Early but Chance Me (UCs)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Just wondering what are my chances for pretty much all of the UCs (especially UCB and UCLA) and yeah. I'm an upcoming Junior so I still have time to get more involved and study for tests. Therefore, if you think it's too early to chance, any foresight or information on UCB (dream school!) and UCLA will be helpful.</p>

<p>Chinese Female. In-state. My class year is filled with extremely intelligent people (many of them have similar ECs to mine as well), but I know I'm also competing with everyone else applying from around the globe. Only school in my town.</p>

<p>Unweighted GPA: 4.0
Weighted GPA: School doesn't show it. I'm guessing like ~4.2?
Class rank: 1 (Or so it says on my transcript, but many of my friends have the same rank)
Class size: 818</p>

<p>FRESHMAN YEAR:
Spanish I: A+/A
Geometry A: A-/A
Biology: A+/A
English IA: A/A
Graphic Design/Cultural History (both 1 semester classes): A+/A-
PE: A/A-</p>

<p>SOPHOMORE YEAR:
Honors Chemistry: A-/A
AP World History: A-/A- (2nd semester might be an A since I'm only .01% off)
Algebra II: A/A
English IIA: A/A
PE: A/A
Spanish II: A/A</p>

<p>JUNIOR CLASSES:
AP US History:
AP Chemistry:
Honors English:
Pre-Calculus:
Photography:
Spanish III:</p>

<p>SENIOR CLASSES:
Calculus AB (AP):
AP English:
AP Biology:
Econ/Gov:
Journalism *School newspaper (Maybe):
Anatomy (Maybe):</p>

<p>*I'm pretty confident in getting mostly A's. I might have 2 B's this upcoming year though.</p>

<p>SAT Is: Taking my 1st in Fall. Hoping for at least a 2100.
SAT IIs:
World History: 550
*My lame excuse is that I didn't get to study; trying to get my WHAP grade back to an A, haha. Might retake in Fall. (Probably not) & Trying to get above a 700. (You can choose not to send it right? :)
AP Tests:
AP World History: 3 (It doesn't hurt you right? :() </p>

<p>Here are the ECs I will be involved in FOR SURE by the end of senior year:
- Operation Smile 4 years (Secretary 10; Co-VP 11,12)
- Chinese Club 4 years (Historian 10; Co-Pres 11,12)
- Key Club 4 years (Historian 11,12)
- Track 3 years (10,11,12)
- Science Olympiad 2 years (11,12)
- CSF (California Scholarship Federation)
- 200+ hours of community service hopefully. (Already have ~110 hours)
* I am extremely involved in Key Club (DCMs, banquets, charity dinners, etc.) and Chinese Club (Lunar Show, San Fran trips, banquets, etc.) which requires a portion of my time. No significant awards for track however.</p>

<p>My friend and I are also launching a t-shirt business. We have backings from a dance crew, professional gamers, and I think the police department? On the side, I design sweaters and shirts for many clubs at school (and the class shirt) and also other Key Club districts in the area.</p>

2

<p>You’ll want to retake the SATII for WHS or consider taking others. You could also take the ACT since some people do much better on that. As for your AP score it certainly doesn’t help you. I’m pretty sure most colleges only use the AP scores once you’ve been admitted though I’ve heard that by not sending them voluntarily with the application they assume you’ve failed (I could be wrong on this). If your school offers more APs I definitely recommend that you take them. If your school offers AP Language and Literature you should take one in Junior year and the other senior year. Otherwise, you can self study for the one you don’t take since, lets face it, there’s not a lot to study in English. The Econ/Govt slot in senior year I’m guessing is reserved for an AP course in which case I definitely recommend Macroeconomics unless you chose a contradicting career path. Your ECs and grades seem good but you should do all you can to increase your class rigor and possibly add some unique ECs. In the past several years, multiple people from my school in Maryland have been accepted to Berkeley. The two that I’ve spoken to both had lower grades than yours’ and even relatively low SAT scores but they did have difficult schedules with over 10 AP courses each and some unique EC such as an internship.</p>

3

<p>Too early to chance… And by the way, you should take many SAT ii’s because even though they don’t require it, it’s a super plus if you do. Do not really worry about AP exams(if you do well, it will help you. If you don’t do well, you don’t have to report them and they’re only used for placement purposes)
And do you want to go to UC Berkeley? Why not a small private university where you can get a lot of scholarship money with focused attention from your professor?</p>

<p>If you didn’t know, Organic Chemistry(and it’s not even a really popular class either…) in UC Berkeley has over 1200 students in it. Your professor doesn’t even remember your name, and you answer questions using a remote-control-type of thing. The smaller classes have 400~500 people in them(Generally for UC’s). Competition is not to mention, extremely extremely bloody. In some occasions, 50% of people are cut off automatically(there’s a cut-off). How about a small private school of 20 people or less per class, you get to know your professor more(and get really detailed and nice recommendation letters)? Private schools are(not to mention extremely nice and small) easier to get scholarships even if you are from out of state, and you have a better chance of advancing into graduate school(and possibly do better than UC people).</p>

