College choosing for fairly good student in california

College Search & Selection
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<p>Firstly, sorry if I violate any forum guidelines: I"m quite new to collegeconfidential, and would like some input on a very general matter.</p>

<p>I'm a Junior going to a highschool in the SF bay area. I have interests in the law (specifically copyright), compsci, and engineering. My Freshman GPA was about a 3.7, Sophomore was 3.9, and this year I'm running five weighted courses, with a current GPA of 4.17. I have two other courses that are very close to As, and the other two are out of reach, so first semester I could end up with up to a 4.5. As noted, Cs are important: I obtained one C+ as a sophomore in honors trig, but managed to do better next semester with a B. I got a 4 in AP Euro, and am taking AP chem, APUS, and AP calc AB.</p>

<p>As far as standardized testing goes, I do unnaturally well. if my practice test scores hold, I could very well get a 2300+ (I"ve got a 2390 on a practice before)</p>

<p>The main reason I'm posting is I'm having a very difficult time figuring out what schools are actually within my reach. A college counselor said that there was a good chance I'd get into a Berkeley if I got a 4.3 this year both semesters, but my parents maintain they'd be surprised if I got into Davis.</p>

<p>As far as extracurriculars go I do model united nations (have actually won three gavels), and academic decathlon. I had a surgery my freshman year, and another one my sophomore year, which the counselor hinted could help (bizarre, aint' it) </p>

<p>I'm trying to figure out a goal to set: trying to do generally well is not working well for me at all. What schools are a possibility for me. Also, right now I have no idea what the options are. My parents will maintain I'm just for the lack of a better word, screwed, whereas some people at my school see me as ivy league material (highly dubious) </p>

<p>Essentially I've been slacking off the second half of this semester, which has cost me 4.8, and means I'll be stuck at the max of a 4.5 (this semester), and want to see what there is to work for. I'm mainly interested in the UCs, but I am also interested in UCs, and possibly other higher end schools such as harvey mudd and ivies (just curious for the most part)</p>

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<p>I don’t think you can get into Berkeley with your grades, but you should definitely look at other UCs like Davis and Irvine.</p>

<p>Harvey Mudd is a high reach for you since your grades aren’t high enough and you don’t have very strong ECs.</p>

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<p>What would be considered extracurriculars? I"m looking at about a 4.25 mean weighted, probably, which is about mean for berkeley…</p>

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<p>Well, you only have 2 extracurriculars. Do you have a leadership position in either of them? Good extracurriculars in my opinion are ones that you do for all four years and have a leadership role in.</p>

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<p>Well, I also do marching band :P</p>

<p>However, I’m president of MUN, and VP of acadec, so :)</p>

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<p>If the 4.25 is your UC GPA and you get even a 2100, you have a good shot at Cal. For ivies and Mudd we’d need to know rank and you’d want that 2300 plus.</p>

<p>Don’t slack, finish strong!</p>

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<p>How does the UC compare to regular CP weighted? Class rank wise I’m probably top 5-10%, but at a school with a very high API</p>