Chances for UCB/UCI?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I'm new to this forum, so I'm going to try to make this as painless for you guys as possible ^^;; Sorry if everything looks messy... I wanted to include some background information about the programs since I assume that the vast majority of you don't live where I do, haha.</p>

<p>I am a current high school junior (Class of 2013) who lives in Southern California (Orange County, to be specific). I am thinking of attending UCB or UCI, and am probably going to apply to Stanford anyway just to see if I get in (I'm not really counting on it, though). I want to major in Biochemical or Biomedical Engineering, or maybe something with foreign relations.</p>

<p>If it matters, my sister is a current freshman at UCI who had roughly the same stats as I but had higher SAT scores and none of the creative writing awards... haha. She was rejected from Stanford, but I just want to see how I stack up.</p>

<p>These are my stats:
SAT:
1970 in my freshman year (620R, 690M, 660W)
1990 just this year... I'm not planning on taking it again. (630R, 670M, 690W)
AP: AP Euro (4) (at my school, you're not allowed to take AP classes until sophomore year, and those choices are pretty limited). I will be taking the following this year:
-AP US History
-AP Environmental Science
-AP Calculus AB
-AP English Language and Composition
Rank and GPA: I am currently ranked 8 in my class with a GPA of 4.33 weighted and a 3.83 unweighted.</p>

<p>My schedules have been as follows:
Freshman year:
Biology (there is no honors distinction at my school)
Orchestra (there is no official advanced/beginning distinction; I was 2nd chair, 2nd violin, which is the highest ranking of all the other freshmen)
Honors English
Alg. 2/trig
World History Honors
Tennis
Spanish 1</p>

<p>Sophomore year:
Chemistry (no honors distinction, nor AP :(...)
AP European History
Spanish 2
Precalculus Honors
English Honors
Orchestra (highest ranking sophomore, 4th chair first violin)
Tennis</p>

<p>Junior year:
AP US History
AP Environmental Science
AP English Language/Composition
AP Calculus AB
Orchestra (highest ranking junior, 2nd chair first violin)
Spanish 2</p>

<p>Senior Year:
AP Physics
AP Biology
AP English Literature/Composition
AP Calculus BC
Orchestra
Poetry/Story</p>

<p>Awards:
-Girl Scout Bronze/Silver award, working on Gold
-Winner of the annual Creative Writing competition at my school in 4 different categories in the past 3 years
-Garden Grove League Doubles Champion in my junior year
-Outstanding Freshman Musician (discontinued after my freshman year...)
-PTSA Reflections Program Winner (literature, 1st place)
-Most Improved Player (Varsity Tennis)
-In 3 unanimously Superior-rated orchestras at the SCSBOA Regional Festival so far (may be 4 by the end of the year... regionals haven't come around yet)</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
-Girl Scout since 5 or 6 years old, treasurer in Venturing crew for 2011 year
-Varsity Tennis Captain Junior/senior year
-Varsity Tennis since Freshman Year
-GGHS String Orchestra since Freshman Year (currently 2nd chair, 1st violin; concert master next year)
-Gifted and Talented Education - High School String Ensemble in 8th grade (3rd chair, 2nd violin, highest ranked in age)/freshman year (2nd chair, 2nd violin, highest ranked in age) (discontinued after that due to budget cuts... DAMN YOU BUDGET CUTS)
-Gifted and Talented Education - Intermediate String Orchestra in 7th (5th chair, 1st violin; highest ranking 7th grader)/ 8th grade (concert master)
-Instrumental Music Council since sophomore year (cannot be an officer in freshman year) (Orchestra treasurer, then vice president)
-Korean Club since freshman year, Project Chair this year
-Argo Marine Science Club (member in fresh, secretary in soph, pres in junior)
-Member of MESA (have medaled in Alg. 2, Precalculus, Speak Out, Speak Easy, Robotic Arm)
-8th grade Pentathlete (5th individual in division I, 3rd team in division)
-Japanese Club Interclub Council Representative
-Member of Vietnamese club freshman year
-Chosen by the Sister Cities of Garden Grove as one of 10 students to go to Korea in Spring Break as ambassadors to Garden Grove
-First sophomore member of National Honor Society (in order to join, one had to have two officer positions and a 3.0+ unweighted GPA), member junior year
-250+ community service hours (I haven't been keeping track...)
-entered a completed project with a group to the QuikSCience Competition</p>

