Chances - Low GPA - ENGINEERING!

<p>I intend to apply for Engineering Undeclared, apparently one of the most difficult majors to get into
Asian/CALIFORNIAN/at least top 10%/from a semi-competitive school (15% of 2005 Class will attend Ivies/Cal/UCLA next year)</p>

<p>Grades
9th - 10th Summer
Ceramics (1 semester class) - A</p>

<p>10th
American Hist. - A/A }
American Lit. - A/A } You're forced to take these classes
Int. Science 2 - A/A }
Algebra 2 - A/A
Orchestra - A/A
Comp Sci - A/A
Spanish 3 - A/A</p>

<p>10th - 11th Summer
Chemistry - A/A</p>

<p>11th
Honors Euro Lit - B/B
AP US Hist. - A/B
AP Chemistry - A/B
AP Stats - A/A
AP Comp Sci - A/A
Orchestra - A/A
H. Pre Calc - A/A</p>

<p>12th - Expected schedule and first semester grades
AP Enviro - A
AP Bio - A
AP English - B
AP Physics - A
AP Gov/Honors Econ - A
Calculus - A
Orchestra - A</p>

<p>... my UC gpa comes out to be around 4.14 Weighted and 3.86 Unweighted - please correct me if I'm wrong</p>

<p>Standardized Test Scores
SAT I - 2270 (720 verbal/760 math/790 writing)
SAT IIs - 790 Chemistry/800 Math IIC
PSAT - 225 (75 verbal/80 math/70 writing); should qualify me for national merit semi finalist
AP Scores - Will these play a role in the admissions process?</p>

<p>Community Service
200+ hours from library and local shelter</p>

<p>Awards
None, lol owned</p>

<p>In conclusion...
How do my chances look thus far? Slim, right? My GPA is weak in comparison to the reported 4.40+ average of Cal engineering students - it's not even possible to achieve a UC gpa that high in my school! Should I retake the SAT I? I am almost certain I can break the 2300 mark - but will this even make a difference? It's been a dream of mine to attend Cal and I can't see myself graduating from a university of the likes of UCLA or UCSD, so if I don't have at least a 50-50 chance of getting in as an "Engineering Undeclared" student, I will apply as a less impacted Engineering major. How do the different Engineering majors rank in competitiveness of admission? What else can I do over the summer to boost my chances? </p>

<p>Thanks for reading this post and go BEARS!</p>

<p>EECS is more competitive than Engineering Undeclared, and I got in with stats surprisingly similar to yours. In fact, my GPA both W/UW is the exact same as yours(I don't know what it is with that 4.4 GPA stat, I know other engineering students and they're nowhere near that GPA; don't sweat the GPA much). </p>

<p>I had a 1510 + 780 verbal = 2290, which is only 20 points above your 2270 and my PSAT was also 225(you'll get national merit semifin for sure, that's a good award for you to put down). I had 800/800 IIc/Physics which is effectively the same as your scores.</p>

<p>I had slightly more community service hours than you(which also involved leadership) but I don't think that will break your app.</p>

<p>APs I had 5/5/5 on Stat/Euro/Phys Junior year and took 6 APs + calculus senior year, which isn't too far off of where you are now.</p>

<p>In short, don't sweat it, you look like you'll do fine. Be sure to work a bit on your essays and not make yourself seem like a stereotypical hardworking asian though(also, the CoE asks you to mention you interest in engineering in your essays, be sure not to shrug this off completely).</p>

<p>(your high school also looks surprisingly similar to mine, especially when looking at the courses you've taken; do you by any chance live in Irvine, CA?)</p>

<p>Oh wow, this guy is my younger self. I had way more EC's and stuff like that however, but, my PSAT score was a pathetic 205-ish :(. 'Tis okay, though, things apparently worked out for me:</p>

<p>I'm sitting pretty in EECS, and I suggest that you don't sweat it. And, by sitting pretty, I mean I'm cruising for a brusin'. And by I'm cruising for a brusin', I mean I am readily preparing myself for the eventual terminal spiral that will be my GPA. And by GPA, I mean...Gippa. And by Gippa, I mean... right.</p>

<p>At any rate, by the looks of your schedule, I think you go to NHS in Irvine, CA. Or, maybe UHS. Or, maybe WHS. But you do not go to IHS.</p>

<p>
[quote]
Thanks for reading this post and go BEARS!

