<p>Hello, I just finished my freshman year and realized that if I take only one extra class during the summer I will be able to graduate after junior year. </p>
<p>Will it hurt my chances applying to UC Berkeley? (OOS, EECS or L&S CS)
Will it hurt my chances/help if I spend what would be my senior year taking math/science classes at my community college and then apply at the same time I normally would? (I will essentially take all the relevant classes to EECS my school has to offer before junior year is over and basically senior year would be like 2/3 AP language classes and some other junk that will not benefit me in any way.)
If I go to my community college in what would be my senior year, would my credits transfer/would I be able to test out of the classes I took?</p>
<p>My concern is that while I don't want to waste a year doing nothing, I don't want to risk not having a good chance at getting into UC Berkeley. I'm also concerned that applying Junior year will basically mean that the only EC's that will matter are Freshman and Sophmore years. What is your advice?</p>
<p>Many thanks in advance.</p>
<p>If you spend a year at CC after graduating highschool, I’m pretty sure you become a transfer applicant. That would mean you’d have to apply at the start of your sophomore year, and transfer for junior year (Cal wants junior transfers). Transfer admissions are a much different game, there’s a heavy emphasis placed on your major, your coursework, and your GPA. High school stats and test scores won’t matter at all. For EECS, you still need pretty good ECs and essays.</p>
<p>As for chances after 3 vs 4 years of highschool, no idea, sorry. </p>
<p>Oh, and obligatory “can you afford OOS tuition”? It’s super expensive, ~$35,000 per year, and I think ~$20,000 of that cannot be covered by need-based aid for OOS students.</p>
<p>I don’t see any advantages towards graduating in three years vs. four. There are a few reasons for this:</p>
<ol>
<li>Berkeley wants a well-rounded applicant; staying one more year allows you to do more extracurriculars within your high school.</li>
<li>Finishing high school a year early and then in turn finishing college a year earlier than otherwise would do nothing but get you into the working world quicker; are you really in that much of a hurry to do 9-5?<br></li>
<li>Senior year is so fun! Best year of high school. Plus you get to walk at graduation with all your friends.</li>
</ol>
<p>All I’m saying that there isn’t any distinct advantage to graduating from high school early, unless you hate high school. </p>
<p>Stay 4 years in high school, focus on getting a high gpa, AP classes, extracurricular activities and getting leadership positions in those (president, vice president, etc), so by the time your senior year hits, you are a good applicant. If you really think you have time on your hands, what I did was I attended high school, and then took some community college classes at the same time. </p>
<p>EDIT: You have a chances thread saying you are a senior…
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1557814-chances-for-mit.html#latest”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1557814-chances-for-mit.html#latest</a>
what </p>
<p>^And it’s from last year…I think OP just wanted to see what his chances were if hypothetically he/she got those stats…
There is no advantage to graduating early and I think failure622 is right that you’d have to apply as a transfer if you spend a year in cc. </p>