Chance me for UC Berkeley?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hello. I was wondering you guys could chance me for UC Berkeley. I know this is early but I’ve been thinking about this for quite a while. I was also wondering if you guys could chance me for UCLA and Cal Poly SLO as well, but Berkeley is my #1. I want to major in Environmental Engineering but I’m really not sure. I actually have no clue what I want to do.

I’m a Junior in high school.
-Race: Asian (Vietnamese)
-Gender: Female
-State: CA
-Academic GPA: unweighted-3.89 and weighted-4.61
-Class Rank: 12 out of 382
-SAT: 1790 (Reading:600, Math: 620, Writing: 570)
1800 (Reading:530 ,Math: 650,Writing: 620)
-I plan on taking ACT next school year.
-SAT II: I will take U.S. History and Math Level 2 in June (plan on 600+ on both).

-AP classes: European History (I received a 2), U.S. History and Environmental Science (I have not received the scores yet but I plan on at least passing both, hoping for a 4 on both though)
I will be taking AP Psychology, AP Calculus BC, and AP Physics next year.

I have taken all honors classes since Freshmen Year.
-Freshmen Year Grades (same for both semesters):
French 1: A
Geometry Honors: A
Global Honors: A
English 1 Honors: A
Biology: B

-Sophomore Year Grades:
French 2: A
Film Studies: A
Algebra 2 Honors: A
AP Euro A:
English 2 Honors: A
Chemistry Honors: B (got an A second semesters)

-Junior Year Grades:
French 3: A
Broadcast News/Advanced Film: A
Precalculus Honors: A
AP U.S. History: A
English 3 Honors: A
AP Environmental Science: A
*Have not finished Junior year but I plan on getting straight A’s in everything but ap environmental science

-Extra-Curriculars:
-School Related:
-Member of National Honors Society as a Junior and will be a member as a senior
-Member of CSF since Freshmen year
-Member of Key Club since Freshmen year
-I was in a film studies class Sophomore year and then advanced film class junior year.
-Junior varsity on tennis team freshman and sophomore year; got into varsity Junior year and will be in varsity senior year
-Co-founder and co-president of CARE Club: We provide community service hours to students and fundraise for the CARE organization that serves individuals and families in the poorest communities in the world. Have raised $1000 in 2014-2015.

  • Points commissioner (which is a board member) of French Honor Society (I plan on running for President of French Honor Society next year)
    -Received Best Doubles for Junior Varsity tennis sophomore year

-Outside of School:
-I was a keyboardist and singer (for 4-5 years) for a rock band, The FreeFall. We played in numerous charity events, including Relay for Life. But currently am not in the band.
-I am a teacher aide at the local Catholic Church.
-Might get a job at the elementary school TLC next year if I have the time.

-Community Service:
I’ve done numerous random charity events but the ones here will be ongoing community service
-My club has done many events that i have participated in that would count as community service. (~50 hours but will continue next year)
-Teacher aide at my church also counts as community service. I’ve done it weekly for a year and will continue my senior year. (~50 hours but will continue next year)
-I volunteer at the Native Seed Farm in the Irvine Ranch Conservancy (~9-12 hours and will continue through the summer and through next year)
-Volunteer to cook food and feed the homeless with my church (~10 hours)
-I will volunteer at the library over the summer (will be ~20+ hours)

2

Your SAT scores are really sub par… As well as your predicted SAT 2 scores… Your GPA is fine though. See how you do on the ACT… Since your an in state student that is an advantage.

3

GPA is on target and EC’s very good. Your SAT score as stated above is low for all these schools. You want to aim for a 2100+ for UCLA/UCB or ACT of around 32 for the best chances. For Cal Poly SLO, they only use Math + CR so a 1400 or an ACT composite of 31+ should make you competitive. Study hard this summer to get those scores up.
Good Luck.

4

Your course load is quite weak, and so is your SAT for UC Berkley and UCLA. I think you should aim for Cal Poly SLO.

5

UC Berkeley may be an option for you if you have a great essay of personal triumph.

6

Thank you for the replies! I have realized that my SAT Scores are really bad… I’m just bad at standardized testing despite how much I study.

I never really thought that my course load is “weak.” But compared to other students in other (better) schools, it probably is. At my school, the smartest students in my grade take the same courses as I do (some of which are in a math level higher than me, but I will be skipping Calculus AB). And it does suck that what I believed to be great came out to be only good.

I’m also comparing myself to my brother. I have better GPA, ECs, and even SAT (but only by 20 points)…basically better overall than he was. He is attending Cal poly SLO as a second year. So I’m hoping that I will be able to get into SLO as well, although he applied 3 years ago.

Anyways, some people have said that I should focus on getting a 32 on the ACT. Is there anything else I could try to do? (Ex. More ECs?)

7

Re. Cal Poly SLO as an engineering major, having first-year Calculus and Physics out of the way (by freshman year) would be ideal. You should also pretty certain of your major for Cal Poly; for the other universities, it is probably not as important.