[/quote]

No.</p>

<p>Yea I do attend a school in Irvine, California.</p>

<p>How was the mean GPA in this pdf "Fact Sheet" about Berkeley's 2005 engineering freshmen calculated? <a href="http://coe.berkeley.edu/newsroom/2005/FactsBrochure05.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://coe.berkeley.edu/newsroom/2005/FactsBrochure05.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Will low AP scores affect my chances of admission? I haven't received them yet, but I doubt I got straight 5's.</p>

<p>do you go to NHS?</p>

<p>I'm really not sure how the mean gpa was calculated there, but I know two other cal engineers from NHS(and then myself) and not one of us have GPAs even approaching 4.40. My GPA was, as I said earlier, 4.14 and 3.86 UW(though all of my Bs were in freshman year and first semester of sophomore year so my transcript showed a drastic improvement). Don't sweat the GPA.</p>

<p>It's a hard call on the AP scores. Most colleges say that they don't consider AP scores too much, but obviously higher scores are preferable to lower scores. It won't make or break your application though(unless you're ChemE with a 2 on AP Chem maybe, but a 4 on AP Bio going into EECS won't hurt you).</p>

<p>if you're who i think you are, you should have no problem getting in</p>

<p>Man, this is so sad. Do we have nothing to do over sumemr that we're all on CC??? so many peopel from our asian,nerdy, super competitive school. lol.... i started this by telling pre-med club people to go here.</p>

<p>Dude as long as you are 2200+ , 4.2+ your fine.. Ec's don't mean shti for UC, essays dont mean crap either.
Just get those stats and you are fine.
Or else you get jacked like carly. * sigh*
Admissions are always a crap shoot anyways, you never know man. Be prepared for the worst.
Berekely is also a bad school, too many ugly terrorists/asians. Bads sports, bad location. C'mon, picture you with Albert Wang. </p>

<p>Olin with legacy > Berkeley.
I dont think there's anymore you can do other than maybe some last minue EC's. Your fate is sealed, have fun senior year and if your not applying to privates your grades are finished. Talk more in class man, dont be so quiet. Go out, party. Ask out kelsey k.</p>

<p>Um... right</p>

<p>The Comp Sci AB test raped me; I got a 3 (answered 60% of FRQs). Will this make/break my app? I do not intend to transfer into EECS if I get accepted. Should I make this clear in the essays so admission people overlook the score? Does NHS include our AP scores on our transcripts? If this is not the case, would it be best to just not report the score?</p>

<p>Don't UCs take into consideration first semester senior grades?</p>

<p>No, NHS will not include your AP scores on your transcript(you don't even send in an official transcript to Cal until after being accepted, etc.) You have to input your grades into their online application.</p>

<p>The 3 won't break your application certainly. It might have weakened had you been applying to EECS, but as Engineering Undeclared it certainly won't do as much to weaken it. I've heard of Engineering Undeclared being used as a backdoor into EECS as EECS is more difficult to get into(not that I have any source for either of these claims) so the admissions officers might believe you're attempting to do the same. Unless you're really not sure what engineering you'd like to do(or would like to leave your options open), I'd suggest applying directly to something that interests you. </p>

<p>I would also not suggest indicating that you do not wish to transfer into EECS in your application. Firstly, I can't think of a good way in which you could indicate that in your essays without sounding awkward and really stupid. Additionally, I'd try to pass off my experience with CS as representative of my open-mindedness with respect to different engineering disciplines(you could use Chem, Bio, Enviro, etc. in much the same way) </p>

