and then an artifact/document submission with a 250-word description), which I believe I can use to my advantage through the student project opportunities I’ve had from my school’s STEM program. For example, I was able to create a small-scale water solar distillation device in my senior class (with a $500 given budget), wherein the prototype actually worked and was able to purify a substantial amount of water in a 24-hr cycle. With this project, I applied it to a Business Professionals of America event, marketed the item, made it cost-effective and set a notable profit margin on it, created a business around it, and was able to take 1st place at nationals. In my opinion, I feel like this is a huge strength as few seniors get the opportunity or funding for these kinds of things, especially considering that Ross seems to be looking for these kind of innovations and creative applications in the submitted portfolios. Not saying it’s a guaranteed admission, but with how modern admissions work, it’ll help pick up the slack from my GPA.

11

To improve GPA is not a good reason to wait for RD at UMich as they mostly defer EA applicants that are not accepted anyway. One can always submit new GPA. To build a better resume for Ross is a good reason though. However, seats are very limited at Ross. You need to be first admitted to LSA before evaluated by Ross. The delay in application may hurt your chance also.