Chances at UCs and some privates [organized]

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hi, thanks for reading this, and hopefully you can help me by giving me some advices.</p>

<p>Schools
UC Berkeley (UC's are instate)
UCLA
UCSD
UCI
Harvey Mudd
Carnegie Mellon
USC
Stanford
University of Pennsylvania (UPenn)
Cornell
Tufts
WUSTL</p>

<p>Also please suggest any other universities that have good engineering/physics/business majors</p>

<p>Demographics
Asian male
California big, public high school</p>

<p>Majors
Probably going to major in engineering, or some science (physics and such), or business/econ</p>

<p>GPA
3.8 unweighted as shown on transcript, but..
3.97 unweighted if taken into account of a special circumstance that my counselor will explain
4.25 UC capped GPA
~4.4 UC uncapped GPA</p>

<p>Standarized Testing
SAT: CR 730; M 800; W 730; essay 11 (2260 total)
SAT II Math IIC: 800
SAT II Physics: 800
SAT II Chemistry: 780
SAT II Chinese: 730
AP CompSci A: 5
AP Calculus BC: 5 (AB subscore 5)
AP Chemistry: 5
AP English Language: 5
AP Physics B: 5</p>

<p>Extracurricular Activities
Chemistry Club (9, 10, 11, 12)
Astronomy Club (11, 12) (Vice-President)
FBLA (11, 12)
Computer Club (9)
Science Olympiad (11, 12)
Science Bowl (12)
Community Volunteer (9, 10, 11, 12) (~200 hours)
Library Volunteer (10, 11, 12) (~100 hours)
NHS (10, 11, 12)
Summer job (11)</p>

<p>Awards
Various awards earned in Science Olympiad
NHS
CSF (California thing)
President Honor Roll (?)</p>

<p>Others
-At least one recommendation letter will be pretty good
-I think I can distinguish myself in my essays.. not sure though
-I showed a lot of improvement in English, as can be seen with my transcript
-Counselor recommendation might not be very good, as this is a big public high school
-Instate for California
-Need to apply for financial aid
-No legacy
-Lots of traveling to China</p>

<p>Thank you for looking, and evaluate my chances at the aforementioned universities, even if you are familiar with only a few of them. Again, I'm not here trying to "show off" my grades or anything (they are not even that great compared to others, anyways). So please, any help would be appreciated.</p>

2

<p>I know that I am going to be ripped for this:</p>

<p>FORMAT:
School - designation, source</p>

<p>UC Berkeley - safety/match, from what friends say
UCLA - safety/match, from what friends say
UCSD - safety, from what friends say
UCI - safety even more, from personal experience
Harvey Mudd - match/very slight reach (being male), i go here
Carnegie Mellon - match, from reputation
USC - match, brother went here
Stanford - match/slight reach (just unpredictible), from reputation
University of Pennsylvania - match, from reputation
Cornell - match, family went here
Tufts - safety, dad went here
WUSTL - match/safety, brother goes here</p>

3

<p>prometheus:</p>

<p>UCB/UCLA: Safe Match, Match (Engineering)
UCSD: Safety, Safe Match (Engineering)</p>

4

<p>bump</p>

<p>thanks for the inputs so far! can someone else help?</p>

5

<p>Stanford is a reach. I see nothing that truly pops out at me as a hook. Please remember that HYPSM are reaches for most people, so you're not going to stand out from all other candidates, but you're not going to get eliminated either.</p>

6

<p>Well yeah, I know that HYPSM will all be pretty far reaches, but I will go visit Stanford so might as well put it on the list.</p>

<p>Any other opinions? Thanks!</p>

7

<p>Stanford doesn't care whether you show interest or not.</p>

8

<p>B.U.M.P.</p>

<p>(Which means Bring My Post Up, by the way)</p>

<p>Anyone else? Is my list kinda balanced in respect to safe/match/reach?</p>

9

<p>what does it mean by UC capped and uncapped? sorry im just stupid</p>

10

<p>Most UC's cap your weighted GPA at 8 semesters total, so even if you have taken 10 AP classes (just for example), only eight semester of that count as honors level classes.</p>

