DO I STAND A CHANCE? Berkeley and UCLA

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Anxious senior trying to see how his peers would rank him in the grand scheme of UC admissions. Any and all feedback is appreciated, I can chance you back too. Thanks! </p>

<p>Berkeley: Applying for Comp Sci, Letters and Science (not EECS)
UCLA: Comp Sci
UCSD: Comp Sci</p>

<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2000
ACT: N/A
SAT II: Regrettably taken at the last second, so I didn't do well. 670 math II and 650 english. I didn't include these at all on my UC app, how do you think this affects my chances?
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): UC 3.86 (and that's UC weighed, so maybe 3.7 UC unweighed if they take that into consideration?)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): School doesn't rank
AP (place score in parenthesis): US History (4), English Lang (4), APES (4), World History (5)
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP Comp Sci, AP English Lit, History 4 Honors, Calculus, Physics, Intermediate Dance
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): AP Scholar, a few honors awards at school, 1st place large group hip hop in national dance competition (non-academic)</p>

<p>Coursework Other Than A-G:
(I'm very uncertain as to how much value they will place on this section.)
*Persian school for 9 years. Fluent and literate in Farsi.<br>
*Algorithms: Design and Analysis, Part 1
Online course offered by Stanford University through Coursera, from July 1 August 12 2013.
*Algorithms: Design and Analysis, Part 2
Online course offered by Stanford University through Coursera, from September 2 October 14 2013
*Introduction to Logic
Online course offered by Stanford University through Coursera, from September 30 November 25.
*Developing Innovative Ideas for New Companies: The First Step in Entrepreneurship
University of Maryland, College Park, via Coursera, Sept 30 Nov 10. </p>

<p>Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): </p>

<p>*Competitive studio dancer, many hours a week, along with competitions. Throughout all of high school
*Founder of Guy's Dance Crew at school, goal is to promote male participation in dance
*Co-Founder of Persian Cultural Club
*Co-Leader of Civic Leadership Council, school government group that manages community service activities
(Am I really stupid for not including programming apps and a personal website as my fifth extracurricular? I thought my internships and coursework other than A-G were enough to explain my programming experience, but I now that I think about it I shouldn't have left the fifth spot blank here.)</p>

<p>Job/Work Experience: </p>

<p>*Legacy Fndn paid internship
Designed, programmed, tested, and installed 3 custom built solar water heaters onto homes in Madre Salve, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
*NextBio Software Dev Intern
Part of a 5 person team tasked with implementing company's database onto iOS platform using Xcode SDK and knowledge of ObjectiveC computer language.
* Local dry cleaner, shop worker
My job consisted of scanning clothing, organizing route deliveries, sweeping floors, etc.</p>

<p>Volunteer/Community service:</p>

<p>*Food Not Bombs
Serving food to underserved people on the streets of San Francisco.
*Pledge To Humanity
I am a student ambassador. Manage and promote both local and international scale projects for the nonprofit.<br>
*St. Anthony Padua Dining Hall
Volunteer, Cleaning, preparing, and serving meals to underserved community members.
*Second Harvest Food Bank
Volunteer, organizing food products.<br>
*Peru Immersion Program
Attended high school immersion service trip to Peru. Built homes, worked at an all girls orphanage, ran a food drive for the Mission we stayed at.</p>

<p>Summer Activities: Internships and jobs listed above</p>

<p>Essays:
*For the second prompt I wrote about my Tourette Syndrome, essentially metaphorically referring to it as the bull within me, has been destructive, but ultimately drives me to push past my comfort zone and take on challenges and opportunities I wouldn't have been able to achieve without it. Teachers and counselor liked it, so I guess 9/10
*First prompt I wrote about how people search their whole lives for goals and ideal life with socioeconomic status, but are really just chasing a mirage. How I realize my life is really a mirage, although many people would stive to have my life, and how I pursuit an oasis/truth through social justice and using code to do this. Also a lot of metaphor. 8/10
Teacher Recommendation: N/A for UCs since they don't consider them.
Counselor Rec: Again, N/A
Additional Rec: N/A
Interview: N/A</p>

<p>Other</p>

<p>State (if domestic applicant): California
Country (if international applicant): US
School Type: Small, competitive private
Ethnicity: Iranian. Although it goes under White.
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: $100,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None that I know of</p>

