Mine did not change, either
only 7 more days
I know, right? I’m still not sure where I’m going to apply, though 
I think I really want to go to UCSC, but my parents think the UCD clusters “sound better.” But then again, UCSC is the least selective campus. However, on the other hand, I want to end up with people who are really passionate about the cluster I want to be in–not people for whom it was their second choice (which I think may happen, since I don’t think the cluster I want to do there–Astronomy, Polar Science, and Climate Change–will be very popular).
Hey, I was wondering if I have a chance.
Sophomore:
UW GPA:3.88
APs:2 AP’s Statistics and Biology
4 in biology
Honors: Chemistry, Alg 2/Trig, English
ECS: Varsity Baseball
President/ Founder Club called HEaL ( Healthy Eating and Active Living) - Incorporates science, biology, where we make healthy food, spread health awareness, and participate in weekly friendly competitions in all sports. We hold monthly seminars in elementary schools to teach about the stuff.
Physical Therapist Internship
Volunteer @ Discovery Science Center
Red Cross
As you can tell, I want to be involved in sport medicine, so cluster 7&9 are my top 2 choices; biomedical sciences and Mathematical Modeling of Biological Systems.
I don’t think my GPA is high enough for UCI. Do I have a legitimate chance or a minimal chance?
Oh Yea, and SAT 2 Bio E 750
@misterstax I think you do. I’m pretty sure it mostly lies in how the statement of interest, and short answer questions are written.
COSMOS apps open today!
Yay!
so my parents have to lay down $6k which is approx. 4% of their combined salaries for a summer program?
WHAT?!? There’s a thread for COSMOS 2015? Why didn’t I look at this before?
Anyway, good day, fellow CCers! I’m a sophomore applying for COSMOS as well!
@apandia it’s much less for in-state students, so…
Ugh I’m still deciding on clusters and I need to get the rec forms in You’re supposed to write which campus you’re going to down on the form, but I don’t know which one I’m going to go to. On top of that, our school has a rule that you have to give teachers greater than three weeks’ notice when you ask them for a rec letter…
But I feel really sorry for the people in my grade who have bad math/science teachers. One of the science teachers this year isn’t writing recs at all… I’m not getting any of mine from science teachers because I don’t really want one from my science teacher from last year and I’m not sure what my science teacher this year would say about me, but I’m going to get recs from (math) teachers who really, really like me.
@topaz1116 But applicants can get rec forms from any of their math and/or science teachers, right? I’m getting mine from my math and science teacher this year because 1) I think they really like me, and 2) I’m playing it safe…hehe…
The only problem is that I told them a while ago that I would choose Cluster 5 at UCD (Computers in Biophysics and Robotics), but I changed my mind to Cluster 7 (Biomedical Sciences). I’m not sure how big of a problem it is for me, and seeing that I have other things to worry about, this is tiny.
I just hope my teachers send in good reports about me!
My chem class was funny today (I’ll explain why I’m not in honors chem in a little bit). So at the start of every class we have these warm-ups called “Chem Catalysts”, where the the teacher projects 1-3 questions on the board for us to solve. One of them was this really easy conversion equation from liters to milliliters, but when the teacher asked who knew the answer, no one responded (I’ll also explain why I didn’t respond at first).
So my teacher called the most obnoxious football player to the front of the class and asked him to solve it. He, in his laziness, rudely argued, “I don’t know how!” So my teacher asked the class, “A milliliter is one-_____ of a liter?” And the guy next to me said “one-hundredth”, and no one said anything for a few seconds. Finally I spoke up and said “one-thousandth”, and my teacher hollered, “YES! That’s why COSMOS!”
I was so embarrassed.
Okay: I’m not in honors chem because this is my first year at my high school, and honestly I didn’t know I was going to this school, so I applied about two weeks before classes began. BAD MISTAKE. There was only one honors chem class, and it was already full, so there was no way I would get in. I’m lucky I got into AP Euro.
And I didn’t respond at first because I’m the one who answers almost all his questions and I wanted to give other people a chance seeing it was a pretty easy math problem.
I feel like I type on and on and on… I like getting my ideas across but it may bother you–sorry about that… 
@The5458Captain our chem class is similar (AKA me and like one other girl who I don’t like answer 80% of the questions), except we’re honors. And it’s annoying. Half my class is really dumb.
Yeah, you can get it from any of yours–but if you don’t have any teachers who’ll write you recs (let alone good ones), it’s a bit of a problem. Luckily both my math teacher from last year and my math teacher this year love me (I visit the former every day and he gives me chocolate; I answer lots of questions in the latter’s class).
@topaz1116 Wait… YOU GET CHOCOLATE? WHO IS THIS MAN I WOULD LIKE TO GET TO KNOW HIM
I’m sorry about your class. It must be horrible. At least your math teachers like you! I hope you get into COSMOS!
And forgive me for my ignorance (I haven’t read the rest of this thread), but for what university and cluster are you applying?
@The5458Captain no idea. Probably something astro-related; I’m basically attempting to get my parents’ approval on the clusters I want to do versus the ones they want me to do. Right now, Big Bang and the Subatomic World (at UCI) and Astronomy, Polar Science, and Climate Change (at UCSC) seem pretty interesting; I’d probably use a Chemistry cluster as a backup (despite the fact that I hate my chem class, I actually love chem as a subject). I’m leaning towards UCSC right now, but god knows where I’ll end up.
and HE’S THE GREATEST PERSON EVER OMG LIKE basically my friends are in his third period and we have an extra four minutes added to our passing period between second and third period; my third period class is a thirty-second walk away from his, so I’ll stay in his class until one or two minutes until the bell rings before being the last one to walk into my third period (generally as the bell is ringing). I spend half the time talking to him and half the time talking to my friends xD And sometimes it’s all three of us. I know where his chocolate is, and he allows me to take it. Sometimes he even offers me more.
@topaz1116 He sounds awesome.
Regarding COSMOS, you have excellent choices. I advise that you should apply for the cluster YOU want to take; it’s for your benefit, and anyway, saying that “I chose this cluster because my parents wanted me to” doesn’t make for a very good argument. 
I’m leaning towards UCD; for me, personally, I like the selection of clusters better. I was originally opting for Computers in Biophysics and Robotics, because I’m captain of my robotics team and I really, really like robots. But I figured that I’ll learn a lot by just being on the team, because we do a lot of hands-on stuff that tends to stick in my head. So I changed my first choice cluster to Biomedical Sciences, because it sounds really fun and I like the idea of fusing biology and medicine.
But honestly I don’t know what I want to do regarding college. I hope COSMOS helps me with that decision.
@The5458Captain yeah, I know; but I still need their approval to apply xD I mean, I’d probably still get clusters I’m somewhat interested in, but not clusters that I’m extremely excited about. Hopefully they’ll listen to my points.
Is it true once you are admitted to the program once, you cannot apply again in future years?