Do I have a chance?

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

I’ll be applying to L&S CS.

3.5 UW
3.96 W,
4.1 UC GPA, upward spike. I started high school when I was 12 years old so my GPA got killed. I was also hospitalized after receiving a concussion during water polo practice without a cap.

Freshman Year: C B B C B- B+ / A B- A C B A-

Sophomore Year: B C B A- B- B / A A A+ A+ A+

Junior Year: A A A+ A- A A A+/ A A- A+ A A A- A+

Rank: 49/595, competitive public top 7%ish (weighted)

SAT: 2230 (720M 740CR 770W 11E), planning to retake in December for 2300+

Subject tests: 800 Math IIC 770 Physics

EC’s

Certificate of Merit Advanced Level Piano (10 years)
Robotics Club (4 years, president junior year)
Chess Club (2 years, secretary then co-president)
Student Government Representative (sophomore year)
Student Government Vice President (junior year)
Student Government President (soon to be senior year)
Water Polo/Swim (4 years)
300+ hours TOEFL tutoring at community college
Work for my school’s IT department
Intern at large technology manufacturing and computer engineering company (will be getting a letter of rec from the CEO)
Started a 501 c(3) nonprofit that builds computers for the needy and religious foundations
Tennis out of school (3 years)
Church volunteer, translator, and youth group leader

Awards: National Merit Scholar(?), small poetry competition, nothing special.

Income bracket: 200k+

Ethnicity: Asian/Pacific Islander

2

Your grades are shaky but hopefully the upward trend will work in your favour :slight_smile: I think your scores will also help a lot, too. Solid ECs, especially your internship, although everything else isn’t as relevant. I think you definitely have a shot, but it could be a bit of a reach because of your lower grades in freshman/sophomore year.

Chance me back, maybe? http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1800312-chances-for-top-schools-yale-columbia-etc-will-chance-back.html?new=1

3

Thanks. I probably shouldn’t have posted this at 1AM… bump!

4

Current Cal student here in L&S CS. The Berkeley average freshman admit GPA (unweighted) is a 3.92. Are you OOS or in-state? Regardless, your GPA is killing your chances. Luckily, Berkeley only looks at the unweighted GPA from 10th-11th grade. (They still look at your 9th grade grades, but they don’t weight them as heavily.) Good test scores and ECs. I’d say low reach.

5

UCB: Low Reach

UCB is a tough admit, you do have a chance so apply and see what happens.

6

@yinuos

I would say a low reach as your GPA and class ranking do not really work in your favor. Another thing you might want to consider is that, even if you get into Berkeley L&S, there is a possibility that you might not even get into CS program as Berkeley just raised its bar.

"Students entering UC Berkeley before fall 2015 must complete all 7 of the lower division course requirements with a cumulative GPA of at least 3.00 in order to petition for admission to the major.

Students entering UC Berkeley in fall 2015 or after fall 2015 must complete CS 61A, CS 61B, and CS 70 with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.30 in order to petition for admission to the major."