Chance me at some UCs and top privates with weak ECs

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Colleges I am currently planning to apply to:
UC Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD,
Stanford, Princeton (legacy), MIT, and Caltech
plus maybe one or two other UCs as safeties</p>

<p>I'm also looking for suggestions for some other west coast schools that would be a match for me that are good for science/engineering.</p>

<p>White male
Currently attending a pretty competitive public high school in California. </p>

<p>GPA: 4.0 UW, 4.33 UC GPA, 4.5 weighted uncapped</p>

<p>Rank: unknown</p>

<p>SAT:
critical reading: 770
math: 780
writing: 750
total: 2300</p>

<p>SAT Subject Tests:
Math 2 - 800
Biology - 800
U.S. History - 800</p>

<p>AP Tests:
chemistry - 4
US History - 5
Calc AB - 5
Biology - 5</p>

<p>planned senior schedule:
AP Calculus BC
AP Physics
AP Comp Lit
AP government, regular econ (1 sem each)
Photography</p>

<p>Does this look rigorous enough? I mean I'm taking the three hardest classes at my school (first 3 listed), so I would think that would be enough.</p>

<p>ECs:
-Track and Field 9th - 12th
-Cross Country 10th - 12th
-National Honor Society 11th - 12th
-Track club 11th - 12th (we fundraise for a new track and do track clinics at the junior highs)</p>

<p>Hobbies:
I keep two saltwater aquariums (I'm thinking this could be a good main essay topic as I am very dedicated to this and I have learned a lot of Chemistry and Biology through this hobby)
I program computer games.
I scuba dive and snowboard.
and of course I play video games (but i'll probably leave that off)</p>

<p>So what do you think my chances are at the schools mentioned above? Do you think I should apply SCEA to Stanford or regular EA to Caltech and MIT (I don't want to go to Princeton badly enough to apply ED)? And what other colleges should I be looking at?</p>

2

<p>You have great scores and classes, but your ECs suck. I don't know enough about the process to say how much exactly you are missing out on because of the lack of leadership. </p>

<p>On a side note:
What do you do in your Calc BC class? If you've already taken AB, then won't you just be going over AB stuff for the first semester? At my school, AB is calc 1, and BC is calc 1&2. I would consider taking both a waste. idk how you do it though.</p>

3

<p>Great GPA and test scores. You're likely in at either UCLA or Berkeley...just write compelling essays.</p>

<p>The others are crap shoots for everyone...but, you have a chance.</p>

<p>Heh...I used to have a saltwater aquarium years ago...beautiful...but too much work and expense. I'm thinking of getting back into the hobby.
That being said, I don't think your planned essay topic is compelling/interesting enough... work on some more meaningful ECs and experiences over the summer and fall that you can discuss in your essays. Think of a unique experience in which you exhibited some leadership/learning that makes you standout.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>