Chances at UC Berkeley??

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Just a disclaimer that I am a sophomore in high school, so there isn’t much to my stats. I also haven’t taken the SATs, but I plan on it and am already studying/practicing for them.

I’ll include my prospective courses for junior/senior year, as well (levels of courses are still unknown).

I plan on attaching my past, present, and future research papers to my application.

Freshman year courses: Hon. English 9, Social Studies, Hon. Alg. 2, Hon. French 2, Intro to Physics, and band elective.
Sophomore year courses: Hon. English 10, World History 2, Acc. Pre-Calculus, Hon. French 3, AP Biology, and band elective.
Junior year courses: AP British Literature, AP US History, Calc AB, Hon. French 4, AP (?) Chemistry, band elective, Intro to Astronomy.
Senior year courses: AP Literature, AP World History, Calc BC, AP French, AP (?) Physics, band elective, personal finance elective.

GPA, etc.:
Class rank at end of freshman year: 58/268 (top 20%)
GPA: 3.75 weighted, 3.25 not (I’m doing a LOT better this year//grades are mainly A’s with one or two B’s)

Standardized tests:
PSATs: take them Oct. 14
SATs: NA at this point

Math/Science related:
Math team (rank 27th for freshman in my region of my state)
Science Bowl team
3rd place in Earth Science, Physics, and Astronomy category at State Science Fair freshman year (technically top Astro. project. Hope to get 1st place this year on my new project)

EC’s:
Class Council and Student Council (running for VP in June, Pres June of junior year)
Debate Team
150+ volunteer hours
Principal flutist of local youth symphony, 2 year in a row
Auditioning for the All-State Band again (hopefully will be accepted)
School band (lead flute)
School jazz band
I plan on applying for NHS
MASSIVE passion for astronomy

I know that UC Berkeley is a reach for me, but I think that the atmosphere seems great there. I think that I would be a great fit there.

PS: Other college I’m considering are Caltech, Boston College, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, McGill, New England Conservatory of Music (dual-ed program with Harvard), Princeton, Swarthmore, University of British Columbia, UCLA, University of Southern California, Harvey Mudd, and University of Toronto. (I know a lot of them are reaches. Some of them on the list I probably won’t apply to.)

2

UC GPA is based on 10-11th grades, so you have just started in 10th grade so there is no way of knowing how you will handle the increasing difficult classes in the next 2 years. Work hard, get good grades, prep for the SAT/ACT and come back after Junior year. For EC’s, do what you like to do and not just to look good for college applications. Look for some leadership opportunities.

3

Thank you for the input! I have been in leadership opportunities through my volunteerism, including being a co-lead of a major aspect of a festival this past summer. I hope to get good grades my junior and senior years, but, I agree, there is no way of knowing.

4

bump

5

You are on the right path. Check back when you have a good handle on your test scores and Jr year grades.

Good luck

6

Thank you!