Chance me for UC's UIUC, U of M Ann Arbor, Purdue, and UT Austin

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Currently a white male junior in a competitive California high school

Planning on applying to the following schools (note: While a chancing would be nice, I would really like to ask for some constructive criticism on how to better my chances) Every UC, Universities of: Minnesota, Illionis Urbana, Michigan Ann Arbor, Wisconsin Madison, Purdue, UT Austin, and Texas A&M(Midwestern schools are a preference for me)

[Academics]

3.8 Unweighted GPA

ACT 28 (will take again, likely for a 30)

Only 1 AP as a junior (AP World History) but my school doesn’t offer them for underclassmen

three honors classes my softmore year: general sciences(A first semester, A second semester) , English (B first, B second), and history (B first, A second).

I am planing on taking a chemistry course at my local community college this summer, is this a good idea? I have not taken AP Chem yet, but I want to be a chem major. I would take AP chem senior year if not. if so, I will likely take these courses my senior year: AP Stats, APES, CP physics, gov/econ, Spanish 4?(if recommended for me, I have not received a B in Spanish), English 4

[Extracurriculars]

Three years of human rights club (2 years as board member)

Two years of anti-domestic violence club

Three years of public forum debate (I don’t compete that much, about once a semester, but does it matter?)

founding member of DECA business club (not a board member, I have not significantly contributed to this club)

PVSA Gold (250 hours of volunteering) earned in six months but all in my junior year(currently have 270 hours)

May have a leadership position at my local science museum where I currently volunteer.

[Misc.]

White male in a public school that is about 50/50 white/Asian.

Dad is a Purdue undergrad/grad alumni for Industrial engineering and Business

planning on being a chemistry/chemical engineering major

I love the Midwest, and would probably prefer those schools over any UC except Berkeley.

Thank you very much. I really appreciate you taking time out of your day to help me(or not, which is totally fine), and I hope you too have a great day :slight_smile:
(also, sorry for the parenthesis spam)

2

Your ACT score is on the low end. For an out of state major, you definitely are going to want at least a 30. Your GPA could be better, but is not going to destroy your chances. Your ECs are good, as long as you can talk substantially about each of them.

You are looking at applying to either LSA or the College of Engineering. While CoE is somewhat more competitive, your specific choice of major within either unit does not have any bearing on your chances of admission. Every freshman entering either unit comes in undeclared, and can only declare a major after satisfying requirements as outlined by the department of interest.

3

Thank you. when you say “talk substantially about each of them” can you elaborate on what a college would expect me to answer with? Would I just talk about my experiences and how it is significant to my life?

4

Consider the difference between “During this mission trip, I accomplished this, and that…” versus “As a member of this club, I showed up to the meetings every other week for free pizza”. You want to show colleges that you were participating in an EC for you, not for them. They want to see passion and commitment, not the “check the box” attitude. If you only have four or five ECs where you have something meaningful to say for each of them, that is better than having 20 or 30 where you don’t have much to say about the majority of them.

So how can you tell whether or not you are able to talk substantially about an EC? You should be able to write a meaningful paragraph regarding your involvement. You should have roughly two ECs which you can really talk about in depth. For those, you are going to want to be able to write at least half a page single spaced describing what you did and how the activity has helped to shape you as a person.