Chance me for UCB/UCLA OOS

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I’m a junior OOS applicant from PA consideing appplying to UCLA/UCB/UCSD among (many) other schools. I loved Berkeley and UCLA when I visited there although neither is likely to be my first choice. I really have pretty much no sense of how hard it actually is to get into any of the UCs as a nonresident, since no data seems to be available except for % acceptance rates, so if anyone could chance me, or even give a general idea how admission compares to other top schools (i.e. Stanford, Northwestern, UVa) that would be most appreciated.

Some stats:
UW GPA: Around 3.75/4 (including +/-) - but more like 3.7 w/o freshman year - I assume that will hurt me

  • I had a good freshman GPA with easier course load and then a really bad 1st semester sophomore year, but since then a huge upward trend (around 3.9 for junior year, and expecting at least as good next year).
    Weighted GPA: Around 4.3-4.4/5 (4.4-4.5 w/o 9th grade)
    UC GPA: 4.19? (Not sure if I calculated this right - I only weighted AP and college courses as OOS, no idea what “approved UC honors a-g courses” are)
    Class rank: top 5% - something like 20/460 in a very competitive public school (with extreme junior grade deflation)

Course load: Basically the hardest offered
10th:
AP Psych - A-/A
AP World History - C+/A (long story short I failed all the DBQs (which were on every test) until I got to see the rubric for them which basically said what to write in them, halfway through the year)
Honors English - B/B+
Honors German 3 - A-/A
Honors Precalc - B/B+
Honors Chem - A/B+
Health / PE - A/A
1st semester: 3.33 (3.89 W)
2nd semester: 3.67 (4.24 W)

Summer before 11th: AP Calc AB online through Johns Hopkins (CTY)

11th:
Honors/AP German 4 - A/A (4 and AP were a combined 2 year class but i took the AP test after the first year)
AP Euro History - A-/A?
AP Macroeconomics - A
AP Calc C (independent study - online through Johns Hopkins CTY)
Honors Calc 2 - A
AP Comp Sci A - A/A
AP Physics C Mechanics - A/A
AP Lang & Comp - B/B? (this was one of those classes with grade deflation)

12th classes (probably):
AP Lit
AP Phyics C E&M
AP Stat
AP US History
Either AP Bio or AP Enviro
Experimental, Abnormal & Social Psychology
Advanced Instrumental Studies (?)

AP tests:
World History (4?)
Psychology (5)
Music Theory (5)
Awaiting scores for:
German (3-5?)
Calc BC (4-5)
Euro History (probably 5)
Macroeconomics (4-5)
Comp Sci A (probably 5)
Physics C Mechanics (probably 5)
Lang & Comp (4-5)
Enviro (didn’t take the class, probably 3-4)
By end of HS: will have also taken Lit, Physics C E&M, US History, Stat, Bio, maybe Spanish

ACT: 34 composite (taking again, might be able to get 35)
SAT (taking again but not expecting much)
720 CR (hoping to get to ~750)
720 Math
710 Writing (hoping to get to ~730-750)
Composite: 2150. Probably not sending this unless I get 2200+.
Taking SAT Subject Tests next fall, probably Math II and Bio
PSAT: 226 (National Merit Semifinalist, would have also gotten it in 10th grade)

ECs: Lots of variety but nothing particularly special. I explored a lot of different things during highschool so I didn’t get too deeply into anything for most of the time.
Varsity Track (only spring - 10, 12, JV 9) on nationally dominant team (PA indoor/outdoor state champs 9/10, top 10 nationally, not that I contributed much to either. I’m not a recruited athlete and wouldn’t be competing D1 so I doubt that would have much effect)
Cross Country (all 4 years)

Jazz Band (9, 10, 12)
School of Rock House Band (11, 12) on guitar and bass - very competitive audition process, plays various gigs/tours etc.
Indoor Percussion Ensemble (10)
Several different instruments since early childhood (guitar, bass, drums, piano, sax, clarinet, vibes, etc.) - probably writing something about how this influenced my life in an essay

2

The UC schools love IS students. The problem some OOS students face is that when the admissions officers get to their application, theyve already accepted many IS students. Your stats are on par, amazing ACT, and solid ECs, I strongly recommend you apply as early as you can to maximize your chances.

Chance me?
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1786025-purdue-first-year-engineering-chances.html#latest

3

I accidentally sent and couldn’t edit so here is the rest of my post:

Varsity Track (only spring - 10, 12, JV 9) on nationally dominant team (PA indoor/outdoor state champs 9/10, top 10 nationally, not that I contributed much to either. I’m not a recruited athlete and wouldn’t be competing D1 so I doubt that would have much effect)
Cross Country (all 4 years)
Ultimate Frisbee team (11)
Ski & Snowboard Club (all 4 years)
Jazz Band (9, 10, 12)
School of Rock House Band (11, 12) on guitar and bass - very competitive audition process, plays various gigs/tours etc.
Indoor Percussion Ensemble (10)
Several different instruments since early childhood (guitar, bass, drums, piano, sax, clarinet, vibes, etc.) - probably writing something about how this influenced my life in an essay
Student Council (12)
Student representative of campaign to move my school’s start times later through school board (ongoing)
NACLO (Computational Linguistics Olympiad) (9, 11) - top score in school in 9th but didn’t win anything past that
Guitar Club (10-12) (founding member)
National Honor Society - fair amount of hours tutoring and volunteering (haven’t really counted)
National German Honor Society (possibly president next year)
National Merit Scholar Semifinalist
I’m sure I’m forgetting things.

