It definitely shows your interest! Make sure to talk about it in an essay, though. Since you won’t have tangible proof of how much effort you put into this without a publication or award, you should describe it. It’s very rare for a high schooler to either coauthor a professor’s paper or get published in Science, NiH, or IEEE. It also takes about a year to get published in any journal due to the lengthy peer review process. I published my first in a youth journal and the other two in less prestigious adult journals. As in you could probably find it online but it won’t be the first internet hit.
Congratulations!
Thanks for sharing such great info, and best of luck!
Hi Neha!
Not sure if I’m late to this thread, but congratulations! I’m starting to brainstorm ideas for my college essays (all UCs), but I’m stuck on what to write about. I just can’t find anything particularly special about me, and I don’t have an outstanding story or personal narrative to show. If you don’t mind sharing, can you tell us what you wrote your UC essays on? And do you have any advice? Thank you so much!
Thanks! I wrote mine about robotics and research. Here’s a checklist my counselor gave me about approaching the UC PIQs.
- The questions aren’t about your activities but what you got out of your activities
- Treat them as interview questions, not essay questions (different from the Common App here - way more straightforward)
- The questions have three purposes: determine your potential for academic success, your ability to use a UC education to accomplish a career goal, and see if you’ll make positive contributions to the UC community
Do you know any tutoring jobs for high school students?
Absolutely! I got paid to tutor at Kumon and some of my friends volunteered to tutor at MathEasy for free. I’ve heard good things about Fiveable and Beyond the Five as well.
Hello Neha! Congratulations! Those schools in addition to the regent’s scholarship at Berkeley are quite amazing!
I know I am very late to this thread, but I am really hoping you will see this. The best universities I have been accepted to so far are UCLA and UCB. I was accepted to UCLA as CS in the school of engineering and UCB as CS in the school of L&S. I was wondering how big of an obstacle declaring CS is if one has been accepted into CS through Berkeley’s school of L&S instead of the school of engineering. Also, does UCLA or Berkeley have better opportunities if I would like to go into the tech startup field and why? If you have time, I would love to also know about your experience with Berkeley so far. Thank you!
Can you pls share your GPA, SAT & AP stats? I am a rising senior, interested in UCB and UCLA for CS.
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Hello! Sorry for the late reply. I hope I am not too late to help you out. I did not submit SAT scores to the UC schools as they were test blind this year and will continue to be until 2025 (Check out this link: University of California announces it will not use SAT, ACT in admissions decisions - Daily Bruin). I don’t remember my exact GPA, but I do know that I was within the top 1-2% of my graduating class (so basically top 5 to top 10 out of around 500 something students). I got a 3 in AP Euro, 3 in AP Computer Science, 3 in AP US History, 5 in AP Language and Composition, and a 5 in AP Computer Science Principles. You should keep yourself updated regarding the SAT and ACT situation for the UC schools but, if they remain test-optional as they were the year I applied, I recommend really working on the activities section of the UC application and the essays. The activities and essays will take precedent if SAT and ACT scores are not being factored into the admission process. Also, do your best to be in the top 10% of your class. If you are a California student you should have a chance at UCLA or UCB with a GPA that puts you within the top 10% of your graduating class. If you are an out-of-state student, I would recommend trying to get a GPA that will place you in the top 5% of your class. My AP scores weren’t fantastic, so I think the main reasons I got into UCLA and UCB were my essays, activities, and class ranking. Good luck with everything! If you have a chance after admissions season, please let me know how it all went!
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Is this also possible for someone who is not valedictorian?
Congratulations Neha, amazing achievemnt
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