Chances at Berkeley

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Berkeley
1

<p>Hey, can anyone tell me if I even have a chance at getting into Berkeley?
California Resident
Asian Male
Immigrated at age 11
Very competitive high school
API:924
Rank: Don't know probably top 85%
GPA: 4.0 (UC weighted)
SATI: 2040 (M:800 W:620 CR:620) [Retaking in December]</p>

<p>SATII: Math 2c:800, Biology M:730, Chinese:800
Number of A-G courses: 46
Decent EC's: (Boyscouts, club officers, members of a few clubs, 100+ volunteer hours, working on Eagle Scout right now)</p>

<p>Do I have any chances at all? If I do, should I work very hard on my essay? Is there anything that I can do last minute to help my chances?
Thanks.</p>

2

<p>You have to stress the fact that you're an immigrant. Has it impacted your outlook in any way? How will you contribute to diversity? </p>

<p>Answer those questions on your essays and I think you'd have a fair shot because your school is what's holding you down.</p>

3

<p>Thanks for your input, finemeal.</p>

<p>I forgot to mention that I raised my gpa from 3.3 (3.5w) soph year to 4.0 (4.57w) junior year. Do UC's take that into consideration?</p>

4

<p>Yes, they do. But why did it happen? You should have some sort of story as to why you weren't doing very well at one point and what made (or allowed you) to change.</p>

5

<p>Yeah, thats what I plan on writing for my Open-ended question.</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

6

<p>finemeal, I just reread your comment.
Is it only the ranking that's holding me down? I thought my GPA might still be a little low.
What kind of score do I need to get on Dec. SATI to get a better shot?</p>

7

<p>Do UC's even look at an applicants ranking? Nowhere in the application do i remember seeing a spot to write ones ranking..... Not even GPA.. i mean, i assume they calculate the GPA based on the grades u give them but your rank in your class should not matter at all.</p>

8

<p>Oh. So how does my chance seem to you?</p>

9

<p>what major are you going to go for?</p>

10

<p>I don't know.</p>

11

<p>Would my chances improve drastically if I raise my SATI score to 2100+ in December?</p>

12

<p>i wouldn't say drastically, but it would. i think a good personal statement is more important at this point</p>

13

<p>By top 85%, do you mean top 15%?
Or do you really mean that you are in the top 85%? And yes on the application there is a space to put your ranking.
To be honest I think your chances are slim.</p>

<p>But you will definitely get into other UCs.</p>

14

<p>Sigh. I have been working extremely hard on my personal statment.</p>

<p>By top 85%, I mean lower 15%</p>

<p>Others have told me that my chances were not looking too good either. Is it because of the GPA?</p>

15

<p>i ll read it for you</p>

16

<p>I see, well I knew a girl who was also an immigrant who got admitted with an 800 in mathematics, and a 500 in verbal. Yes, 500. And your score is much higher than 500.</p>

17

<p>I am still revising them right now.</p>

18

<p>Well, the reason why is yes, your GPA is pretty low, and secondly, your extracurriculars seem slightly deficient.</p>

<p>However, some of the admits have less EC's than you, so you might not have to worry about that.</p>

<p>The main thing is your GPA.</p>

19

<p>So what is the mean GPA for actual attending freshman at Berkeley?</p>

20

<p>I think it is 3.85 unweighted.</p>