Chance me for EECS and Computer Science at UC Berkeley!

Hi, I’m currently a HS junior looking to apply to EECS or Computer Science (Letters and Science) next year. Below are my stats:

Objective numbers:
-New SAT I: 1580
-SAT II: Math 2 (800)
-UW UC GPA: 4.0
-Weighted UC GPA: Around 4.4-ish
-Weighted & Capped UC GPA: around 4.2 -ish
-School does not rank
-AP’s: AP Stat (5), AP Euro (5), AP Chinese (5). Taking AP Comp Sci, AP Lang&Comp, AP Calc BC, APUSH, and AP Physics this year. Will have taken around 13-14 AP courses by the end of senior year.
-I have also taken 2 college-credit eligible courses in HS so far
-My school doesn’t offer honor classes.

Awards:

  1. National AP Scholar (by end of this year)
  2. Will-be NMS Semifinalist (got 1510 on PSAT)
  3. Multiple medals in regional Science Olympiad
  4. 2 Scholastic Writing Gold Awards, 2 Silver
  5. Bronze and Silver Medals on the national latin exam
  6. VEX Robotics Competition regional tournament champions (we’re aiming to qualify for Worlds)
  7. Gold medal at regional math fair
  8. commended in highly prestigious international photo contest (dont want to say which one, or it will reveal my identity lol)
  9. first place in a national chinese essay writing contest
  10. multiple “honor-roll” style awards for HS academics (a lot of students get these at our school; not very prestigious)

Sports:
-Varsity Golf Team
-Judo (Yellow Belt)

Extracurriculars:

  1. VEX Robotics Team
  2. Chess Club, Chess volunteer instructor at local elementary school
  3. Environmental Club (Officer)
  4. Rocketry Team (Captain)
  5. Science Olympiad
  6. National Honor Society
  7. Latin Honor Society
  8. Outdoor Photography - Worked with the national park service on a project. I’m published online (a few million people have seen my work)
  9. Volunteering at local library and art museum (about 6 hours / week)

Job/Work Experience:

  1. Summer research intern at a university laboratory - research published in professional society
  2. Did some freelance language translation and web design work for small clients, got paid decently
  3. Run my own online store selling photographic prints (makes me about a $100/month)
  4. Planning on interning at an engineering firm for the summer of 2017, or at NASA
  5. Volunteer work (see under Extracurriculars)

Profile:
-Out of State (NY)
-Asian Male
-School Type: Medium Public (1300)
-Upper middle class

Thanks in advance!
UCB has always been a dream school for me! I heard EECS is VERY hard to get into. Do I have a chance or am I aiming too high?

Also, would it be easier (for me specifically) to get accepted into the CS program (Letters and Sciences), compared to the EECS program? Is transferring after acceptance an option? What about from another engineering major (e.g. Aerospace) to EECS?

What should I focus on senior year?

Your chances are pretty good.
L&S is easier, but you won’t get into the CS major right away (everyone goes in undeclared). In order to declare CS as your major, you must maintain a 3.3 GPA in your CS classes, which I’m sure you can do easily. On the other hand, if you apply to EECS, you can declare your major right away, but it’s much more competitive to get in. Do some research on both, and decide which one better fits you. You still have a year!

@liwen6 Thanks for your reply!