11

<p>Promethus,</p>

<p>Let me congratulate you on an excellent academic record. Except for Stanford and Penn, I think you've got above average chances at all the other schools you've listed. Harvey Mudd may be unpredictable due to its small size alone. For the UC's, as you may know if you are seeking admission into the Engineering College, the selectivity is stepped up. UCB and UCLA are never "safety" schools for anyone, although you've got as strong a chance as anybody. For Tufts and WUSTL, do everything you can to demonstrate interest -- communicate with them; order a video; visit if you can. These schools in particular will want to know that you really LOVE them, else you might find yourself on the wait list, even with your strong profile.</p>

<p>All in all, you've got GREAT chances at any of the schools on your list. Why didn't you include Cal Tech and MIT?</p>

12

<p>Thanks NorCalDad for the evaluation!</p>

<p>I didn't include Caltech and MIT because I thought they are, one, extremely hard to get in and I haven't showed any particular "hook"-like passion in science/math, and two, the curriculum and people there might be too far above my level that, even if I do get in somehow, I can't catch up with others and will face a miserable time.</p>

<p>Also, I felt like Harvey Mudd is kinda the Caltech, but on a less techinical-like style and with access to the other 5 C's at Claremont.</p>

<p>Anyone else, please?</p>

13

<p>Looks good for the UCs/USC. Stanford's not very predictable.</p>

<p>If you end up deciding you like math/science/engineering, you certainly have the scores that imply you'd do well.</p>

14

<p>bump! anyone else please?</p>

15

<p>UC Berkeley (UC's are instate)-slight reach
UCLA-match
UCSD-match/slight reach
UCI-safty
Harvey Mudd-slight reach
Carnegie Mellon-reach
USC-slight reach
Stanford-uber big reach
University of Pennsylvania (UPenn)-big reach
Cornell-reach
Tufts-reach
WUSTL-reach</p>

<p>you have no leadership positions..and thats important for good schools...</p>

16

<p>thanks</p>

<p>anyone else?</p>

17

<p>UC Berkeley is not a reach for this kid, nor is it a saftey.
And how is UCLA and Washington Univ in St. Louis a saftey/match while USC is a match???
UCLA and Washington are both harder to get into than USC.</p>

<p>Also, UCs dont weigh the ECs as much as the elite private universities, but that doesnt mean they dont care.</p>

18

<p>I don't think USC is easier to get into than UCLA. I personally didn't apply to USC, but the people that got into Berkeley and UCLA all got rejected at USC (at least the 8 or so that applied). I actually think USC might be a little numbers-based than UCLA because those SAT averages are pretty darn high.</p>

<p>To the OP: Stanford and UPenn are reaches for you (and for most people), BUT, I would throw in MIT and Caltech, if you want to spend the money (it's worth it), because that would bring your reaches up to 4. Your chances increase much more; you often see on cc that someone got rejected from Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, and MIT, but then they'll get into Yale. This is just hypothetical, but you have a shot at any school. Don't be discouraged from applying anywhere; you have the stats, now it's just time to let your application shine. Who knows? Maybe you'll do better on one "reach" application and it'll pay off in the end. It paid off for me; I had 4 reaches on my list, and luckily got into one of them.</p>

19

<p>bump... any more inputs? Thanks!</p>

20

<p>Rocket DA, im not sure where you came up with those odds, they seem way off to me, but everyone is entitles to their opinion.</p>

<p>UC Berkeley: Match-Safe Match
UCLA: Match-Safe Match
UCSD: Safe Match
UCI: Safety
Harvey Mudd: Safe Match
Carnegie Mellon: Match-Safe Match
USC: Safe Match
Stanford: Slight Reach
University of Pennsylvania: Match-Slight Reach
Cornell: Match
Tufts: Safe Match-Safety
WUSTL: Match</p>