Grades:
UW GPA: 3.7
W GPA: 4.5/5
Sat: 1530
Top 11 percent in highly competitive school
Up ward trend in grades: mainly B’s in 9th grade, then most A’s tenth grade, and all A’s in ap classes in eleventh grade and so far have gotten all A’s in Ap classes in 12th grade also.
Extra curriculars:
Officer in computer science team
Force (volunteering club)
Taught in Kumon for a year
Chess Club
Book Club
Physics Club
Know how to code in Java, Python, C++, and Swift.
I study a lot of physics at home: read for almost 4 hours a day this summer on physics.
I Live in Texas and I am an Asian Male. Any help will be greatly appreciated. I am also wanting to minor in Computer Science.
Do you have $260K to attend UC Berkeley? As an OOS applicant, you will get little to no financial aid. You have great test scores, but your GPA is on the low side for UCB. UCB for Physics should be considered a Reach school. You are competitive but only apply if you have an unlimited budget.
Admission Rates for Out-of-State Applicants (Domestic):
UC Berkeley: 17.1%
Best of luck.
My Parents are paying for most of it while I am taking a student loan. Do I have better chances for the other schools?
CalTech and Cornell will be be reaches as well with the 3.7 UW GPA. Best chances will be at UIUC.
Just my guess:
Caltech, Cornell, UC Berkeley: reach.
GT, UIUC: I think that your chances are decent. Your SAT should help as should your uptrend.
UT Austin: Being in-state should help. Your GC would know better than I what your chances are. I doubt that it is a safety. Possibly a very good match school.
I don’t think that there is a safety on this list.
Given the strength of UT Austin, if you get in there I would not take much of a loan to attend a more expensive university. If a loan is a possibility at all, then you should run the NPC on all of the schools that you are applying to and see what they are likely to cost.
If you are not top 6% rank in Texas, UT Austin should be considered a reach.
your 3.7 unweighted is on the low side for sure, probably for all the schools listed, but it can be made up for with other stellar stats and activities. My kid had a 3.73 unweighted going into his senior year and got into Berkeley L&S last year and is now a declared CS major. A high SAT (1530 is pretty good) will help. Rigor (my kid had 10.5 AP classes) will help. Good ECs with strong leadership and volunteering with a strong sense of giving back will help. And of course outstanding essays help.
I would make sure you have a couple of safeties on the list, or at least a school you have more than a 50% chance of getting in and would be happy to go to. TAMU or UTD for instance.