<p>Reflection:</p>

<p>My only hope is that they find my app unique. Male dancer, are impressed my experience with computer science and internships, having Tourette Syndrome, leadership positions. Other than that, my grades and test scores will kill my chances.</p>

<p>Strengths: Coursework other than A-G (if they even value this), Extracurriculars, essays, internships/jobs
Weaknesses: GPA and test scores are the bane of my application. For a top UC, they just aren't at that level</p>

<p>Thank you in advance!</p>

2

<p>Hi, thanks for your reply! The classes were merit based, you sign up and take a course from Coursera for free. However, if you get above a certain average, you will get a certificate of completion from the university professor that taught the course. There isn’t enough room to describe all this in the Non A-G section, so I have it exactly as you see it here. I’m afraid UCLA and Berk won’t consider them official/legit since I can’t send any sort of certificate, but at least they will see it on my app and know all the hours I put into these classes, hopefully it will count for something.</p>

3

<p>Your UC GPA isn’t that competitive for these schools.
[Freshman</a> admission profile | UC Admissions](<a href=“http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/campuses/ucla/freshman-profile/index.html]Freshman”>http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/campuses/ucla/freshman-profile/index.html)
for Berkeley it is a 4.19. </p>

<p>These schools are both reaches for you. Have other options available.</p>

4

<p>UCLA seems definitely more likely than Berkeley–I’ve read that the UC schools do trade-offs so that a fair amount of people only get into their top/best-fit schools. Your extracurriculars are nice, but they do both seem like reach school. Maybe 25% for UCLA and 15% for Berkeley. Sorry! Best of luck, though!</p>

5

<p>Thank you for both of your honest opinions. In the end, GPA is the primary and most influential factor of an application, so thank you for reiterating that, I will keep it in mind. startwithm, I’ve actually heard of that too, but only thought it was a rumor. I’ve also applied to UCSD, UCSC, UCD, and UCI. Do you know if because I’ve applied to more than two UCs, the others that of which are easier to get into, the trade-off thing will still apply for UCB and UCLA? Again thank you both.</p>

6

<p>Are my GPA and SAT simply too low for these schools?</p>

7

<p>You’re in-state so you have a chance if your essays are really good.</p>

8

<p>From what I’ve read/heard, UCLA is more stats oriented than Berkeley. Therefore, I think you have a slightly better chance at Berkeley.</p>

9

<p>I’ve heard that UCLA is more stats oriented too. Yet some people tell me I have a higher chance at UCLA, that Berkeley will be harder for me. But I’ll keep that in mind, thank you. I believe my essays are pretty good, hopefully that gives me a chance like you say.
Thanks guys, more input is appreciated!</p>

10

<p>bumpppp :)</p>

11

<p>Wait are you sure you’re actually white.</p>

<p>Pretty sure Persians are considered asians.</p>

12

<p>Iran is on the continent of Asia, however, we are ethnically white/aryan. Does Asian increase your chances of admission over white? Or are they both not of much benefit in the admission process.</p>

13

<p>bump anyone? Do I stand a chance?</p>

14

<p>Hi GokuKetchum, I think you stand a fine chance! I mean obviously SAT’s and GPA’s can always be improved, but I wouldn’t say they are by any means bad. Your SAT score is in the middle 50% of accepted students for both UCLA and Berkeley. I can’t guarantee that you will get in, but you will definitely have a good chance!</p>

<ul>
<li>Shan</li>
</ul>

15

<p>Thank you so much for your opinion. I will consider that my SAT and grades are not the best or in the range of the majority of accepted applicants, but that they are also not bad according to you. That’s reassuring to think that I stand a good chance, no guarantees though. I had no clue 2000 is in the middle 50% of accepted students. Thanks!</p>

16

<p>UCs don’t look at ethnicity when they are picking students.</p>

17

<p>Good to know, thank you. But hopefully they consider that I’ve done Persian school, started a Persian Cultural Club at school, look at my activism in my ethnicity and culture I guess</p>

18

<p>Do other people mind give me an estimated % chance that they think I will get into Berkeley and UCLA (% chance for both). I guess it would be a pretty accurate gage to keep in my head. Thanks!</p>

19

<p>If you set up a profile on Parchment.com, they can give you a pretty accurate chance of acceptance. They have an area called “admissions simulator” , which gives you a good idea where you’re at in terms of chances.</p>

20

<p>Great, thank you for telling me</p>