AP’s: Human Geography (4); World History (4); Statistics (5); Chemistry (5); Language (4); US History (4); Calculus AB (5); Computer Science Principles (5); Computer Science A (5); Psychology (5); Literature (4); Government (5); Calculus BC (5); Biology (5); Environmental Science (5)
ACT: 35
Subject Tests: Math II (800); Chemistry (800); Physics (800)
GPA: 4.52 (W); 3.975 (UW)
Camp Counselor for Kiwanis Camp Casey (576 hours) - Pretty hard job, I am basically one of ~40 counselors taking care of ~100 physically disabled teenagers. Our job duties include: changing, bathing, showering, feeding, putting to bed, waking up, etc etc. One week yearly, 6 day stay for 24 hours each day (sleep with them).
Varsity Tennis (3 years); Captain (1 year); Districts Champ + State Competitor
Internship at local technology company
Worked on independent programming projects; posted on github
Created an app on the app store (hundreds of downloads)
Completed CS50 course (~10-week intro to cs course from Harvard) and received a completion certificate
Chemistry Olympiad Finalist
Went to state - Participated in Science Olympiad and competed under Chemistry division
Participated in a few mathematics competitions like M3, though no big awards
Worked as a math tutor for Best in class
Can you afford UCB at full pay $65K/year to attend? UCB like all the California UC’s give little to no financial aid to OOS applicants. If UCB is affordable, then you are definitely a competitive applicant.
If you live in Washington, going to CA and paying $65k a year for tuition won’t help you, especially when you’re going into something as employable as computers. You’re better off going to UWash and saving the money. Seattle is the second largest tech hub in the nation, which means a ton of internship opportunities. Also, it’s more cost-effective for employers to hire talent locally for entry-level jobs.
However, Washington CS is much more selective than the school overall. You could be admitted to the school but not the CS major; in that case, getting into the CS major later will be very competitive.
For UCB, you can do CS in either the College of Letters and Science (L&S CS) or as EECS in the College of Engineering. L&S admits students undeclared; getting into the L&S CS major requires a 3.3 GPA in three CS courses. EECS is much more competitive for frosh admission, but is direct admission to the major.
For UCB, the EECS entry rate is somewhere between 6-7%. The admission rate to get into L&S is probably around 16%, but around 50% pass the 3.3 gauntlet to get into CS (you get admitted into L&S undeclared). The 50% that get thru are most likely amongst the top people that get into L&S, so you would have somewhat better odds with the L&S CS path of getting in. I think you have at least a 50-50 chance of getting into UCB either way with your stats.
I think you have a good chance at the CS dept at both UW and UCB, because of your good stats and solid ECs demonstrating your interests in CS and serving others. Have you considered the CS program at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo? I have heard that some students have chosen its CS program over those at UCB and UCLA. Do spend time in crafting your essays. To stand out (given your accomplishments in both chemistry and computing), perhaps use computational chemistry as a slant. Carnegie Mellon and Lehigh might be of interest to you.