<p>GPA 4.0 weighted, 3.5 or so UW (horrible -_-)
rank: bad, i'm gonna say 75/500
school size: medium to large
Asian male, OOS (Cali)
prospective major: engineering (most likely EE, but i haven't researched much yet), should i apply undecided instead b/c of my low GPA?</p>
<p>Course load: sophmore (ap euro, ap stats, chem h, eng h, chinese2), junior (ap eng lang, ap us, physics IB, pre calc H, chinese3; self studied for calc and physics AP tests, though i don't think the ad coms will notice that), senior (ap calc bc, ap chem, ap eng lit, ap psych)</p>
<p>SAT I: 2160 (800M/710W/650CR)
SAT II: 8002c, projected: 750 for physics and chem </p>
<p>EC's:
math counts california 26th place and 7th place novice news LA county (i think both are worthless b/c they're not top 3 or major statewide events)
school newspaper sports editor
president of an engineering oriented club at school
VP of helping hands (tutoring kids who need help at school, esp in math/science)
Tutoring K-9th grade kids, 4 hours/week
100 hrs at local hospital (volunteering)</p>
<p>do you guys see anything else i could possibly do to offset my low GPA?</p>
<p>if you wrote an essay about your gpa id kick you in the balls. write something about why the U of I should want you (not cause you're smart), what you are bringing to campus (dont say you're bringing Asian heritage), what you want to do in life (don't say be an engineer).</p>
<p>Engineering might be a little to high for you. Depends on how you do on those SAT's, if you did exceptionally well, then maybe you have an outside shot. </p>
<p>You've got a lot of extracurriculars, maybe too much that the school might see past that and think you are just trying to load up on community service and extra curriculars to make yourself look good. </p>
<p>If I were you, I would've rather tried to have a job than do community service and volunteer work. It shows great humbleness but you're doing all that work for basically nothing and not getting paid for it but that is your call. That's a lot of hrs. of your time taken, it would be nice to get paid but in those instances you can't. </p>
<p>You might want to apply through LAS or ACES(have agricultural engineering at least lol) to be on the safe side, otherwise you open yourself up to a slim chance of making it into Engineering.</p>
<p>And in your essay, don't spend any time discussing what you've done in terms of community service and extra curriculars. The admissions officers already can see what you've done, THEY DO NOT NEED YOU TO REPEAT YOURSELF OR ELSE THEY WILL WRITE YOU OFF. Write something unique about yourself that isn't school related. Maybe you went through some kind of adversity and your overcame it. Maybe you were an immigrant and overcame that(just usin that b/c you're Asian so I don't know), or just anything that can separate you from the rest of the applicants. All the applicants into Engineering probably have great extra curriculars and community service, so you need to show them there is more to you than just that. </p>
<p>It's difficult and feel free to embellish the truth if you can't exactly think of much. When I applied, they had you write 2 essays(the one about yourself and the other one was why you want to apply to that particular major). Is it still that way?</p>
<p>But you can definitely get into Illinois, just not so sure about Engineering.</p>
<p>SAT II's are irrelevant; UIUC does not consider them for admission. Your SAT score is fine for engineering and you do not need ACT. Class rank, about top 15%, which UIUC relies heavily on along with test score, is low for engineering -- usual 25% to 75% range for engineering is about top 12% to top 3% and for EE it is usually a little higher than that (top 10% to top 3%)-- but you are not out of the box and your good SAT score plus difficulty of classes(many APs), the third most important factor, will help. I would not apply undecided (which would put you in A&S) or agriculture if you want EE or other engineering. Under new policy started last year, you can now apply for the harder to get into college, like engineering, but also put on app that you will accept a second choice, undecided in A&S. Thus, if rejected by engineering you can still be accepted to A&S. Also, you should not assume it is necessarily easy to transfer to engineering if you start as A&S -- generally, you need to complete same courses as engineering students and maintain a fairly high GPA just to apply for a transfer -- which varies from year to year but is often 3.0 or higher and usually even higher for EE and many will verify that maintaining a 3.0 or higher in an engineering based curriculum is not a sure thing, and