<p>I personally would not report the score, but I do not have any compelling reason to do or not to do so.</p>

<p>What is your intention in applying Engineering Undeclared? To leave your options open?</p>

<p>Yep I'm applying Engineering Undeclared to leave my options open. Honestly I don't want to consider EECS because of all the news about outsourcing jobs to other countries. </p>

<p>Do the UCs look at first semester senior grades when admitting students?</p>

<p>Over her junior-senior summer my sister won a bunch of money by winning random small essay contests. Assuming I do the same, is there a place on the app for these accomplishments?</p>

<p>No, they will not look at your senior year grades, as you won't have the opportunity to report them. I have, though, heard of some people being requested for their grades, but this is the exception rather than the rule. As far as I can tell, being requested to do so is fairly rare and I don't think you have anything to worry about.</p>

<p>You might be able to list accomplishments in winning small essay contests like that in the "Awards" section or, better yet, include them in your essays.</p>

<p>I thought that it was harder to get into undeclared than EECS because they only let you into undeclared if you would be qualified for every type of engineering. Anyways, they're all hard. My question is, how do you predict your senior year grades? I'm coming from NY - is that a Cali thing?</p>

<p>I believe the Moore's report reported a higher average SAT & GPA in EECS than in Engineering Undeclared, which is where that probably comes from. It's far from a good indicator, but it's really the only way to rank them.</p>

<p>I might be misunderstanding your question about predicting grades, but he is just predicting what grades he thinks he will get first semester of senior year based on his own strengths and weaknesses. Obviously there's a chance of some error in the predictions, but I think he was under the impression that Cal would look at his first semester grades when evaluating his application and subsequently provided a rough estimate for us to use when evaluating his chances.</p>

<p>According to my calculations, your GPA is 4.30 rather than 4.14. Pre-Algebra counts as an AP, and all the APs are 5 credit. 9th grade doesnt count.</p>

<p>Remember to do well on your PSAT and new SAT's, getting at least 220 and 2250 respectively. And remember to score perfectly on Math since most engineering acceptees score 800.</p>

<p>I'm bumping this ancient thread for a few more opinions. Thanks!</p>

<p>Can't edit first post - I have a few awards NOW - AP Scholar with distinction and National Merit Semi</p>

<p>can u say "EECS", get accepted, then change your major? (and is this different for out of state students?)</p>

<p>From other posters in this thread, it seems like getting into EECS is harder than getting in as an Engineering Undeclared major... so if you are still undecided about your major, just apply EU. I don't believe it's different for out of state</p>

<p>I don't think your GPA is low at all for engineering. A good personal statement should get you in because your stats are pretty good, so good luck</p>

<p>UCs will NOT see your senior year grades...until you send them your transcript [and SIR ;)].</p>

<p>your UC gpa = 4.13, and that's what they will consider.</p>

<p>Soph Year: </p>

<p>16 A's + 0 B's = 4*16 = 64 grade points (includes Chem)</p>

<p>Jr year</p>

<p>10 A's + 4 B's = 4<em>10 + 3</em>4 = 52 grade points</p>

<p>64+52 + 8 bonus grade points = 124 UC grade points....divide by 30 semesters, and voila 4.1333333333. (Bubbles, the bonus points are capped at 8 for admission purposes.)</p>

<p>However, please know that the 4.133 is for admission purposes only. </p>

<p>The UC gpa for engineering admission HAS to be lower than 4.40 bcos it would mean that EVERY student accepted only took 5 classes for each of Soph and Jr year, took at least 8 semesters of honors/AP/IB, AND received an A in every class (you took Stats, run the math). Not likely. Suggest you e-mail them and ask how they calculate it, such as do they add senior grades, or weight without a cap?</p>

<p>Good Luck.</p>

<p>btw: for others reading this thread, I would've recommended Span 4 over Enviro, which is an AP Lite. Moreover, assuming you apply to UCLA as well, you could (likely) satisfy their foreing language requirement should you matriculate there.</p>