I have pretty average stats for the top schools in the U.S., so my extracurriculars are really the only things setting me apart. I know I definitely want to major in business, more specifically marketing, and I’ve known I want to be in the fashion business since I was in seventh grade, so I’ve tried to make that clear in all of my activities. My main EC’s are owning a fashion business that I started two years ago which has taken up a lot of my time, placing first in professional selling at ICDC (the national competition) for DECA, I founded a fashion design club at my school which led to a school-wide dress drive for prom that my club collaborated with DECA on, I got accepted into a pre-college entrepreneurship program at Berkeley (my first choice school) that’s going to be taking place for two weeks in July, I founded an annual gallery for local artists and designers in Denver, and I also do freelance fashion photography as a sort of side hustle. I’m also thinking about running for an officer position at my school’s DECA chapter since I’m already so involved, but I’m currently in my second semester of junior year, so I wanted to know where I would theoretically stand in the eye’s of college admissions at top universities.
What are your grades and test scores?
Your passion is clear. UCB is a very tough admit but your EC’s will enhance your chances. Grades and scores will be the most important thing however.
Regardless of the result, it’s great you appear to be driven toward your future. Combining entrepreneurism, your dreams, and the ability to get things done (which it sounds like you have) will take you far regardless of your school choice. Stay tenacious and you’ll do great at UCB or anywhere.
I have a 3.6 unweighted and 4…2 weighted, but without freshman year I’d have a 4.0 and 4.6 respectively, so you can see how that year went. I got a 1400 on the SAT and a 31 on the ACT. I’ve also taken 6 AP classes, but I had to sort of follow my school’s AP class limit freshman and sophomore year, so I pretty much took the maximum amount allowed. I’ve only taken the first two AP tests so far, and I got a 4 and 5 on them.
Your ECs sound great. I’d personally be interested in reading further. They will help, not hurt your application.
They are very important at top universities. All the applicants to those schools have excellent grades and test scores (which are really just a baseline), so it comes down to the ECs to make you stand out, tell the college who you are, what you might contribute to the university “neighborhood”.
Keep doing what you’re doing. When it comes time to ask teachers for letters of reccomendation, don’t be shy about sharing this kind of stuff with them (they will probably ask for a resume or brag sheet, but if they don’t, make sure they’re aware of what you do outside of school).
Will you retake your ACT or SAT? Raising your score a bit higher will be beneficial if you are shooting for Berkeley.
Take a look at Berkeley’s common data set: https://opa.berkeley.edu/campus-data/common-data-set. The section on freshmen admission will show you what they consider most when making admissions decisions.
I have a 3.6 unweighted and 4.2 weighted GPA, but without freshman year I’d have a 4.0 and 4.6 respectively, so you can imagine how that year went. I got a 1400 on the SAT and a 31 on the ACT. I’ve also taken 6 AP classes (AP Human Geo, AP Gov, AP Lang, AP Physics, APUSH, AP Art History, and I’m taking 4 more next year), but I had to sort of follow my school’s AP class limit for freshman and sophomore year, so I pretty much took the maximum amount allowed. I’ve only taken the first two AP tests so far, and I got a 4 and 5 on them. I know I definitely want to major in business, more specifically marketing and possibly get an MBA from a top university, and I’ve known I want to be in the fashion business since I was in seventh grade, so I’ve tried to make that clear in all of my activities. My main EC’s are owning a fashion business that I started two years ago which has taken up a lot of my time, placing first in professional selling at ICDC (the national competition) for DECA, I founded a fashion design club at my school which led to a school-wide dress drive for prom that my club collaborated with DECA on, I got accepted into a pre-college entrepreneurship program at Berkeley (my first choice school) that’s going to be taking place for two weeks in July, I founded an annual gallery for local artists and designers in Denver, and I also do freelance fashion photography as a sort of side hustle. I’m also thinking about running for an officer position at my school’s DECA chapter since I’m already so involved, but I’m currently in my second semester of junior year, so I wanted to know where I would theoretically stand in the eye’s of college admissions at top universities.
More specific information for UCB and also the UC GPA calculator which uses only 10-11th a-g course grades although Freshmen grades are listed on your UC application.
https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/
- BERKELEY
- Very important: Academic GPA, Application essay, Rigor of secondary school record, Standardized test scores
- Important: Extracurricular activities, Volunteer work, Work experience
- Considered: Character/personal qualities, First generation college student, State residency, AP/IBLH exam scores
- Note: Thorough review of academic performance; likely contribution to intellectual and cultural vitality of the campus; diversity in personal background and experience; demonstrated qualities in leadership, motivation, concern for others and community; non-academic achievement in the performing arts, athletics or employment; demonstrated interest in major.
- LOR's by invitation only as of 2017
Division (L&S, CNR, CoC, CED, CoE) matters for admission selectivity.
Within CoE (but not the other divisions), major matters for admission selectivity. Changing majors within the CoE after enrolling is not guaranteed, unless one is CoE undeclared.
Note that L&S admits students as undeclared; admission to capped majors (e.g. CS, economics, psychology, ORMS, statistics, art practice, and a few others) is by college GPA in prerequisite courses (and portfolio for art practice) after attending for a few semesters. The business major is in a separate division and admits students in a competitive holistic process. Frosh intending business majors begin in another division (usually L&S), take the business major prerequisites, and apply (usually in their second years). They also need to take prerequisites for a backup major in case they are not admitted to the business major. All students who apply to UC Berkeley and select a major within the College of Natural Resources are evaluated based on their application, not on the particular major they select.
2019 Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 3.80-4.19 capped weighted and not major specific:
UCB: 12%
2019 Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 4.20 or above capped weighted and not major specific:
UCB: 38%
2019 UC capped weighted GPA averages along with 25th-75th percentile range:
UCB: 4.23 (4.15-4.30)
2019 Data:
25th - 75th percentiles for SAT totals:
UCB: 1340-1540