<p>If you guys could help me with my chances to UCB/UCI/Stanford, that'd be really great! (:</p>

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<p>I also forgot to add that my tennis team placed 2nd freshman year, was undefeated sophomore year, and was 3rd just this year (out of 6 teams).</p>

3

<p>You have a lot of extra currics… HOWEVER… get that SAT score up… even though you don’t plan on taking it again, you should take it again… and also, kinda random, but some of your courses/extra currics seem really similar to mine! I come from a school that doesn’t allow you to take any APs until your soph. year either…
Um as far as UCI, you should have no problem… around 85% of the people that apply from my school get in, and I’m also from a school in So. Cal. hahaha, UCB might be a bit of a stretch, but if you can raise your SATs to 2200+, Berkeley is a guarantee. Stanford might be a pretty far reach, but you can always try :smiley:
The thing is… it also sucks just because asian females= the highest standardized test scores, and I’m also Korean, so I understand that the competition is very high… I guess if you’re good at tennis though, you should try to get recruited… I know Stanford is probably a no unless you’re nationally ranked top 50, but UCI and UCB are easy to get recruited to if you’re a 3-4 star recruit on tennisrecruiting :P</p>

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<p>AND assuming that you played varsity on a HS team in OC (because most OC teams are Div.I), you should probably be ranked around that high I’d assume?</p>

5

<p>HAHAHAHAHAHAHA you’re funny xD Me? Get recruited? Sorry, but that’s much farther than a dream.</p>

<p>Unfortunately, there’s a liiiiittle pocket in OC that has the most average of tennis players. And that’s Garden Grove. We’re a small city that’s overshadowed by close, rich neighbors LA and Anaheim (with dat Disneylanddd).</p>

<p>The majority of parents in our district are Asian and refuse to spend money and effort on sports because they would rather do so in education (understandably). I have never once had a private lesson, nor will I ever as long as I live under my parents’ roof. I have never played in a tournament other than the League Finals individual tournaments (which is how I won in Doubles), so I can’t be ranked. Our school plays the high-ranked OC teams you’ve heard about and gets absolutely decimated in the pre-season because almost none of our members have ever had a private lesson. We only have one full-time coach, so the team captain is the one who teaches the girls when guys’ season rolls around.</p>

<p>I really wish I could get recruited :confused: But I lack the talent and the training to get recruited, despite my championship victory.</p>

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<p>Thanks for your opinion anyway (: I’m not planning on investing money in an SAT class, though, and I honestly feel that the test scores are a waste since 1990 is already a pretty great score. (And I’m also intimidated by the fact that my sister, who I regard as more intelligent than me, reached only a 2140 after taking a Kaplan class. I say “only” because you mention getting 2200 as a guaranteed acceptance)</p>

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<p>I would suggest applying to some additional UCs since you are doing the same application anyway and only have to pay the additional app. fees. UC Davis and UC San Diego would fit your profile pretty well and I would give UCLA a try as well, particularly if you are ELC eligible. Both UCB and UCLA would be reaches, given your current test scores, and Stanford is frankly out of reach, imo, but apply if you want. You may also want to add Cal Poly SLO to your list. I would look at adding a few more schools, depending on your financial aid needs. </p>

<p>Your ECs before high school are kind of a non-factor in your college resume and don’t really need to be included. You have strong ECs during your high school years anyway, so don’t worry about including pre-HS activities.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

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<p>@jshain
I’m actually a little hesitant to apply to LA because I personally don’t like big cities like LA… I’m not too fond of choking over car smog and street smokers :confused: But I will be applying to Davis and SD as well (: I’m aware that Stanford is pretty far from my reach, but I’m willing to apply anyway to take that shot. I haven’t looked into Cal Poly SLO, but I will now! (:</p>

<p>I didn’t know that pre-HS ECs were irrelevent… haha, thanks for letting me know (:</p>

