<p>I am a rising senior at a small, competitive, Catholic highschool outside of Chicago. I am in the top 15% of my class with a 4.2 GPA, a 30 on my ACT and a 1950 on SAT. I take as many AP and honors courses as I can handle and have ever since freshman year. I have also maintained A honor roll status hroughout my highschool career. I was inducted to the National Honor Society Alexine chapter as well as the National English Honor Society. I was also nominated and accepted to Roadrunner Club. It is a club that elects students based on morale, character, academic achievement, and leadership skills. I also hold a leadership position in my school's Youth Initiative group. </p>
<p>I am interested in marine biology and love what Berkeley has to offer its undergrads in that field. I volunteer at the Shedd Aquarium in downtown Chicago as a guest engagement worker. I give presentaions on the wildflife around the aquarium and conservation. I am very active at the aquarium and will be able to get stellar letters of recommendations from my supervisors. I wrote an essay on my love of marine life and conservation starting from when I was three years old and rescued a stranded jellyfish on the beach. My english professor loved it. </p>
<p>I have been on the cross country and soccer teams at my school for all fours years as well. I also perform a minimum of 300 hours of service a year through my parish, school, and the aquarium.</p>
<p>I have received excellent letters of recommendations from teachers and my guidance counselor who I have very good relationships with.</p>
<p>If anyone can help me out, your input would be GREATLY appreciated!!!!</p>
<p>You definitely have a chance. People have been accepted with less. In my opinion, and this is just from the small sample size at my school, Berkeley looks more for extra ciriculars and an actual love of learning, where ucla focuses mainly on the ‘stats’ of SAT and gpa. Theres my two cents</p>
<p>Personal statement is probably the most important thing. This is how they look into you to see if they really want you. Start early, give it your best, and know you gave it your all.</p>
<p>Letters of rec aren’t accepted at Cal, and the personal statement isn’t huge but is still a significant part of essay. Due to sheer number of applicants most UC’s use a formula system, including Cal, but there is also a holistic process that is detailed here: <a href=“http://students.berkeley.edu/admissions/freshmen.asp?id=56&navid=N[/url]”>http://students.berkeley.edu/admissions/freshmen.asp?id=56&navid=N</a>
I would say that grades, class rigor, and test scores are the most important at Cal, but as an accepted and enrolled OOS (MN) student with good extracurriculars but better scores, it’s tough to objectively make that call. If it’s any help, I did not get accepted to Stanford but I didn’t have the ridiculous “spent a year with Buddhist monks in Tibet” kind of extracurriculars that they seem to adore, just state and national level varsity sports (big time draw) and Eagle Scout.</p>