<p>I'm currently a junior and have some questions about colleges. I'm trying to get into UC Berkeley.</p>
<p>First of all, I've heard that UC's don't count freshman year grades; is this true?
Also, how do colleges calculate GPA's? I've taken various summer courses but these do not show up on my high school's transcript; will they be included in the college's calculations?</p>
<p>Do colleges look at cumulative GPAs or semester GPAs? If both which is more important?</p>
<p>Could anyone tell me the average scores to get into Berkeley's engineering major? (SAT, GPA, SAT II, etc.)
I've tried googling this but have turned up with such a wide range of results.</p>
<p>Glock, check UC website for the freshman year grades thing, but I think it's true.</p>
<p>GPA is recalculated using their own formulas. If you want to include summer courses make sure you send those transcripts from the institutions you took them with to the colleges you apply to.</p>
<p>They only see one GPA, which is the final GPA as of the time you apply. So unless they include semester grades on your transcript, colleges won't see them. </p>
<p>For the rest, you can check Berkeley's website, or Princeton Review etc. They don't have the info specifically for the engineering major though, just for school for a whole since I believe you apply to the Berkeley school as a whole not to individual majors. Might be wrong.</p>
<p>I checked both the Princeton Review and Berkeley websites but found that they were still using the old 1600 SAT as a landmark for comparison. Any idea where I could find more up-to-date information?</p>
<p>Also another question: Are these extracurriculars enough?
7 yrs piano - (awards every single year but I've stopped playing now competition wise now that I've reached the top level) <- will this count as an EC even though I don't play anymore?
5 yrs trumpet - planning to try out for section leader next year
Chinese School student council Communications Committee Chair
Puzzle/Riddle Club - president
Web design company - designed various sites for non-profit organizations including both my school's band and PTSA website
Web hosting business - just for fun
Volunteer work - at least 100 hours</p>
<p>Oh, and I'm also trying out for the Competition Civics team next year. Even though this is a senior year class, will colleges recognize it? This year our school was #1 in the state.</p>
<p>College look at EVERYTHING. They are trying to determine who you are.</p>
<p>Just be yourself and let them sort out what are the most important considerations. Each college, and many times each admissions person at a college, will look at your application in a slightly different way.</p>
<p>One or two curriculars can be be enough. Colleges will try to determine if you actually participated in the extra-curriculars, perhaps offering leadership, rather than just being a member for purposes of filling an application. Talk about your extra-currlicular experiences in your essay. It's quality, not quantity.</p>