Chances with updated AP scores for Berkeley + others

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Asian female, hoping to apply for college of engineering at Berkeley. Thinking of either EECS or Engineering Physics, kind of torn at the moment.</p>

<p>GPA: 3.9/4.14 (UW/W)
w/o 9th: 3.88/4.21 (UW/W)</p>

<p>SAT: 2260 (CR 730 M 740 W 790) - retaking in Oct, aiming for 2300+, definitely 800 in M
SAT 2's: 800 Math 2C
800 US History
720 Chem :'(
720 Physics :'( - retaking in Nov</p>

<p>Courseload: Moderately difficult (2 honors and 2 AP classes so far). Was stupid and didn't take the most challenging courseload, but self-studied said challenging courseload instead.
AP's: US History 5 - self-study
Chinese Lang 5 - self-study [I thought I bombed this, haha]
Calc BC 5
Calc AB subscore 5
Physics C Mech 4 - :'(
Physics C E&M 5</p>

<p>Senior courseload: AP Chem
AP English Lit
AP Art
AP Stats
AP Gov/Econ [Econ is just plain ole econ, not AP]
PE [I am lacking 5 credits, so I gotta get those in. XP]</p>

<p>Summer coursework at local community college:
2007 summer: Public Speaking [A]
2008 summer: Intro to C Programming and Intro to UNIX/Linux</p>

<p>Extracurriculars: [bah, my worst area]
9 summer peer tutorial program
9-11 JV Water Polo
10-11 Attended artist alley at local anime convention to sell artworks
10-11 CSF
11 NAHS [National Art Honor Society, for those who don't know]
11 part-time job as tutor at Kumon
11 summer attended LeadAmerica conference for Engineering and Robotics
11 summer organized online art auction benefitting charity
totaled 100+ community service hours</p>

<p>No real awards, unless you count those within-same class type things. In which case I have... 4 of those. 2 in Art, 1 in English, 1 in World History.</p>

<p>RE: lack of engineering/physics/math EC's.
I really only started focusing in school and such in 11th grade. Before then, I had wanted to be an art major. [hence the sucky grades]</p>

<p>Prospective colleges:
MIT - my dream school
Caltech - my mom's dream school, haha
Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering
Cornell
UC Berkeley - a more... attainable choice
Harvey Mudd
UCSD
Cal Poly SLO
Santa Clara University</p>

<p>PS Help would be nice in narrowing down that humongo list there. And suggestions for more match schools.</p>

2

<p>No one? :'(</p>

3

<p>You're definately in the running for all of those schools. You probably already know this, but it's always good to show a passion in one area and really focus on that.</p>

4

<p>Oh jeez, really? I do hope so. I mean, MIT and Caltech and Cornell and Olin are crapshoots, imo, but thanks for the.. optimism? Haha.</p>

<p>I'm just worried that the passion will not be one relating to my major.</p>

5

<p>After a 2200, it's all a crapshoot pretty much, but just by meeting that quota (for lack of a better word) I can't imagine why they wouldn't consider you. Your GPA is good and if you can write a great essay, you're in good shape.</p>

6

<p>Ah, really? Well that makes me feel a bit better. X'D</p>

<p>Not the essay part tho. I suck at writing. :/</p>

7

<p>How is Berkeley EECS a "more attainable choice"?</p>

8

<p>because she is instate, and comparing it to MIT and Caltech. </p>

<p>Also, Cornell is not as much as a crapshoot as MIT/Caltech/Olin; its large size brings it some stability in admissions. </p>

<p>And personally I think having an artistic background will be an advantage during the application processes; at science schools that quality is often underrepresented as you can imagine.</p>

<p>Finally, regarding what schools to apply to, you could maybe cut off one of those top schools you are applying to, and then simply add another UC for safety purposes. I think 4/3/2 is a good reach/match/safety ratio You just have to check another box on the UC application, so its no extra work and only 60$ (or so) more for security purposes.</p>

9

<p>
[quote]
because she is instate, and comparing it to MIT and Caltech.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Berkeley EECS? It's hard to say.</p>

10

<p>@ kyledavid - Eh well, imo judging from the people I know who got into Cal EECS versus MIT EECS, CAL EECS does easier.</p>

<p>@ Seiken - Hm, another UC would be good, but which one? My mom flat out refuses to let me apply to the low tiers. ._.</p>

11

<p>yeah well, but you're a female who's passionate about engineering - not too many of those that come around...</p>

12

<p>I would probably suggest UCSB for engineering/physics of the midtier UCs. They have excellent grad programs in both fields (especially physics) and thus will have a lot of research opportunities floating around that you could take advantage of. Its also in an excellent location, possibly the best out of any college. There is also a good chance you will get a regents (full tuition) scholarship to UCSB. </p>

<p>Regarding the "attainability" of EECS at Cal, I think you could argue that what I said about Cornell applies to Cal EECS - its just a more stable selection process.</p>