Chance Me For Berkeley, Wash U, and matches

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Gender: Male
Race: White
State: Arkansas
Hooks: None (I don’t think this counts but dad just retired from Military)
ACT: 36 (35 Math and Reading, 36 English and Science) ACT Writing: 10 (I got a 35 on this test though)
SAT: 1530 (770 Math, 760 Reading) SAT Writing: 18 (Got a 1520 on this test)
Subject Test: Chem - 740 (Not sure I should use this)
GPA: UW - 4.0. W - 4.28 (about 4.45 for UC GPA)
Coursework: 7 APs completed, 6 senior year (Including German)
AP Scores: 5 - Lit, Statistics 4 - Biology, APUSH, World, Music Theory 3 - Chemistry
I took biology and chemistry at a local community college to skip Pre-AP and free up course space.
ECs: Band (I play Bassoon), all Region each year, State band and chamber orchestra 2019, member of my states youth orchestra. Made it to State coding competition 2018 and 2019. Advanced to ACTM State Math comp each year of HS (top 5 in pre-cal). President of Key Club (Webmaster in 2018-2019), NHS member, MAO member (Math Honor society), AP Academy (Service Club that probably doesn’t matter at all), quizbowl team member (trivia). ~150 hours of service including lots of work with local animal shelter. I interned with my school’s tech department for a month. I’m also attending my states governor’s school.
Essays: Hard to give a good representation without showing my essays but I feel like I have a pretty solid writing ability and first common app essay.
Majors: Either comp sci, electrical engineering, or applied math
Schools: Berkeley (My dream school, a big reach though), Wash U (another reach), Ohio State (Match), University of Washington (Match), University of Illinois UC (Match maybe a bit of a reach), University of Arkansas (Safety)

I know my ECs are lacking but I’m hoping my test scores can make up for some of that.

2

Assuming that cost is not an issue, I think you’ll have a good chance for Berkeley, if you apply for L&S as Math or CS. For Engineering EECS, your SAT might slightly be on the low side but definitely also in range. Don’t sell yourself short. Write some strong essays.

3

I agree with @ProfessorPlum168 that you are definitely a competitive applicant so as long as your family can afford $65K/year to attend, worth an application. Best of luck.

4

University of Washington for EECS won’t be a match despite the high GPA/test scores since the program has a pretty low acceptance rate compared to the school in general.

My son is a CompSci minor at WashU and although the program is decent, Biomedical Engineering is the bread and butter of its Engineering school. You could find a better EECS program at a reasonable cost. I have also heard some not so good things about the mathematics program at WashU unfortunately.

If you need financial aid, most of the schools will be expensive, especially the OOS publics and WashU. Berkeley is 65,000 for OOS and gives no financial aid to OOS students. UIUC is pretty expensive as well.

5

I Forgot to mention in original post that I will be using the GI bill

6

^GI Bill won’t cover the entire cost of an OOS public school. You will still need to cover the remainder of the cost by yourself. Which won’t be worth it for Cal and possibly UIUC.

7

Hi, I’m a current Cal student. I think you have a great shot at getting into Berkeley, especially if you apply to the applied math program here. For CS and EE, it may be a bit more tough. The competition is steep.

Let me know if you have any questions; I’m happy to help.