having the minimum required may not be enough to actually transfer. The agriculture school relies more heavily on essays and ECs than engineering and tends to choose applicants who show true interest and whom it expects to stay in agriculture; also, you should not rely on the 50% ranges you see for the agricultural college if you are applying agricultural engineering-- the range is actually significantly higher for agricultural engineering which comes closer to the engeering 50% range. UIUC will most likely still have the two essay requirement on its app -- it just made the change to two recently and it has no reason not to keep with it. You should definitely apply early, by the mid-November "priority" date (everything must be in their hands by that date including test scores). That gives you "some" advantage over later applicants.</p>
<p><em>above post</em> wow i read the first two lines and gave up</p>
<p>you said your asian, are you korean? because if you are you should definitely write about KIMCHI! i wanted to do that but never ended up doing that</p>
<p>since chronic are i are both wondering if we can get into the engineering school, i thought it would be appropriate to ask my chances on this thread</p>
<p>im going to enter senior year with a 4.07 average gpa out of 4
I have a 3.66 unweighted gpa
i am top 8% out of 775 kids</p>
<p>i have an ACT score of 29
ive taken Bio AP (got a b), Calc BC AP (got a B), US AP (got an A) this year
next year im going to take Chem AP, Calc 3 & Diff Eq AP, Stats AP, Euro AP, Eng AP, Span 4 AP
Basically, ive taken the most challenging curriculum my school has offered</p>
<p>my activities are:
Cross Country and Track (not varisty)
National Honors Society
Committee Chair for Lumanaria/ Sponorship for Relay for Life
Founder and President of our schools South Asian Society
Over hundred hours of Hospital Volunteering and am Volunteer Committee Chair at my hospital
Peer Jury/ DARE/ Rush Corp Leader
Over the summer i volunteer as a Summer Camp Director
Treasurer of Key Club
(no working experience but i am looking for a job)
Delegate at the 2007 II DIstrict Key Club Convention</p>
<p>sat 2 : bio-640, math level 2- 800
On the ap test:
Bio: 3
US History: 4
Calc BC: 5</p>
<p>you'll never get in and you're a failure at life (jk). god its so funny my cousin is on this site. id rather tell you in person what i think neways. see you on the 4th.</p>
<p>Is it really true that colleges pick people because of their race and/or gender? Isn't that racist or sexist? Hmm...maybe, I shouldn't complain considering I am Indian and female. </p>
<p>Chronic: Your stats are okay. Mediocre. I would recommend that you do some soul searching. I know it sounds weird or gay, but seriously, do it. I believe you need to know who you are when you start to apply for colleges. I mean, if you don't know, then how are you going to tell the colleges? Ask yourself many questions. What are your hobbies? Are you really passionate about Engineering? What are your strengths? What are your weaknesses? Once you finally know yourself, you'll be able to answer your essays. No one can tell you what to write. I mean, people can tell you to show your passion about Engineering or whatever, but how you show the passion is something that only you can do. </p>
<p>I know I sound cheesy, but it's true. I'm an entering freshman this year, and you might be thinking "Oh, you're a freshman? What do you know? You haven't even experienced college yet!" You would be right, but I do have the experience of applying to colleges. I'm not the smartest when it comes to standardized testing, but I am a hard worker. When I was applying for colleges last year and I had to write essays, I didn't know what to write about. Honestly, I was going to write about school and how smart I am or whatever. My friend yelled at me and said I had no life. I mean, who isn't?! Every honor student is that way! If you take away my job, school, and volunteer work, I didn't know what to do or say. That's why I recommend soul searching. Know who you are. You are near the range so work really hard on your essays. Essays give you the opportunity to tell colleges what's unique and special about you. If you put your stats aside, what's left? They basically want to know you. Best of luck! :) (Sorry if I babbled too much. A little sleepy. Sorry.)</p>
<p>Gandhiboy: Your stats are good. Work on your essay. No one can guarantee anything when you're applying for colleges. You have to do your best on the applications and send it. Hopefully, with a pinch of luck, you'll get accepted. :)</p>
<p>Good luck to both of you! Remember to show your personality on those essays. :)</p>