Chance me for College of Chemistry

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Berkeley
1

<p>Just submitted my UC app. </p>

<p>Rank 1, 2290, 35, 800 Math IIC, 770 Physics, 750, 710
EC's: Varsity XC and Track, Student Gov't, School Board member, 400+ hours hospital volunteer leadership board member, President of Math Club, Robotics Team, Science Olympiad, JETS engineering team (1st place, national finalists), Siemens Semifinalist, published research, AMC 12 school winner, AIME qualifier</p>

<p>other awards: harvard book award, national ap scholar, national merit semifinalist, questbridge finalist for low-income</p>

<p>summer programs: SSP 2009, COSMOS</p>

<p>took 4 college classes, all A's </p>

<p>Is it possible to change my application?? I heard CoC is really really hard to get into......I want to do College of Engineering instead..</p>

2

<p>I think you have a very good shot. Plus, COE is just as hard to get into, if not harder, isn’t it?</p>

3

<p>You have a decent shot. Go for it.</p>

4

<p>^Oh really? I heard that Chemical engineering is beast at Berkeley, which is why it’s in its own college of Chemistry, instead of in College of Engineering, so like only a few select students get accepted into it. But maybe I heard wrong. Thanks!</p>

<p>…The thing I’m worried about is that my essays had NOTHING to do with chemistry at all. I talked about summer programs, research, love for science, overcoming obstacles, etc., and general stuff about science but nothing about chemical engineering…</p>

5

<p>Haha…I’m in chemical engineering right now. Your stats are better than mine were; you don’t need to worry. If they reject you, it’ll be very unfortunate. There was this one kid in my class who didn’t get into Cal, and a lot of people expected him to. Sometimes…you just get unlucky, but that’s out of your control. There’s always the appeal process if by some misfortune you don’t get in the first time around. </p>

<p>To ease your mind, I wrote one personal statement about art/drawing, the other about how I didn’t like my parents (yeah, really…wrote about how I felt like they neglected me in the interest of my older and younger brothers. Shallow?). Yup. I was also worried, but I got in anyway. I wonder if my essay even mattered…maybe my “objective” stats were enough. I’m sure yours are. </p>

<p>For my pride, CoC>>>>CoE. My friends in College of Engineering agree. It’s those hardcore lower-division chem classes. </p>

<p>Good luck! Don’t stress out; enjoy the rest of high school. =)</p>

6

<p>SSP… Siemens… Dude, take your mind off UCs and go for the Ivies!</p>

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<p>Btw, I attended COSMOS as well, and want to incoporate that into my essay. I won’t need to explain what it is, since the essay readers should know, right?</p>

8

<p>You have to understand that the problem isn’t getting into the college, its staying in it…</p>

9

<p>^why do you say that?</p>

10

<p>Berkeley science classes kick major ass. Don’t come expecting to blow everybody away and get a 4.0 because that rarely happens. I know a couple of people who are ChemE and very bright, but in the end couldn’t handle it and are now switching/barely staying afloat with a **** GPA. Not only do you have to take the hardcore engineering classes, but also the lower div chem like 4a and 4b, which are very challenging. My roommate was ChemE and for one 4A lab report it was like 40 pages long.</p>

11

<p>Woot okay thanks guy, you cleared up mind of worries. Yea, UC’s are kinda backups, but still, Cal is pretty competitive, I just wanted to make sure I didn’t mess up AGAIN. (I already had one mistake in my app - I checked EOP w/o knowing what it was)…</p>

<p>Also, for the COSMOS guy, maybe you should put in parenthesis (California State Summer School for Math and Science at UC __) to clarify. I did COSMOS too, I listed it in the special place for ec’s or w/e.</p>

12

<p>If you want to study chemical engineering, you’ve come to the right place. ;)</p>

<p>Your stats are stellar…I’d be surprised if you don’t get admitted, but strange things happen with college admissions.</p>

<p>

I don’t think it’s possible.</p>

<p>

Depends on what engineering I think. EECS is tougher admissions than ChemE. ChemE is not as popular…or at least when I went there.</p>

13

<p>Oh hey! You are a ChemE grad from Cal? That’s awesome. Was it really competitive? Where are you going for grad school?</p>

14

<p>^ Yes, I am. It was hard work but I wouldn’t say it was super competitive…more like collective misery. :slight_smile: </p>

<p>I did not go to grad school for ChemE. Upon graduation I started work in the oil industry.</p>

15

<p>Berkeley has an excellent career website. It has survey info from recent grads showing their job titles and companies and also grad school.</p>

<p>Here’s chemical engineering:
<a href=“https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/ChemEngr.stm[/url]”>https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/ChemEngr.stm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>You can look up other Berkeley majors here:
<a href=“https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/Major.stm[/url]”>https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/Major.stm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

16

<p>One of the reasons why I said you have a decent shot is because you’re a vale candidate (top 1) in your batch and Berkeley just loves students who are at the top of his/her batch, just like you. Plus, you have very good SAT scores and far from lousy ECs.</p>

17

<p>you have an amazing shot. i’m a freshman chemical engineering major. (haven’t done any chemE classes yet) I’m taking chem4a and let’s just say it isn’t easy. You learn to work together and it becomes easier to manage. A lot of people have dropped and are dropping after the semester from the CoC. It’s not so much competitive, just difficult. Most of the students that stay in the college of chemistry do because they really ENJOY chemistry.</p>

18

<p>berkeley doesn’t see your rank haha but you’ve got the grades, whatever it’s all the same anyway.</p>

<p>im in chem 4a too ^berkelelove1, i wonder who you are ;)</p>

19

<p>you’ll get in easy. it’s actually not that hard to get into the CoC.</p>

<p>Whether or not you’ll stay, on the other hand…i agree with berkeleylove1, it’s very difficult. chemE has a brutal schedule (chem and chemE classes, and to top it off, they have to take more humanities breadths than chem/chembios). The fallout after just the first semester is pretty nasty–for chem 4a this sem there are about 220 students, so far for chem 4b next sem, only about 170 ppl have signed up (and basically everyone except for chem scholars had to phase I it). So roughly 40 ppl have dropped out. Nearly all premeds are switching out b/c well…you don’t major in the CoC to have a good gpa. as berkeleylove1 said, you have to really love chemistry to stay in the CoC. Also, you have to be really willing to work with others. Having a group of friends/study group is CRAZY helpful in doing the lab writeups, studying for midterms, etc.</p>