Hello!
I’m deciding if I should apply to UC Berkeley. I would love for someone to go over my credentials and tell me what they think about my fit for the school.
My intended major is undecided intending to go into biology. Still not sure what I want to do in biology but I know that I’ll stay within biology.
Stats:
4.39/4.5 gpa
6 AP classes at the end of senior year
A total of 4 A- and 1 B+ in all honors or AP classes (rest are A’s)
ACT: 32 (35 in math 35 in writing -not as good in reading in science)
Will be doing SAT2 in November and sending them straight from testing agency (expected 750+ on Math2 and BiologyM maybe)
Pretty Strong EC’s: (in my opinion) (trend in biology and French)
Harvard research at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (sponsored staff)
Bioengineering club VP and P (Biogen and MIT associated- spoke at conference March 9 2017 Cambridge MA)
Raising $500 in grant money for Bioengineering club
Publication article with 5 awards in Biotechnology journal
Science team (3 years)
Worked with handicapped adults and young adults for 2 summers (300 hours)
Selected for Oxford University Trip
French Club Co-president and President (brought attendance back)
French Library creator (maintain for 3 years)
Legislative council (2 years)
Student Council
Internship with engineering
English Club (four years?)
Basketball (Freshman and AAU)
Lacrosse (JV)
Student mentor
Ski team
Counselor at summer camp
Christmas in the City fundraiser
Thurston Thursday Club
BU Camp (Business classes and econ classes)
Living in Massachusetts
Ethnicity: White
Bilingual (cause of French EC’s)
Canadian Citizen (if that matters). Dual citizen (American citizen as well)
Very good public high school (Awarded Blue Ribbon around 2 years ago)
I would love someone else’s take
Thanks in advance
Your ECs look pretty strong but your gpa is a notch below who Berkley admits (UCs decisions especially are very tough on lower GPAs) and test scores are just inches away from very competitive for Berkley. I’d say get your act science and reading up somehow and write some killer essays/ get some really good recommendation letters!
You could also try to apply to an easier major to get into and then transfer over to biology if you’re admitted…
You’re also OOS so the cost is going to be about 60,000 without financial aid. Also for OOS only AP scores earn the extra weighted GPA point.
For approximately the same cost BU is a better choice for Biology.
No out of state financial aid, unless you get a rare merit scholarship.
2 is incorrect. The main biology majors are in the L&S division, which admits all as undeclared. The L&S biology majors are not competitive to declare if you earn C or higher grades in their prerequisites.
If you are premed, it may be better to choose a lower cost school closer to your in state public medical schools.
@Hamurtle I’m curious as to why you say BU would be better than UC Berkeley. I always though the UCs (especially Berkeley) were know for their biology. Thanks for the input.
Biology at the UCs is an impacted major so it’s unlikely for an OOS to be accepted. The ACT is low for Berkeley as well.
BU is actually good at Biology and your GPA/standard test score make it a match.
Once again, biology (molecular and cell biology and integrative biology) at UCB are not impacted majors.
Students in the UCB College of Letters and Science (the largest division) just need to earn C grades in the prerequisites to declare those majors.
https://mcb.berkeley.edu/undergrad/major/major/declaring
https://ib.berkeley.edu/undergrad/major/declaring.php
Of course, it is not easy to get admitted to UCB in the first place.
Does money matter at all? My understanding is that Biology is an area where graduate school is very likely to be needed (or medical school or veterinary school or …), so you should be budgeting for more than 4 years.
Where else are you planning on applying?
@DadTwoGirls it does matter but its not a limiting factor - especially since BU costs about the same. I’ll be applying to Tufts, Northeastern, Cornell, Toronto (I heard they have a good program), Michigan, UMass, BU, maybe Notre Dame, and some other UCs
I think that you should consider McGill also. Otherwise you have some good schools on your list in Post #9. Note that the out of state public schools, and particularly the UC’s (such as Berkeley) are very likely to be full pay.