Work experience: Not much
Paid engineering apprenticeship at the Navy this summer
Camp counselor this coming summer (paid)

Demographic: White male from a high (but somewhat inconsistent) income family, can afford full OOS tuition
Not legacy or anything
Hooks: none that I can think of
Undecided major thus far, if I went to Berkeley I would probably apply to college of letters and science.

I can write pretty good essays so those should probably make up for any shortcomings. The only problem there would be if I had to write a sob story about adversity, as I haven’t really faced much other than a problematic sleep disorder (which was largely responsible for my sophomore grades) and running cross country with serious asthma. My teacher recs should be very good, but my counselor rec is likely to be a bit of a disaster (at this point she has reason to legitimately dislike me).

I’m mainly asking this to find out if I have a legitimate chance at Berkeley, because if not I will probably apply ED to Northwestern, where I seem to have a better chance (if UC had ED I would have considered that instead).
I can provide any other information if requested. I will also chance back. Thanks!

4

Chief, the UCs don’t have EA/ED, does it still matter when you apply? I don’t really know much about their admissions process.

5

@nac7890 I think what he meant is to finish your app as early as possible. Also, be sure to calculate your UC gpa correctly. Remember that only AP/IB courses are awarded that extra point for OOS, not honors. Also, you can only have two of these courses max in your sophomore year. How the eight semesters of honors things works is that for your two AP courses in sophomore year, you get 1 point for each semester, making that 4 points total for your sophomore year, meaning that you only have 4 more points left to use for your junior year. For weighted grades look like this A(any form)=5, B(any form)=4, etc. Unweighted grades (basically all OOS honors/regular and classes not awarded the extra points) look like this: A(any form)=4, you probably get it by now. Also, don’t forget that UCB and UCLA look at uncapped weighted GPAs, meaning that all classes eligible for extra points (all AP courses for you) get those extra points. Also, all of your courses look UC a-g, so don’t worry about that.
To answer your original question: I think that you have a solid chance at getting into at least 2 UCs. The process can be random at times, but you should be safe for some of them.

6

@michelle426 I calculated the UC GPA uncapped with an extra point per AP and college class. My school doesn’t send too many students to the UCs so who is my UC GPA being compared to? It seems like I would be at a disadvantage as an OOS applicant, with my honors grades not getting weighted and my school being more competitive. When they release the stats talking about 4.3ish average GPA at UCB/UCLA do you know if that’s referring to regular weighted or UC weighted GPA?
Thanks for your input!

7

For your UC GPA (capped) meaning only 8 semesters of AP classes count=3.96. UCB/UCLA will also use your uncapped UC GPA and you have a very rigorous class schedule which gives you a extra boost. You look like a competitive applicant and admission rates for OOS are higher due to a lower number of applicants, but admitted OOS applicants also have higher average GPA and Test scores. Your EC’s are plentiful and agree there is no specific focus, but I think you should be fine. I believe it will come down to your essays, which need to be amazing. Overall you have a very good chance at an acceptance at the UC’s. Good Luck
.
http://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/

Here is the link for the a-g course requirements for the UC’s. You need to meet these requirements or your application will not be considered. http://www.ucop.edu/agguide/a-g-requirements/

8

@nac7890 when they release stats, they always talk about UC GPAs, weighted/unweighted. Here is a link for the class of 2018 for the UCs regarding their admissions profiles: http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/freshman/profiles/ I can’t say very much about the class of 2019 for the UCs, considering the budget crisis the regents system was facing (admission for UC Davis was halved at my CA school), but you still look like a very good applicant (try to get your test score to maybe 2150+ and you’ll hopefully be in the clear.

9

Oops, correction to my previous comment: 2200+ should be fine, but at least 2250 should put you in the clear.

10

How much do they really look at SATs if you already have a better ACT? I already have a 34 ACT and I doubt I’ll be able to match that with my SAT score so is there an option to just only send ACT?

11

The UC’s want to send all scores and we take the highest score from a single sitting. Have you taken any SAT 2 subject tests? UCLA/UCB/UCSD do have recommendations, so you really need to take these exams. I would only send in the ACT but your SAT will not hurt you, since admissions will consider your ACT over the SAT.

12

I’m taking Math 2 and probably Bio (or maybe Physics) the coming fall, as well as German with Listening, although I probably won’t get that score back by the UC application deadline. I expect probably between 700-750 on all of them.

13

I was accepted to UCLA and rejected to UCB OOS with a 30 on the ACT and a 3.97 GPA. Hope this helps for comparison. Don’t hesitate to ask me any additional questions about the process!

14

Schools don’t prefer the SAT to the ACT or vice versa. Your ACT score is good enough. If you can pay full freight, you have a good chance. Chance back? :http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1778302-chance-an-asian-yale-duke-williams.html#latest

15

Nnocnat2 is there anything in particular you did to show interest as an OOS applicant? UCB is really one of my first choices, but unlike most of the other elite public schools the UCs have no EA/ED option, so do you suggest I do anything else to show special interest in them, or in a particular campus? I get the sense that most qualified OOS Applicants tend to get accepted to either one or the other (not both), and that which one it is ends up being basically arbitrary.