College of Chemistry -- how much harder?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Berkeley
1

<p>I really want to get into Berkeley and I don't want the reason why i got rejected to be because i had applied under CoC, rather than L&S. I have heard that many of the engineering potentials got shot down because they applied to the Engineering school and would have gotten into Cal had they applied to L&S.</p>

<p>This is my stats, so do you think that for my stats, it would be hard to get into CoC? Should i just apply to the Chemistry under L&S?</p>

<p>How competitive is CoC admission anyways? In comparison with L&S?</p>

<hr>

<p>My STATS</p>

<p>GPA: 3.9 freshman, 4.33 soph, 5.0 junior = don't know total [all weighted]
Class rank: 2/450~
SAT I: 2260: 73 V, 74/75 M, 79 W
SAT IIs: 800's on Math II, US History & Chem.... a lowly 690 in Bio </p>

<p>AP's (AP Scholar w/ Distinction):
5's - Chemistry, Euro History, Eng Lang, Environ Sci, Physics B
4's - French Lang & Us. history </p>

<hr>

<p>EC's [weak, i know]</p>

<p>Clubs:
-Red Cross, CSF for 3 years
-key Club freshman year</p>

<p>Sports:
-track 9th-10th
-raised over $140 my freshman year during lap-a-thon for our track team
-raised over $80 my sophomore year in same event
-tennis: 9th on jv, 10th on var, 12th var
-ACCAL league champions</p>

<p>Other stuff:
-main activity listed as tutoring my younger sister in Chinese, English, piano, etc
-volunteered more than 150 hours at the Library, for my clubs, as a tutor
-Asian American Donors Program, worked in their offices last summer, contacted potential bone marrow donors
-2 summers before this one, took science courses at community colleges, and volunteered</p>

<p>Work/research experience:
-this summer: worked at Stanford inside a neuroscience lab with a professor, under the guidance of graduate students on their new project.. got $8/hour, worked 40 hr/wk, 9 wks total
-paid tutor for more than 5 months</p>

<p>Awards:
-National Merit Semifinalist at least
-AP Scholar with Distinction
-NIDA $3200 Research Grant (see work experience)
-Reflections award
-Honor Roll, haha</p>

<hr>

<p>Not sure if these can be considered hooks:
-came to U.S. when i was 8, didn't know a word of english
-my parents don't know how to speak english very well, but they are educated
-research?</p>

<p>OTHER STUFF: ASIAN FEMALE</p>

2

<p>hey, I'm going to go out on a limb but from my high school experience, your statistics are very good with very few exceptions. I would expect a person like you to definately get in.</p>

<p>People who get into L&S and CNR that I know have more like 2000-2100 SAT, with 4.0 cumulatives.</p>

3

<p>lol what are the exceptions? leadership?</p>

4

<p>no, like your SAT score is 2260, which is hella good but its not perfect? lmao</p>

<p>=P</p>

5

<p>Your stuff is good enough.</p>

6

<p>I knew it... gosh especially cuz its like 1470/2260, not like a 1550/2260 :(</p>

7

<p>Wait..
What's the difference between chemistry in CoC and in L&S?
I was gonna do CoC but if it's that much harder than should I do L&S?</p>

8

<p>chemistry is verryyyy difficult.</p>

9

<p>888, do you mean admissions or the course itself?</p>

<p>Cuz if it's the course itself, then GREAT! I love challenges.</p>

10

<p>course lol imo..</p>

11

<p>But isn't it so much better than the Chem offered at L&S? Like i heard that there's a lot more focus on the individual student, more lab opportunities/academic advising, a lot of good professors, etc. Is this true?</p>

12

<p>^ very true.</p>

13

<p>That's great! Also, would you recommend majoring in chemistry if you want to do pre-med? lol it's kind of a stretch, but i like chemistry.</p>

14

<p>If I apply to L&S is it easy to switch into CoC if I get accepted by Berkeley? I really want to do chemical engineering/chemistry but I think my chemistry test scores are too low for CoC...</p>

15

<p>blueducky: If you like chemistry, then you should major in it. It's tougher than most majors but you'll be more motivated to hit the books if you're studying something you enjoy. Even if you're not totally sure about majoring, you could take the first set of chemistry major courses (4A/B, 112A/B) to test the waters; if you don't find that you're enjoying the classes, then you can always switch to another major (and plus, the 4 and 112 series meet med school requirements anyway).</p>

<p>Manzagal3: From what I can tell, switching into CoC is pretty easy. Switching into CoE is not.</p>

16

<p>I want to do it, but like people tell me it's harder to get into CoC, the course is hard, etc.</p>

<p>I think i will apply just for the advantages i said before.</p>

<p>Is MCB harder than Chemistry in CoC?</p>

17

<p>MCB is harder than most other Biology majors. If it is really harder than Chem, I dunno.</p>

<p>From CampusBuddy
Chem department avg. GPA is 3.07
MCB department avg. GPA is 2.94</p>

18

<p>those two are pretty close</p>

<p>but then again a B- average is not THAT bad.</p>

19

<p>The other bio departments are all significantly better</p>

<p>IB is 3.34
BioE is 3.51
EPS is 3.50
ESPM is 3.45
ES is 3.39
NST is 3.45
PMB is 3.28
Public Health is 3.62</p>

<p>MCB is 2.96</p>

20

<p>lol still though. If the average is a B, how hard could it be to get an A?</p>

<p>Just saying. I know college is harder than high school, but like an A is not that rare.</p>