I already know my chances are slim, what can I do to improve my chances?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>High School Class of 2010 (Junior)
White Female living in California applying in-state (San Diego State, CSU Long Beach, CSU Northridge, UC Riverside, etc) but my dream school is definitely UC Berkeley.
Business Administration/Marketing Concentration.</p>

<p>Total GPA (9-12): Weighted 3.625 Unweighted 3.438 (Includes non-UC approved courses)
Academic GPA (9-12): Weighted 3.571 Unweighted 3.357 (UC-approved courses only)
Academic GPA (10-12): Weighted 3.706 Unweighted 3.353 (UC-approved courses only; when UCs calculate your GPA, they only count 10-12 classes)</p>

<p>600 - Lit Subject.
580 - US His Subject.
160 on PSAT.
Taking SAT on the 14th, ACT in June.</p>

<p>Some classes taken: Honors English 2, AP English Lang, AP US History, Math Analysis (Precalc), Spanish 1, and Spanish 2.
Senior Year Schedule: AP Government, AP Economics, AP English Literature, AP Calculus, Theater History (need VPA requirement), AP Environmental Science, and either AP Statistics* or AP Biology (can't take both, no room in schedule).</p>

<p>I've also been taking community college classes, like Sociology and Public Speaking.</p>

<p>ECs:
-President of the National Honor Society.
-President of the California Scholarship Federation.
-2009/2010 School Year President of Key Club.
-Secretary of the Animal Protection Club.
-Member of the Go Green Club.
-Doing ballet, tap, and jazz for 14 years now, at a private studio and a community college.
-Amazing internship for the last two months at an insurance office; looks like I will be offered a part time job there in June when my internship is over.</p>

<p>Problem:
My freshman year I received three horrible grades: an F in a community college hip hop class, and a C- and D in a Geometry class (teacher problems)*.</p>

<p>*the teacher who teaches AP Statistics is the same teacher who I had problem with my freshman year.</p>

<p>So my question is: what can I do to improve my chances into Berkeley, besides the obvious focusing on grades?
And should I take AP Statistics or AP Biology (Business major) my senior year? AP Biology also fixes a scheduling difficulty, so I'm kind of leaning towards that. But Stats for a business major...</p>

2

<p>Prepare for trite advice: Focus on something and be interested in what you do. Don’t do a scattershot of extracurriculars in hopes that they will like something. Focus. Take the challenging courses you want, but make sure they relate to what you want to do.</p>

<p>Also, since you still have a shot, practice for the SAT. 1600 probably wont help you into Berkelely, but with intense study (1-2 hours a day) you could improve your score by about 100 a month.</p>

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<p>Berkeley is going to be very hard. Your UC GPA is well below their average, and you’ll need a 2050 SAT score to be average on that front.</p>

<p>You would, however, have a shot at mid tier UCs. While it seems you want to study business, for good jobs in business or admission to a good MBA program, you would be better off going to a mid tier UC and studying economics that going to a CSU or Riverside as a business major.</p>

<p>Your other option is 2 years at a CC and then applying to Berkeley Haas.</p>