I am an African American senior in high school. I have a 3.7 UW average, 1900 SAT (640 M, 640 W, 620 CR). I have taken 2 APs and 3 honors classes. I am the captain of the cross country and track and field team, and I am on the team year round. I am the VP of the African American Culture club, and I have around 150 of volunteer hours. I have taken the SAT subject test in Math Level II (710), and E/M Biology (680).
I want to attend UCLA, Cal Berkeley, and USC. My grades and SATs are a little below the averages for these schools, but I was wondering if my ethnicity would make a difference? What are my chances of getting into these schools as a African-American Student?
Ethnicity is not supposed to matter at UCLA and Berkeley as affirmative action has been declared illegal in public colleges in CA
Usc is a private school so your race would benefit you there. It doesnt matter at ucs because they are public and dont use affirmitive action
The only way your ethnicity can help you at these non-affirmative action schools is if race is an essential part of who you are. If you wanna use your race to paint yourself as an individual and not a gpa, an SAT score, or an income level, you can through your essays and I guess through your extra-curriculars since you say you’re in an African-American culture club. Use that. The colleges can’t admit you just because of what race you are but if you’re race is important to your identity there’s no rule that says you can’t highlight that fact.
Apply and see how it goes. Your EC as VP of the African-American culture club should be a nice feather in their cap.