Chance me for UC's please

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hi everyone! I am a first generation Vietnamese-American female with a low-income living in Califronia, and I want to apply to: UCB, UCSD, UCLA, and UCSB.</p>

<p>I started the school year off badly, and I was an average student during my sophomore year. If I do not get accepted, I plan to get an appeal because there was a traumatic death in my family and I was clinically depressed throughout my freshman year (also explains why I didn't join any clubs). Hopefully the AOs will see my upward trend though ;D</p>

<p>Freshman: 2.7 W? i think...
- ICPS (Honors Physical Science): C/C
- Spanish 1: B/D
- English 1 Honors*: C/D
- English 1: A (went to Summer school to raise my English grade, but not weighed)
- Critical Technologies: A/C
- Algebra 1: C/C</p>

<p>Sophomore: 3.6 W
- Bio/Biotech: C/A
- Spanish 2: C/B
- English 2 Honors<em>: C/B
- AP World History</em>: A/A
- Geometry: B/A</p>

<p>Junior: 4.8 W (2nd semester are my current grades)
- AP Chemistry<em>: A/A
- AP English Lang</em>: A/A
- AP US History<em>: A/A
- PreCalc Honors</em>: B/A
- Multimedia: A/A</p>

<p>Senior Year
- AP Physics*
- AP English Lit*
- AP Gov't/Econ*
- AP Calculus*</p>

<p>College courses:
- Psychology: A
- Intro to Biology: A
- Intro Bio Lab: B
- Intermediate Algebra: A
- Trigonometry: A
- Spanish 185: B</p>

<p>Test Scores:
SAT: 2060 (plan to retake again at least two more times; taking SAT prep class over summer, goal is 2150)
SAT II: Biology (780)
AP: World History (4), Environmental Science (5, self study)</p>

<p>Extracurricular:
- Volunteered 260+ hours so far: Aquarium (80), Hospital (100), piano teaching assistant (30), other (50); i plan to complete at least 300 hours by the end of high school
- member of school's Academic Decathlon team for 2 years (won 1st in county this year and ranked 6th in state, 2nd in county last year); will be co-captain next year
- Be the Cure president, created club during junior year, raised over $3000 for American Cancer Society so far
- MERITS Club treasurer, member 2 years
- Piano for 5 years, assistant piano teacher for 1 year
- Attended UCI Camp Med</p>

2

<p>Hey sarah!</p>

<p>I’m in the exact same position as you right now… I wanna go to those schools too haha.
Your EC are EXCELLENT, at least compared to mine. Also your SAT is good but I would think that if you get atleast 2150 that would be a HUGE jump. But… I’m a little concerned bout your GPA. Well they don’t consider Freshman but your Sophomore year was rough, but you came back and bumped it up really high in your Junior year. Maybe that is something you could write about in your essay how you were initially not focused but now you are determined. Colleges dont just like to see good gpas but they also want to see improvement… and you have a lot to give. You have a GREAT chance of getting into those schools! For UCSB you are DEFINATELY in… that school is relatively easy to get in compared to your other choices. For UCLA and UCB you are competitive and now it is just up to how the admission counselour feels… if you are lucky you will get in but don’t worry there is nothing more you can do, if it happens it happens! BUt best of luck!</p>

3

<p>Like David said, everything is pretty good, except for sophomore year grades…</p>

<p>UCB - reach
UCLA - reach???
UCSD - (I don’t know anymore b/c I have two friends who got into UCB and UCLA, but not UCSD)
UCSB- In (I think for sure)</p>

4

<p>Hey sarah,</p>

<p>You should definitely aim for the ELC(Eligibility for Local Context) because that would guarantee you a spot to all of these schools.</p>

<p>I only got a 1760 on the SAT with half of your AP classes and your extracurricular activities combined, and I manage to get into all UCs just due to ELC.
So yup I think you have good chance to all schools</p>

5

<p>Hey Archi could you explain how ELC works? I have heard about it a lot.</p>

6

<p>Thanks for all of your replies! They have really encouraged me because I was worried that I’d have to go to a CC in order to even get into a good UC school. So, I guess UCSB will be my safety school and UCB will be my reach. I’m pretty much depending on my standardized test scores and ECs since my overall GPA isn’t so great.</p>

<p>Archi, please explain ELC for me too, sounds interesting :)</p>

<p>Thanks again and continue with the replies? :D</p>

7

<p>don’t appeal for those reasons. There is a place in the application where you can put that information to explain what happened. :)</p>

<p>You look like a very good applicant though. No worries :)</p>

8

<p>Also, for my essay topic, should I write about:</p>

<ul>
<li>The death of my very close aunt who suffered from breast cancer, how it affected me (my depression), and how I coped by creating a club that was dedicated to fundraising for breast cancer. Also, explaining why I want to become a doctor.</li>
<li>My experience as a volunteer at a children’s hospital (specifically about a 7-year-old girl I met who was going through treatment for leukemia) and how it has inspired me to pursue my career as a doctor.</li>
<li>My mother who sacrificed everything in Vietnam in order to establish a promising life for me in America. Explaining how my mother wanted to become a doctor but never had the opportunity (due to the Vietnam war, immigrating to foreign country, and poverty), and how I am fulfilling her American dreams.</li>
</ul>

<p>Basically, they all relate to my decision in choosing pre-med. However, I’m not sure about which one to write about. I want my essay to be unique and demonstrate my passion for medicine and helping others. There’s probably a more appropriate forum to post this in… which i’ll probably do.</p>

9

<p>there’s 2 essays, and one additional information section.</p>