<p>And if you calculate your total gpa, it is 4.16. However, keep in mind that the most important year for UC’s is junior year(for private schools it is the 1st semester of senior year). If you have any more questions, feel free to ask me! :slight_smile: hahaha… And good luck with junior year. Junior year was hell for me(5 AP’s @_@)… So glad to be going up to senior year!!(But still 5 AP’s LOL… )</p>

4

<p>Thanks for the advice Seungjoolee! Your comment about SAT IIs and AP testing really calms me down since my dad’s been nagging about my scores (Especially the SAT IIs for World History…) constantly. I’m striving for straight A’s since I heard GPA is the most important or second to SAT Is! And about Berkeley, yeah. I don’t really know why, but I kind of started to want to go there since the 3rd grade, so yeah. I guess it’s the prestige the school emits, haha. My dad also pushes me towards it (albeit the fact that I push myself more…) as well or towards any other college around UCB’s level (which I want to achieve as well!) As for Organic Chem… ehh. I’m thinking about going into a field in engineering or something related to biology instead. I heard about the classes being the way you described it to from others as well, haha. sigh*
Thanks again for the advice and good luck. I’ll need it. :(</p>

5

<p>First of all, YOU are the one attending school, not your dad. Pick which schools YOU will feel comfortable at – not what you dad wants so he can brag to people!</p>

<p>Secondly, while it’s smart and I do recommend applying to UCs since you’re a California resident, you need to also seriously consider the financial state of the UC system. It might improve by the time you apply, but I doubt it. The UCs simply don’t have enough money to fund their programs, so class sizes are increasing while class availability is decreasing. Professors are leaving the UCs for private schools who can offer tenure and a higher salary. It hasn’t hit UCLA or UCB as hard as the other UCs, but I bet that in the next year you will start to see things at those two schools fall apart as well.</p>

<p>You have the stats and the numbers so far for some pretty decent private schools, so why not start to research some? You have plenty of time.</p>

<p>That being said, it is a bit early to say. However, UC admissions are strictly about the numbers, and you have the UW GPA so far to make you a competitive candidate at UCLA and UCB. If you continue getting the grades you do now, your GPA will be on target. You should aim for at least a 2100 on the SAT, but I think your chances will greatly improve if you get a 2200. UCs really don’t care about your ECs, but I think you should continue to grow with your ECs in case you decide to apply to private schools.</p>

<p>I can give you some other schools to look at, but only if you want. Also, do you want to stay in CA or would you consider going out of state?</p>

6

<p>Zelda Fitzgerald thanks! I heard about the UCs degrading… but I haven’t looked deeply into it so I’m a bit worried about that, haha. Financially, my dad is still saving up, but we have 2 years pretty much covered if the fees remain the same by the time I apply/graduate.
I do hope my numbers and stats are up to par with the others since (if I haven’t stated before) I know so many people in my class year that are brilliant and by far smarter than me (and equally as involved in clubs and sports) and take advanced math (important subjects, but I try to make it up with other APs and summer classes) Also my SAT II for World History is still disgusting to look at. Same with AP (really wish I got a 4…) but I don’t know if APs really affect you… (heard they don’t really…) and if you choose not to send in the SAT II one… (since I’m not planning to retake it.)
As for staying in Cali or out of state, it doesn’t really matter where since my mom and sister are in Toronto! (therefore, the east coast and Canada is alright too) I’ll appreciate it if you give me suggestions though! :)</p>

7

<p>Luckily you still have time, but I think you’ll have a better chance of getting into a strong private school, like some on the following list. Research them over the next year or so. I grew up in NorCal and my college list was a nice mix of two UCs, several CA private schools and a few East Coast private schools. You can’t rely on the UCs given their problems right now, so make sure you have a diverse list!</p>

<p>Some you might need higher SATs for (2200+) but most you’ll be good with anywhere from 1900-2100, depending on the school. You’ll need to look up their stats after you decide if you’d be interested.</p>

<p>Stanford (reach, but if you get a 2200+ SAT and keep the GPA high, you have a decent chance)
Penn
Brown
Cornell
USC (good engineering)
UVA
Duke
Carnegie Mellon (good engineering)
U Michigan (good engineering)
Georgia Tech (good engineering)
UT Austin (good engineering)
Purdue (good engineering)
Rose-Hullman (good engineering)
Loyola Marymount
Santa Clara U (good engineering)
Cal Poly SLO / Cal Poly Pomona (good engineering)</p>