Hello all. I want to get some opinions on getting into some of the schools I wish to attend - UCLA, UC Berkeley and Cornell!
Objective
SAT I (breakdown): 740 M / 760 W / 660 CR (2160 one sitting) 760 M / 760 W / 680 CR (2200 superscore)
ACT: N/A
SAT II: Planning to take in January. Math 2 and Chemistry.
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): School does not report UW GPA. W GPA: 4.10 (UC GPA: 4.75)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): top 5%, but school does not rank.
AP (place score in parenthesis): n/a
IB (place score in parenthesis): 44/45 (HL: Biology Economics English A Literature / SL: Math Korean A Chemistry)
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
MUN for 3 years (leadership team for school MUN club, chaired for multiple international conferences. Also chaired a local conference first session that was aired in local TV channel)
Student government for 2 year (Treasurer)
Debate team (Organizing team and leader)
School Newspaper (Public relations head)
School choir
Job/Work Experience: International news writer for national youth assembly in Korea, Itern at hotel for 3 months
Volunteer/Community service: Habitat for Humanity, Created new service group to support the local disabled community.
Summer Activities: n/a
Other
State (if domestic applicant): N/A
School Type: International School
Ethnicity: Asian (International)
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: 100k
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): n/a
Applied undeclared for UC Berkeley and UCLA - Letters and Science. What are my chances?
Not entirely sure about applying to Cornell (CALS Dyson). Is it worth trying?
Even if school do not report your UW GPA, you still could calculate it yourself.
(If you have plus/minus in your grades just ignore them!)
Your SAT is a little low. Ideally you want to have 2200+ to be real competitive!
With provided info I consider a low-reach for an international, more so for Cornell!
I understand that my SAT scores aren’t very impressive. I have already submitted my UC apps but I was wondering if I should still try applying to Cornell RD - do you think it is worth a shot?
^ the problem with your SAT, in regard to Cornell, is that though as a whole it looks respectable but Cornell considers the Math and CR parts of it mainly and your 680 CR will be under spotlight instead of your 760 W component! I do not believe you can make it to Cornell!
I think that you should apply anyways, if you really want to. Reach schools are great in that despite low chances, surprises can always occur and can shift your future into something totally unexpected. As you are international, I would say reach for all and a high reach for Cornell (as they do not do UC GPA- but rather UW and W GPA for all years, including first semester senior year). Make sure that you have some significant letters of recommendation in the fields that you desire to study (the latter part if you know of course) and some great essays. If you do so, your chances will be higher. Good luck!
It is not possible for UC gpa to be above 4.33. So I am assuming you have a 4.33 UC gpa, even then you have a pretty good chance to get in to Berkley and LA, Cornell is a reach.
@72soop According to the freshman profiles for Berkeley and ucla, the average student at each school has 4.35+ gpa, so it definitely is possible. You might be thinking of capped uc gpa, which I believe neither ucla nor Berkeley uses. OP, if you do have a 4.75, I think you’ve got a great shot at ucla and have a decent shot at Berkeley. Cornell is a reach for everyone, and being international will make it even harder. No harm in trying, and good luck!
Your GPA is confusing and doesn’t match your test scores.
The UC’s don’t super-score so that 2130 is not competitive for the UC’s you’ve listed. A score of 2250 and above is usually considered equitable with that kind of GPA.
Since the UC’s are public schools, the priority admissions go to instate residents. Your SAT has to be better than the average admit scores.
The UC’s do not have financial aid for OOS/international students so you would be paying $55K per year, more than ½ of your parent’s current annual income. Can they fund that?
