<p>In school, I'd consider myself pretty good. Although I'm only in the top 35% of my class, my school is EXTREMELY competitive and sends many students to top schools. I live in New Jersey.</p>
<p>Both of my sisters went to Berkeley, and one graduated valedictorian and went to Yale Law and the other to Tufts Med. My parents both went to UCSD for their PhD.</p>
<p>My question is, will any of this help my application? I have decent stats (1360 SAT, 3.6 GPA, very few STRONG ECs, amazing essay) but I feel like I have no chance at all.</p>
<p>A 3.6 UW GPA would make Berkeley a reach for in-staters, so for out-of-staters, that'd make it a very huge reach. But, if you have really strong ECs--as in, you're extremely distinguished, of the HYPS caliber, and you write amazing essays, you might just get in.</p>
<p>To be perfectly honest, I think your legacy status may actually HURT you.</p>
<p>Why?</p>
<p>Basically, as I understand UC undergrad admissions, family educational background really only matters if you are coming from an "underprivileged" background. It doesn't seem like that's your situation. </p>
<p>Your out-of-state status combined with your relatively weak stats (sorry) will probably combine into a rejection unless your parents have donated a building or something...and even then, your numbers just aren't high enough. I suggest you retake the SAT.</p>
<p>i think its a reach. your sat is fine but your gpa is kind of low. i really think ucs dont give a damn about essays and ecs as long as they are not very very bad. the ucs seem to be very objective, looking at mostly stats. why did you write 1360? you know that ucs require the writing section. try to get around 2250+.</p>
<p>First of all, from what I can tell, you don't even have legacy. Siblings don't really matter; legacy only counts parents and maybe grandparents. Second of all, Berkeley doesn't care about legacy, so my first point is moot. As for your chances, I have to agree with kyledavid: that's a reach even for in-state. I don't think you have a chance. Sorry. Try aiming for another school. You can probably get into one of a similar caliber. UCs are just notoriously bad for out-of-staters.</p>
<p>They do ask where your parents attended, but I am not sure if they ask about siblings. However, according to CollegeData.com and CollegeBoard.com, relation with alumnus is not considered.
The stats are almost identical to mine, except I'm in-state. I was accepted directly into the fall with no special conditions, so its not true that you have absolutely no chance. If you are worried about the ECs, make sure your essays reflect how they have helped you to grow and/or contributed to your college and career decisions.</p>
<p>Heh, I was expecting the barrage of negativity, but it's alright because it was a HUGE reach for me anyway and wasn't even really sure if I would bother applying. Thanks anyway!</p>
<p>Wait hold on. I mean UW GPA as in my school's. My UC GPA is a 4.0. Actually that doesn't really matter as I will probably not get in, but just to clarify.</p>