Chances for UCB Chemical Engineering?

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

<p>Objective:</p>

<p>SAT I (breakdown): 2290 (770 M, 720 CR, 800 W) (one sitting, going to improve in the Fall)
ACT: 35 (36 M, 33 CR, 35 E, 36 S, Essay: 10)
SAT II: 800 Math II, 800 Chemistry, 780 Bio-M, 760 US History
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0, 4.83 weighted (AP/Hon A+ = 5.0)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1 or 2/250ish
AP (place score in parenthesis): Biology (5), recently took Chemistry/US History (expected 5/5), many more next year
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP Calc BC/Statistics/English Lit & Lang/Psychology/Physics C-M/Latin/online computer science/possible self-studies
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): One gold and one silver on National Latin Exam, judges' choice awards at drum performances in school bands, drum teacher uses me to show off to his other students, Columbia book award, National Merit and National AP Scholar stuff probably lol what even is that</p>

<p>Subjective:</p>

<p>Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Chem Club (founder and president), Ultimate disc (helped found/grow club, long time participant), Math team (4 years), NHS (VP), peer tutoring, Boy Scouts (many years, all sorts of leadership positions), track (2 years), concert (1 year) -> intermediate jazz (1 year) -> advanced jazz (2 years) band
Job/Work Experience: Hospital volunteering
Volunteer/Community service: Eagle Project (won't go into specific detail but it involves helping out kids in a third-world country and relates to my musical passion), plenty of community service hours including math tutoring (not too serious though)
Summer Activities: Backpacking trip, vacations, camp, living life, working on Eagle stuff, YouTube drumming channel, teaching self to code, helping friend improve math testing scores, Ultimate with friends</p>

<p>Other:</p>

<p>State (if domestic applicant): MA (which means I pay almost double tuition)
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public
Race: White
Ethnicity: Hispanic (¿¿¿???)
Gender: M
Income Bracket: ~75,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM sort of? I'm white, though.</p>

<p>Do I have a shot at any sort of merit-based financial aid, too? That would be pretty awesome.</p>

2

<p>You might want to ask a UCB ChemE Grad your question ;)</p>

3

<p>One of S’s friend got into UCLA and UCB for ChemE with lower stats. He was white. I see no problem at all. S got into MechE with slightly lower GPA and SAT/ACT. However we’re all instate. Hispanic helps from what I understand. Merit aid, hmm probably almost nothing. Only one I can think of is Drakes and thats for MechE major only. They have some really nice scholarships but they’re instate or for local bay area kids mostly such as Cal Ops.</p>

4

<p>orbdas - based on your numbers (GPA and test scores), you should be accepted into UCB Chemical Engineering. If your essays are strong (demonstrates impact, leadership, etc), you could be awarded a Regent’s scholarship. Good luck!</p>

5

<p>@santookie</p>

<p>Why do you say I won’t get merit aid? What qualifications would I need to get some sort of scholarship?</p>

6

<p>The Regents’ scholarship is probably the best merit scholarship available unless you are a mechanical engineering major (in which case Drake full ride would be). It is not obvious from the web site whether it will cover the non-resident additional tuition.</p>

<p>Normally, you will be offered financial aid grants based on the following:</p>

<p>Resident COA - FAFSA EFC - Stafford loan - $3,000 (work) = financial aid grants</p>

<p>However, that does not cover the $23,000 per year non-resident additional tuition.</p>

<p>For residents, Regents’ scholarships effectively replace the Stafford loan and $3,000 (work) with additional grants. You may want to call and ask if they would cover the non-resident additional tuition for non-residents.</p>

7

<p>orbdas - Berkeley is a public school and does not offer much merit aid even for instate students. They are not very deep pocketed. They give lots of need based aid, merit is almost non-existent, except in rare outside private cases. It’s not Alabama or anything. They see out of state students as a cash crop to cover there holes for instate Cal grants they give for need based.</p>

8

<p>Especially as you are out of state, you should be a shoe-in.</p>