SAT: 1350 (720 M, 630 CR+W)—(I am taking the August SAT and my recent practice test score was a 1530)
Will be taking SAT Math 2 and Bio M in October and November
Race: Asian
Gender: Female
State: CA
Income Bracket: >200K (not applying for financial aid or scholarships)
Extra Curriculars:
Tennis: 7 years (2 years on school’s varsity team [ranked #2 in regionals]) with multiple awards
Piano: 8 years with many awards for passing tests and have experience playing in a 10 Piano Concert
Student Society of Stem Cell Research member (have been to UC Berkeley for conferences)
Just began research at UC Davis for a Genetics research program with a professor
In process of writing research paper on Parkinson’s disease and how it affects the hippocampus
Went to a Brown University program in the CDC for a week in June; it is selective
Just went to my local math tutoring center for an interview, looks like I may get a job, but I am not sure.
Other colleges I’m applying to:
2 CSUs, 7 UCs, USC, Northwestern, UT Austin
Career Goal(s): Gynecologist or Gastroenterologist
If you are wondering why I am not applying for financial aid or scholarships: My parents will support me financially for all of my schooling until I am financially independent with a full time job. Their wish, not mine. Also, I do not think I qualify because I ran the NPC on many schools, and I did not get anything.
How are your freshman grades? UW considers them. Also, the college gives the purple & gold merit scholarships for some OOS students. You see lm like a competitive student but double check the average GPA for your impacted major. Good luck, we toured UW this spring and my D and i were impressed with the college and location.
@socaldad2002 my freshman grades were pretty good compared to my grades in total. I had 11 As and 1 B that school year. Cool, I’ll check it out. Thank you, and good luck to your daughter too!
I don’t think UW offers direct admission to Biology, so you’ll have to get general admission to UW, then apply to the major in your junior year. Double check with the department though, since the direct admission policy keeps changing and I’m not keeping track.
SAT 1350 is on the low side, 1530 should be enough. UW don’t require and don’t read SAT2 scores. 3.7 UW GPA is on the low side.
@bogeyopar would the 1530 SAT score be enough to be competitive even with the 3.7 UW GPA? I just checked up on that, coincidentally. I might apply for Neurobiology because it offers direct admission to the major. But you are correct. Biology does not directly accept applicants. Are my ECs good enough for UW Seattle?
1530 will be a great score. I’m not sure how much it will make up for the 3.7 GPA. I’ve seen the reverse case, where a kid in my son’s class with high GPA but sub-30 ACT score got into Business school direct admission. Did you find any statistics on Neurobiology direct admitted students?
@bogeyopar On the website for the university, it states that direct majors are usually very competitive to get into. But if you don’t get accepted to your direct major, you can go the pre sciences route to satisfy the prerequisites for the course in your freshman year. These courses also satisfies some of the medical school requirements. You will need to maintain at least a 2.5 GPA in the prerequisites (although I’m assuming higher is always better) and you have a good chance of getting into the major you requested originally for sophomore year.
I’m not sure about the exact statistics, I was not able to find anything.
UW’s STEM majors are more competitive to get into than most other majors. I believe you have a good chance if you can raise your SAT score to at least 1400 to 1450. UW has gotten more competitive in the past 4 to 5 years as more CA high school seniors are applying to UW because at the same time, top tier CA schools have gotten very competitive to get into. UW is unique because the school offers the benefits of being a world class research university, many high ranked programs, selection of many major/disciplines, big name recognition, PAC 12 sports, etc. In CA UC Berkeley, UCLA, Stanford and USC offer similarity, but their acceptance rates are in the mid teens or below.
@Aneem00 My son was a direct admit into the College of Engineering from California with a 4.0 UW GPA and 1460 SAT. I think his essay about diversity helped his application. Also, I’d suggest a fantastic objective resource from colleges beyond what’s on their websites, called the “common data set”. Many colleges have them and give you hard data about general stats.
Section C is all about admissions. For UW 2017-18:
Academic rigor of school, academic GPA and essay are marked “very important”
Standardized test scores, extracurriculars, talent, first generation, volunteer/work experience are “important”
Class rank and level of applicant’s interest are “not considered”
Plus, UW has a fantastic medical school so it may be more competitive for pre-med majors. Good luck!
@BayAreaMom15 as I see it now, assuming my essays and SAT go well, my GPA is the only thing holding me back. Am I correct in assuming that Engineering and CS are the toughest majors to be admitted to in UW Seattle? Congratulations to your son.
Yes, engineering and CS are the most competitive and toughest majors to be admitted to UW as a freshman. Biology, and life sciences are probably a step easier. That why I think your 3.7 UW GPA and if you can get your SAT up to around 1400, you have a good or high chance to be admitted. Apply broadly with some safety schools, which I see you are planning to with the CSU’s. I assume the 7 UC’s include UCSC. I would add UCR too.
@Aneem00 unless there is some underlying reason (for not wanting to attend UCB), such as the recent violent protests, anti-right environment, harsh grading (bell curve), or you just don’t like the campus, etc., you might want to reconsider applying anyway. It does not take much effort to add another UC to the application. One huge plus for UCB, at least in my opinion, is the semester system, which you are probably used to in a CA high school. The pace of the semester is slower and not at the fast pace of the quarter system of all the other UC’s, except for UCM. You have more time to learn a subject in more detail under a semester system vs. the quarter system.
@Aneem00 I wish I knew the magic formula for admissions, but it doesn’t exist. Last fall was the first year UW applicants could apply direct to engineering so I don’t know how competitive it was. To give you context, my son only reached waitlist status at the mid-tier UCs, so I echo UCBUSCalum’s advice to apply to many different schools including Berkeley if you are interested. I know so many of my son’s friends who had lower “hard stats” who were admitted, so since you are applying to other UCs, it’s as easy as checking a box.
They have $560,000+ that they can spend on your schooling?
University of Washington out-of-state = $200,000 for four years.
Medical school = $360,000 for four years (you take what you can get, so you cannot count on getting into a less expensive one like an in-state UC at $260,000 for four years).
