Chances for CS programs

And for UCB and UCLA, would it help if I enrolled in more community college classes and got A’s in them? That would increase my GPA a bit.

I have nothing to contribute to chances but I think it’s interesting that I’m also a junior shooting for CS that’s starting a programming club w/ lectures next year and doing app development + contests haha

Say what?! No one has their safeties sorted out in FOUR days.
On freaking Thursday, you didn’t even think you had ECs.
That’s not time to vet.
So all you did is give us lip service in order to ping pong right back to the fixation on ucb/ucla??? They are uber reaches for you.

Again, your grades, AP 4s, lack of EC breadth, etc.
They do not want unilateral.
And that article didn’t say MIT’s motto is work hard play hard.

So, are you kidding with us?

L&S means life sciences? Does that mean you are willing to give up your dream of studying computer science in order to get into a specific school? Why would you do that? Do you have a life goal beyond getting into college?

You won’t get into EECS because it’s as hard as getting into Harvard and you can’t afford any flaw. So, yes, if you want a shot at UCB CS, apply through L&S.

What do you consider safeties? It was my impression you thought Cal poly SLO is a safety… And for CS, it isn’t.

Keep in mind that as a future CS major you need to be top 5% among the typical pool in California applying to the university and ucgpa reigns supreme.

Your best bet is to apply to OOS universities that value top scores and where you’re easily top 10-15% even for a CS major - ASU Barrett, UMN Twin cities, Penn State, Colorado Boulder …
Apply to three among those and you have excellent safeties.
Do that in August and you can start adding your matches and reaches right after - you’ll hear back by December and be good.

I don’t know how to rank sjsu and UCSC for CS since so much in your application is what you plan on doing. Don’t consider them safeties perhas low matches.

The fact you were social is good in a way if you can tell cool, down to earth, non orky geeky stories but it’s not enough for all the tippy top universities.

To increase your odds, make sure that work you’re doing at USC is published, continue with the robotics team and have fun being a leader (even if you don’t win), continue in math.

Most of all, read the results thread. Look up ski_racer’s, who had a great profile plus boosts but didn’t get into universities everyone thought he would (thread is “rejected but relieved”). Look up @Lindagaf 's “average excellent”, thread, about kids with your profile or actually better.

For now, an exercise: Find five reasons each why your safeties are perfect for you, and list them on your thread.

@gallentjill L&S = letters and sciences, non-engineering majors

Will you be able to get the computer science training you need if you go L&S?

^Yes, that’s the point - Berkeley has two pathways for CS, one direct from high school called EECS (EXTREMELY selective) and one where the student is admitted to L&S, has to take some extremely difficult and popular classes and rank in the top 25-30% or so in each in order to get “entrance to major” grades sufficient to get into the CS major. That second path is about as selective as Berkeley (about 15%) so the odds are better than for EECS which is significantly harder than L&S to get into and unreachable for OP due to a C, a B in Calculus, etc.

So the question is whether its worth it to risk not being able to get your major, but have a prestigious degree, or guarantee entrance to the major you want at a less selective school, right? I know which I would choose!

What do you consider safeties and matches?

UCB and UCLA L&S would still be reaches for you, but not as high of a reach as UCB EECS and UCLA CS.

UCB L&S students need to earn a 3.3 GPA in CS 61A, 61B, 70 to declare the L&S CS major. About half of the students in these courses earn B+ or higher grades.

UCLA L&S students will find that there is no L&S CS major there. Getting into the CS major means changing into the CS major in the engineering division, which is very difficult and competitive. So trying to study UCLA CS starting from L&S admission is not a realistic way of doing so.

@MYOS1634 does the fact that the c was in English make it any better? This was a one time anomaly. My teacher does have a pretty bad reputation. No, I’m not blaiming it on her. It was kind of her fault, but I admit that it’s mostly mine.

Also, do my Olympiad awards and test scores compensate for the b’s in stem classes? Also, my research involves calculus. It would be impossible to conduct if I didn’t have a very thorough understanding of calculus

@ucbalumnus are you guaranteed the transfer into CS at ucla if you have a perfect or near perfect gpa?

Also, if I applied to a less competitive major like materials engineering at ucb and ucla and got in, how hard would it be to transfer to eecs or CS?

Re: #51

No. Hard.

And most people do not earn as high GPA in college as they do in high school.

OP, you need to stop using the word IF. IF this and IF that won’t work. 4 years of consistent hard work is what you should have done, IF you wanted to get into the heavy reach schools on your list. Now is the time to be realistic and come up with schools that you can get into and you will be happy with.

What Olympiad awards? “I’m also competing in the USACO next year…” You’ve also mentioned USNCO.
If you aren’t already chosen for a camp this summer, seems to me this wouldn’t be annouced until well past college app deadlines. ?

Think of how many kids in California made AIME qualifier. Most will apply to UC Berkeley and UCLA. Imagine their rate of acceptance is three times that of a non qualifier. That’s still roughly 2/3 odds of NOT getting in. Now keep in mind that other states’ AND countries’ qualifiers will also be applying (as well as to Harvey Mudd and other Putnam-winning programs).
Think of all the kids in your high school. Can you say with confidence you’re among the top 10?
If you’re top 10%, then you’re good for CS outside of California, but within California the competition for CS is incredible. All the top math/STEM kids will apply to the same majors and only a few per high school gets in.
With that level of competition within California, there’s no “mitigating”, unless you were, say, homeless or fighting cancer (and even these kids may not get a break).
The issue isn’t your qualifications - they’re great. But at the universities and for the programs you’re applying for, they’re run off the mill. It’s really hard to think through, yet as a wise man said, the ability to hold two contradictory thoughts in one’s head is a proof of intelligence - you’re both great and just average. Right now you’re not seeing how you’re average because you don’t have many to compare yourself to. That’s why I suggested you read the thread about “average excellent” students as well as all the results threads.
UC’s and CSU’s have foolproofed their system so that it’s almost impossible to switch into CS from another major.
You do have a shot at L&S at UCB but it means odds are high you won’t get in. For CS, you have to think differently.
Are you okay applying to three out of ASU Barrett, Colorado Boulder, Penn State Schreyer, UMN Twin Cities?
You’d be much happier there than at Cal Poly Pomona or UC Merced.
Then add UMaryland and UWisconsin. Once you’re done with that you can apply wherever you want.
Curious as to why you’ve not considered UPenn’s NETS program.
BTW you should apply to UEdinburgh’s AI program. They’ll value your scores and research, won’t care that you got one C in English once, and it’s one of the best in the world. Of course it’s far and it’s not sunny.