Chances of Getting Into Top UC's, Stanford, Cornell, Duke...

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi! I am an upcoming senior and I was wondering what my chances were at getting into one of the Top UC’s, ideally UCLA or Cal, or some other schools listed below. I want to major in engineering - maybe mechanical or aerospace.
Based on self-evaluation, this is how I have categorized the schools I am aiming for.
Reach: Stanford, UC Berkeley, UCLA, Cornell, Duke
Safety: UCSC, UCSD, University of Washington, Virginia Tech
(I don’t have an extensive list because I still do not know much about colleges. If there are any that you would suggest, please do so)

Here is a list of my stats:
Total GPA: 4.47 weighted, 3.91 unweighted
UC GPA: Unweighted: 3.93 Weighted: 4.69 Weighted and Capped: 4.21
My school doesn’t do class ranks, but I know I am in the top 9% (out of 200 students).
SAT: Currently a 1430, but I have started studying and am averaging a 1500. I plan to retake it again in August, and hopefully by then be able to earn a 1550+.
AP: AP CS A: 3 Chem: 3 Calc AB: 3 US H: 5 Lit: 4 World: 4 HUG: 3 Chinese: 4

EC’s & Sports:
Girl Scout for 10 years.
President of 2 service-oriented clubs: Giving Children Hope and World Vision.
President of a STEM club I created to serve and educate underprivileged kids in my community.
Captain of the V. tennis team, which I have been a part of for 4 years. I have also played on the V. softball and V. table tennis teams for one year each.
Part of the engineering cohort at my school, and have been learning PLTW curriculum.
I have interned in the Chem-Physics lab at Concordia University Irvine for 2 years and am currently interning in the Bio-Robotics lab at UCI, developing a proprioception trainer to be used in stroke (and other) therapy.

And here is a little more about me as an individual:
I am a US citizen though my ethnicity is S. Korean. I grew up in China as a missionary (Lutheran Christians) for 10 years before repatriating. Though I am passionate about the humanities and I score better in that region, I still want to major in engineering. However, I am reconsidering this in light of my recent AP scores. I currently attend a smaller, private Lutheran HS in SoCal.
(Sorry if this is too much or too little information, this is my first time posting on this forum, and I wanted to get an accurate feel for my chances)

2

TBH those test scores are not so great for Engineering at the top tier UCs. You do have the option of not reporting any AP scores, but that could be a red flag for some schools and given your GPA and performance on AP tests, I do suspect grade inflation in at your high school for STEM, although a 5 in APUSH is pretty impressive.

Add UC Riverside and Merced as your safeties for UC schools. And UCSD is not a safety for Engineering.

Take out UDub and perhaps add Arizona/Arizona State/Utah.

3

Would it be better for me to apply as a different major? Or even undeclared?

4

I would say that you should not apply in Engineering for Berkeley, if getting into the school is more important than the major itself. You can apply for L&S as say a Chem or Physics major. Your current SAT score and your AP scores are on the low side for the CoE.

5

I would also not mention anything about growing up as a child of missionaries in China, as certain religious activities are considered illegal there. Proselytizing is a criminal offense. And if you were working with North Koreans, that would make things more serious.

And how were you a child missionary for at least 10 years? That doesn’t add up unless you were there in China during school breaks.

6

UCSD engineering majors are heavily overloaded, so there is no way you should treat them as safety. The same goes for Washington. UCSC is probably match to likely, although it does not have mechanical or aerospace. UCR and UCM would be match to likely options that have mechanical engineering.

7

UC acceptances are unpredictable. My S was accepted at UCB and UCLA. Rejected from UCSD and waitlisted at UCD.

8

With your stats, I think Washington would be a low reach since you are OOS.

9

You have an interesting story if you tell it well enough you might be able to mitigate your relatively low scores. I would also advise you to expand your options for school choice. Have you considered any other schools, and have you begun to think about how you want to approach your essays?