Final Chance Thread for Cal and other UCs. GO BEARS!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I already turned in my UC app, but here goes...</p>

<p>Asian American (Chinese) Male, single parent, low income (15~25K)</p>

<p>Goes to semi-competetive public school, API is like 810? (I think there were two people who went to Ivies last year, some Berkeley and LA people too)</p>

<p>UC GPA: 4.0 (Includes summer classes at CC)
10th-11th unweighted: 3.68
9th-11th unweighted:3.56
Class rank: Around 112 / 600 (our district doesn't weigh GPA's for class rank)</p>

<p>Grades:
9th Grade:
Algebra 1: A+/A+
Spanish 1: A/A-
Integrated Science(Forced to take this class due to the stupid school)A/B+
P.E(Just for reference): A/A
English 1 Honors: C+/B
Intro to Computer Science: B/C+</p>

<p>10th Grade:
Geometry: A/A-
Biology: A-/A-
AP World History: B/A
English 2 Honors: B+/A-
Spanish 2: A-/B+
P.E: A/A-</p>

<p>11th Grade:
Chemistry: A+/A
Algebra 2: A+/A
U.S History: A/A
A.P Computer Science A: B+/A-
A.P English Lang / Comp: B-/B
Spanish 3: B+/A-</p>

<p>Summer classes at CC:
Introduction to Business: B (missed one week of class)
Trigonometry: A
Pre-Calculus Algebra: A</p>

<p>Courses this year:
AP Physics B
AP Calculus AB
AP Government/Regular Econ (One semester of each)
English 4
Choir 1
Planning on taking Calculus 2 at CC during spring</p>

<p>AP Scores:
AP World History: 5
AP Computer Science: 4
AP English: 4</p>

<p>SAT Subject Tests:
Chinese: 800
Math II: 780
Chemistry: 740
World History: 700
Biology M: 620</p>

<p>ACT:
Composite: 33
English: 33
Math: 35
Reading: 33
Science: 30
Essay: 11</p>

<p>PSAT: 63 R/ 73 M/ 64 W 200 Total(96 percentile)</p>

<p>Award(s):
National Merit Commendation
AP Scholar</p>

<p>Spent 5 years in Taiwan at a regular public school. I wrote about this in my 1st UC essay, and I truly believe that this has changed me a lot due to the exposure to an ultra-competitive Asian school culture(again, wrote about in essay). </p>

<p>Extracirricular:
Chinese Club (one of the founders): 9th/10th grades
CSF: 11th and 12th grades
Key Club: 11th and 12th grades
Church tutoring helper: 10th grade
Church GK (youth leader): 12th grade
NYLF Tech Forum: Summer after 10th grade
Piano (5 years, never had time to take CM examinations though). Despite the fact that I have never won any awards or sorts, I believe that I do have a pretty big passion for piano (write about in 2nd essay and explained why I didn't play piano for a longer time due to many circumstances)
Game Development Club - officer: 12th grade</p>

<p>Works for uncle's company unofficially (computer accesories compnay), does translation and grammatical checking (his company is based in Taiwan)</p>

<p>Chance me for:
UC Berkeley (L&S CS)
UCLA (Engineering), and I would appreciate if you chanced me for non-engineering.
UCSD (Engineering), and I would appreciate if you chanced me for non-engineering.
UC Irvine
UC Davis
Cal Poly SLO Engineering
Stanford (Well I think Cal > Stanford, but I'm applying under the pressure of my mom... ;)</p>

<p>Little note: I'm applying for the Berkeley IAP scholarship (incentive awards program), but I don't know if that will help or not... :D</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>BUMP (10 char)</p>

3

<p>You look like a strong candidate! Best of luck.</p>

4

<p>Somewhat weak GPA, great scores, okay ECs. I don't think Berkeley will be phased by your scores much. Being a low-income student will help.</p>

<p>Berkeley: slight reach - reach
UCLA: slight reach for engineering, high match otherwise
UCSD: match - safe match
UCI/UCD: safety
Cal Poly: safety
Stanford: reach</p>

5

<p>Berkeley + UCLA: reach due to GPA.
In at everything else.</p>

6

<p>So Berkeley and LA are still hard to get in? BTW, I applied under L&S for Berkeley, would that be easier (b/c my GPA is too low for Engineering)?</p>

7

<p>Definitely apply; you have a reasonable chance at Berkeley due to your strong scores.</p>

<p>If you really got your heart set on a Berkeley degree and you don't get in, you could go to a community college, ace the prerequisites, and then apply as a junior transfer.</p>

<p>This would also save some money, since you mentioned your family is low income.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

8

<p>Haha, thanks. I really want to go to Cal, so yeah. I know the average GPA at Cal is quite higher than mines, but I think my test scores and other circumstances might make up for that (not everyone spent 5 years in Taiwan... XD)? :D</p>

<p>Now I just to have to wait until March to see... <em>shudders</em></p>

9

<p>Anyone else want to chance me? I'll give you a free cookie. Just kidding. :P</p>

10

<p>BUMP (10 char)</p>

11

<p>Berkeley: Slight reach-reach
UCLA: Slight reach but if not engineering then better chance
UCSD: match-safe match
UCI/UCD: safety
Cal Poly SLO: safety</p>

<p>To be honest your course load for 10th+11th grade wasn't that hard. You took AP World in 10th grade, English 2 honors (not UC weighted though), and in 11th grade you took AP Computer Science and AP English Language. You're taking a good senior course load but doesn't get factored into the UC GPA.</p>

12

<p>Hmm... for this Berkeley IAP scholarship I'm applying for, there is a senior year grade report (I'm pretty sure the supplement that they send out has this also)... assuming I get straight As or just one B (I currently have only one B+ in AP Gov, and I'm trying to change that), would that prove that I can handle a rigorous courseload? </p>

<p>And the lack of a rigorous courseload is due to the fact that my school district does not offer ANY honors course that is UC approved except for AP classes... kinda sucks IMO.</p>

13

<p>Same for me man, my school is lame. I wanted to take US History honors and some science Honors but they only have AP US and AP Sciences, no honors. Which completely blows. I was already taking Math Analysis/Pre-Calc honors and English 3 honors, and I didn't want another 2 AP's so I just took AP Bio. </p>

<p>And sophomore year there were like no honors courses for me to take. I switched schools during that year and the systems were very different. I basically took sophomore classes during my freshman year at my old school. So everything was messed up and I only got 1 honors course that year.</p>

14

<p>Any more takers? ;)</p>

15

<p>UCB: Slight Reach
UCLA: Match-Slight Reach, Slight Reach (for engineering)
UCSD: Match, Match-Slight Reach (for engineering)</p>

<p>You should be in at all the lower UC's below the top 3 no problem. Best of luck!</p>