<p>Hi all! I'm planning to apply to Cornell and UC Berkeley this fall, and I'd Like some feedback on my application; I'm planning to major in civil engineering, </p>
<p>I am a California resident, and I've lived in California for most of my life, but I have studied abroad for a few years. I co-created a student organization to encourage students around my city to read. It has been funded by a few banks in the area and has held many successful events in high schools around the city.
I also spent two of my years in high-school writing a novel.</p>
<p>Here are my exam results:</p>
<p>GPA: 4.10
ACT Score: 32</p>
<p>SAT Math L1: 760
SAT Math L2: 790
SAT Physics: 760</p>
<p>AP Physics B: 5
AP Physics C - Mechanics: 5
AP Physics C - E&M: 5
AP Calculus BC: 5
AP Calculus AB (subscore): 5
AP Macroeconomics: 5
AP Macroeconomics: 5</p>
<p>GCE A-Level Physics: A*
GCE A-level Applied ICT: A
GCE A-Level Mathematics: A</p>
<p>IGCSE Math: A
IGCSE Biology: A*
IGCSE Chemistry: A
IGCSE Physics: A*
IGCSE ICT: A*
IGCSE ESL: A </p>
<p>*PS my school does NOT offer any AP courses. I had self-study for all of those exams myself. I only took one online course for AP Calc. My school only offered British curriculum (IGCSE & GCE)</p>
<p>Is your GPA on a 5.0 scale? </p>
<p>@arkarind My GPA is on a 4.0 scale but I have a weighted GPA of 4.10 and (sorry I forgot) an unweighted GPA of 3.95 </p>
<p>I would say that Cornell would be a low reach and Berkeley would be a high match</p>
<p>It seems like you have a low UC GPA, so Berkeley would be a low reach for you.</p>
<p>i actually disagree, i think ucb would be within range, probably a match because they cant penalize you for your school not offering ap classes, especially when you took the initiative to take the tests yourself. i think itll definitely work in your favor. dont worry too much about the uc gpa, but make sure you talk a lot about your EC’s so they know that you’re passionate about what you do and connect them to your ap classes so that they know you didnt just take them to look good, you actually cared about what you were learning. sorry that was a bunch of run on sentences LOL im just typing as i think. but i think ucb is a match for you with the right essays </p>
<p>@Xavier97 : Your A levels and IGSCE marks look pretty good. </p>
<p>Your weakness lies in the ACT score (32). These are a tad low. They will also wonder why you are submitting ACTs instead of SATs. What did you get on SAT?</p>
<p>Did your novel get published? </p>
<p>Thank you all for your comments! @imsoworried I mean the reason my unweighted GPA couldn’t go any higher was because my school didn’t offer a single honors course… I think I’ll definitely mention that in my application.
@sgopal2 Thanks! I took the SAT 3 times and couldn’t get higher than 1950. I found the ACT much easier for me and obtained a 32 on my first try without studying (it was meant to be a trial) I guess the SAT is not for everyone, and UC Berkeley will definitely see that once I submit my application, since they aren’t participants in score choice! I self-published my novel</p>
<p>Retake the ACT, strive for 35.</p>
<p>Highlight your novel in the essays. Have you offered it for sale on Amazon? If so how many have you sold? You need to position yourself as a budding novelist. Have you won any writing awards?</p>