I’m currently a second-semester junior attending school in Irvine, California (a district known for its exceptional schools). I currently have a 3.72 UW GPA and a 3.94 W GPA (though this is expected to go up as last semester’s grades have not yet been factored in). I also have a new SAT score of 1390, and will be re-taking it in the hopes of scoring around 1440. In addition, I am a member of the marching band, Yearbook editor, hold a black belt in Taekwondo, took sign language courses at a community college, and do community service through a city club. I’ve also applied for several internships for this summer in the hopes of actually receiving one. I understand the odds are not necessarily in my favor, but if anyone can speak from experience, what are my chances of receiving admission to UC Berkeley? Another option for me is the University of Washington, for which my chances are much higher, but because I’m not a WA resident tuition for U-Dub is crazy expensive and I’m not sure my family will be able to afford it.
I plan to do my undergraduate degree in Public Health (B.S.), but the issue is that most schools do not offer this as an undergraduate degree – only as a graduate degree. If it helps, I’m taking courses in Pre-Med and Environmental Sciences to demonstrate further interest in the subject matter.
What is your UC GPA? For the UCs, the GPA component of an application is by far the most important.
https://rogerhub.com/uc-undergraduate-admissions-calculator/
^Tool for calculating GPA
between 3.9 and 3.95, although, again, this is not fully accurate.
Since the cals are public, they are much less holistic than private colleges, so raising that SAT and GPA is critical to be considered, especially since you don’t seem to have an extracurricular “wow”. That being said, being in-state gives you a huge advantage; you will have a shot. Before looking at Washington I would look at the other mid-to upper level cals (Davis,Santa Barbara, Irvine, SAN Diego etc.), which will cost way less and are on a same, if not superior, academic level. Best of luck! Chance me back? http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1969186-chance-me-at-princeton-williams-colgate-and-george-washington-university-rd.html#latest
The problem with this is that many do not offer Public Health as an undergraduate major. UCI and UCLA both do, but I’m not too keen on staying close to home and I’m not sure UCLA would accept me.
Berkeley and UCLA will be a stretch, but are possible. In addition to getting your numbers up as much as possible, I think you should concentrate on telling a story with your personal insight answers (essays) that says why you are interested in public health, how your background has prepared you, and make sure you include that this undergraduate major is offered at only a few select institutions including UCB, UCLA, and UCI–and you will make it clear that you are a perfect fit for these programs, and that is why they should let you in. You also might still have time to craft something that shows your commitment to the field–an internship, a project of your own design, maybe talking to someone in the public health dept at UCI to see if you can have some role (even if it’s data entry) on a study–that commitment and clarity of purpose might push you over the top. Disclaimer: I have no inside knowledge on UC admissions.
Thank you so much!
Cal admissions are more holistic than, say, UCLA, but I don’t know that your stats at this point are at Cal’s level. Yes, definitely continue to work on your upward GPA trend and retake the SAT for a better score. I echo @lacazette9 - look at the mid-tier UC’s, especially Davis and San Diego. We are blessed in California to have such a range of excellent public schools - take advantage of in-state tuition if you can.
to be frank your chances are low, but are still possible, focus on grades, test scores, and essays.