Chance Me? (UC Berkeley CoC)

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Stats:[ul]
[] College/Major Applying To: Chemical Engineering (College of Chemistry)
[] SAT I (by section): 2230 (660 CR | 770 M | 800 W)
[] SAT IIs: 770 Bio | 800 Chem | 800 Math 2
[] GPA, Weighted/Unweighted/UC: Weighted GPA: 4.19 | Unweighted GPA: 3.97 | UC GPA: 4.29
[] Rank: Should be in the top 9% b/c I was called to the office for something like that but honestly I don’t remember much
[] ACT: Planning on taking ACT this fall, cause I suck at SAT CR, hoping for better luck than SAT
[] APs (including this year’s): 5 Stats | 5 Chem || Taking Physics 1, Psych (self-study), and Calc BC as a senior
[] Senior Yr Courseload:

  1. Gov/Econ
  2. Art 1
  3. AP Calc BC
  4. ERWC (I almost died in English as a Jr so AP would be the end of me)
  5. AP Physics 1
  6. Leadership II
  7. Peer Resource (Peer Counseling)

[li] Other stats (Awards, etc.): Received an award from the Alameda County Mental Health Board following the success of a benefit show I helped run (read ECs for more info)[/li]
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[] ECs:

  1. Varsity Soccer
  2. Peer Resource, although it’s a class on campus it requires extensive work outside of school. Have to apply to get in the class. We help students cope with stress and ensure the community within the school is happy and healthy. Ran a benefit show (as mentioned above) that raised over $2500 for Fremont Youth and Family Services and received an award from the Alameda County Mental Health Board.
    [    ] Job/Work/Volunteer Experience:
  3. Still looking for a job heh, trying to get some tutoring actually
  4. Volunteered at Friends of Children with Special Needs, helped kids with special needs learn the basic skills of basketball and soccer such as passing, dribbling, shooting, etc.
  5. Relay for Life Sports Committee, 24-hour relay where people raise money for cancer research, I was in charge of hosting sports events throughout the night
  6. Volunteered at Berkeley Academy, a local after school enrichment center. Helped run summer classes and supervised kids in class and during recess.

[/ul]Location/Person:[ul]
[] State or Country: California
[] School Type, Average Stats of School (if available): http://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/california/districts/fremont-unf/mission-san-jose-high-school-2208 yeah
[] Strengths: Some stats, probably not SAT
[] Weaknesses: SAT, ECs, I don’t have any awards :frowning:

[/ul]Other: I’m primarily concerned with how competitive the College of Chemistry is at Berkeley. While I excel at Chemistry within school, I haven’t done much ECs with chem and given the amount of time left, I’m not sure exactly what I should do.

Any feedback would be appreciated! Thank you :slight_smile:

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Berkeley chemistry: High match

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@tanglepath1 eyyyy another CoC applicant here! my stats are kinda lower (heh) than yours… Based on your rank, you look like you have ELC! UCB, much less CoC, is a complete crapshoot. Stats wise, you’re great. I think if you nail your essays (maybe write about chem), you have a good of a chance as anyone else. I have no idea what CoC acceptance rate is, but remember that UCB has a better Chemistry program than the Ivies. Apply if you want, but don’t rely on this completely.
Here are my stats if you want to look: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1793095-chances-for-ucs-and-csus-will-chance-back.html#latest

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@michelle426 thanks for the reply! so since i havent done much ECs related to chem such as chem oly, how should i go about including chemistry in the essays? would you suggest writing about 1. why im interested/what got me interested and 2. how my personality and work ethic fit the field?

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@tanglepath1 If you looked at my page, all of my chem stuff I did junior year. I, for one, would not write two essays on chem, but maybe one with a focus. I wrote one of my UC essays (prompt 2), and although it is currently a rough draft (conclusion needs to be touched up), I wrote about how my experiences in chemistry lifted me out of a depression that I experienced sophomore year. For prompt 1, you could go very creative and say that Chemistry IS your world, and write about that. For prompt 2, since you have no experience with chem ECs, I’m not sure what you would write about. For now, I say go with prompt 1, and write about how chemistry is your world (it won’t be a cliche silicon valley type thing). If you would like, I can PM you my current UC essay on chem if you need some help.

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@michelle426 I’ll give that a try :slight_smile: if i’m stuck i think reading your essay would help but for now i wanna see what I can do on my own, thanks again though!