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<p>Hm… don’t take a class, but self study for it when you have some time over your jr/sr year summer. I never took a single prep class and I got a 2330 on my first try self studying. No I’m not smart, no I’m not a good test taker (I’m actually really bad at mult choice). Just get one of those books and read that, it helps you out a lot… more than a class I’d assume, b/c my friend took a class and told me that a book was all I needed.
And oh… LOL yea, my school plays a few OC teams too, and they’re really good… we got wrecked by Uni and HW, but we somehow managed to beat Troy and Peninsula idk how :)</p>

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<p>Mmm. I will outright admit that I’m too lazy to read the SAT books that I have, haha. And I really want to invest my summer before senior year doing things that I love… like training my team for season and taking dance classes LOL.</p>

<p>Dude :frowning: We play Valencia and Edison among others… and they’re freaking asdfjkl; We’ve never played Troy, Uni, UW, or Peninsula, but we’ve seen Costa Mesa play… and they’re freaking beast. We’d get killed in an hour, tops, haha. :'D</p>

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<p>Your sister scoring a 2140 on the SAT I versus your 1990 could likely be the difference between getting accepted and rejected at Cal. My son, who is a freshman at Cal, increased his score by just over 200 points after taking the Princeton Review prep course. Each person is different with regard to their score increase, but a review course is like hiring a personal trainer. They force you take test after test. My son would never have done the test taking on his own. If your parents are willing and able financially to enroll you in the class, I would do it.</p>

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<p>HAHAHA yea, Valencia’s pretty good too, we ALMOST lost to them, it was pretty close… but then again, our best player only shows up to the matches that he feels like coming to, so he ditched against Valencia… pretentious ****… and yea, don’t all out grind for SAT prepping, but take a look at some of the grammar rules/etc (I spent 2 hours studying grammar and I jumped up from a 600 to an 800)… because HONESTLY, the only thing that UCs look for are SATs and GPA… they don’t really care about ECs, but private colleges care about them a lot, so Stanford probably would care about ECs.
But I’m not here to discourage you at all, but it’s definitely something you should consider :P</p>

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<p>Really? I was looking at Collegeboard’s profile of Berkeley and they ECs are under “Important”, as are SAT scores. They also have a note from the college that they are looking for people who will contribute to the “intellectual and cultural vitality of the campus”, so I don’t think that SAT scores are going to be so heavily stressed. Not to mention that my scores are smack in the middle of their general acceptance scores. :confused: I’m not so sure that SAT scores are as important.</p>

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<p>MMMmmmm I’m not too sure about that… I guess they kinda do look at ECs, but from the general standpoint of acceptances from my school, they weigh a TON on GPA/SAT. The thing is though, my school is a feeder school to UC Berk., so I guess they put a lot of trust into us, so they expect a lot less from us… but then again, it could go both ways.
My brother had a whatever GPA (3.7 ish, 4.4 weighted), and a decent ACT score (34), but he had a TON of ECs, and he got into Cal,Vanderbilt,Emory,Wash U, UCLA, etc…
my brother’s friend had a whatever GPA (around a 3.7, 4.4 weighted as well), pretty solid SAT score (2230), and NO ECs whatsoever, and got into every single UC.
Both of them were SUPER DGAF. LOL, they never studied, slept around 10 hrs a day, and they didn’t even take any AP exams senior year hahaha, all of their teachers were like “***?” and had this super long conversation with them :stuck_out_tongue:
But going back to my point, it could go both ways, but generally the trend that I’ve seen for UCs and USC is that :
a. If you have national merit (semi-finalist at least, commended doesn’t count), you’re guaranteed an acceptance to USC with at least a half ride
b. If you have a high SAT/ACT score, that’s a pretty much guarantee into any UC</p>

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<p>:/ I dunno. I’ve heard a lot of things otherwise… I feel really misinformed. My friend got a higher SAT score, a higher GPA, had a ton more ECs, and had a much more rigorous high school career than someone else she knew; she got flat-out rejected from UCLA while the other person was waitlisted. I guess my point here is that I don’t know if any of these things really matter… it seems like schools aren’t being very consistent with the way they choose people 'cause she’s clearly superior to the other guy, but she wasn’t waitlisted like he was.</p>

<p>It seems to me like it was because he had a rockin’ personal statement, but I haven’t read either of theirs, so I can’t say that for sure.</p>

<p>I feel really misguided as to what really matters the most :/</p>