<p>I have heard stories of people who got into UCLA/Cal with below a 4.0 weighted (in-state applicants). They were not recruited athletes, business owners, or book publishers. How can I get accepted to one of these schools with a 3.7 weighted? UC Berkeley is my dream but I would love to go to UCLA also. Do I have any chance? Allow me to explain. I'd really appreciate for someone to take the time to read this :)
First semester of freshman year I had a 3.8 unweighted, all As only 1 B. My school doesn't offer APs to freshmen or sophomores. Second semester I stopped taking my ADD pills because I just wasn't feeling myself, and my GPA dropped to a 3.1. Sophomore year I averaged a 3.05. However junior year I matured and overcame my ADD quite a bit, took many AP classes (will list them below later) and averaged a 4.4 weighted.
AP classes:
Junior year- AP Lang and Comp, AP US History, AP Calc AB, also college-level bio and college Spanish
Senior Year- AP Literature, AP Government, AP Economics, AP Statistics</p>
<p>SAT: 2000</p>
<p>Throughout all of high school, my grandparents who raised me were very sick and it was constantly in and out of hospitals. This put a lot of pressure on me and really affected my grades, especially sophomore year. In my essay, I will mention my struggle with ADD and these conflicts at home without making it too much of a sob story. I am majoring in Poli Sci so I will also talk about how feeling cramped and locked up in my life made me yearn for something greater, and develop an interest toward politics and international affairs. I'm pretty ambitious and self-motivated. I will work very hard and spend hours on my essays.</p>
<p>My extra curricular activities:
-Founder/President of first Feminism club at my school
-Vice President of Social Action on the regional board (whole Northern California area) of Jewish youth group organization where I develop programs for teens to raise awareness of social justice issues
-Vice President of Communications on local youth group board for 1 yr
-Sunday School teachers' assistant 2 yrs
-Volunteer at local homeless shelter
-Forensics/Speech (won a few awards)
-JSA Fundraising Coordinator on state level
-JSA Secretary on chapter cabinet
-Currently working with a city council campaign
-Jewish summer camp for 7 years, including a work/community service-based program summer 2012 and a Counselor-In-Training program summer 2013
-Piano 11 yrs (won a couple awards, Certificate of Merit)
-School choir for 3 yrs, String Ensemble for 1 yr
-I'm also in the process of trying to hold a fundraiser of some sort to donate to the ADA or raise money in support of government funding for mental health services</p>