I know I'm kind of a crap applicant, but...

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Berkeley
1

<p>It's late in the game but I'm curious about my chances for Berkeley. I'm not the best applicant out there, but I definitely think I'm unique and have demonstrated academic ability. Good luck to everyone who has applied! </p>

<p>• African-American/Asian female from CA</p>

<p>• UC GPA: 4.05</p>

<p>• MAJOR: Media Studies</p>

<p>• AP COURSES:</p>

<p>Sophomore year -
AP Euro (score: 2)
English 10 Honors
Algebra II
Spanish II
Journalism
Chemistry</p>

<p>Junior Year -
APUSH (5)
AP English Lang & Comp (5)
Trigonometry
Journalism
PE
Astronomy
I took a college Psych course that I earned an A in.</p>

<p>Senior Year
AP English - likely A
AP Stats - likely A or A-
AP Econ - possibly a B
AP Spanish - likely A
I took a college Art History course that I earned an A in.</p>

<p>• SAT: </p>

<p>1st time:
620 CR
520 M
720 W
total: 1860</p>

<p>2nd time:
680 CR
560 M
750 W
total: 1990</p>

<p>• SAT IIs: </p>

<p>US History: 730
Literature: 580 first time, 640 second time</p>

<p>• EXTRA-CURRICS:
- Newspaper: A&E Editor Junior Year, Editor-in-Chief Senior Year
- Visual and Performing Arts Academy - Visual Art Major (Countless hours put into college art courses, art exhibitions, etc. I've had my work showcased in three different exhibitions. In senior year I graduate from the academy with a diploma.)
- By end of senior year, graduate of Ryman Arts @ USC (A prestigious, application-based program for gifted high school artists. I was awarded an $8,000 scholarship to attend this program.)
- Junior Year - "Link Crew" mentor for Freshmen
- Junior Year and Senior Year - Commissioner of Publicity for Helping Hands Club (Club that offers tutoring to students who need it)
- Hundreds of hrs. working at my Church for Arts & Crafts - throughout HS</p>

<p>• HONORS:
- Blue Honor Roll all four yrs.
- Art Awards - "Best in Visual Art," "Most Improved," etc.</p>

<p>• CURRENT CLASS RANK (out of 522): 22 (top 4%), I have ELC status</p>

<p>• ESSAY: Writing is my strong suit, so I have confidence that it could be my push into a top school like Berkeley. The first highlights my unique ethnic background, talks about my family and reveals my sense of humor. I think it was a really moving essay, and have heard it from multiple people. A UCLA reader who came to my school said it was the best out of everything that she had read. The second discusses my passion for writing and art, and how my talents in both have played upon each other to make my work stand out.</p>

2

<p>First of all, you are not crap at all.</p>

<p>I’d actually give you a good chance. Everything besides the SAT seems to be well in order, and great essays can help compensate for a lower score :slight_smile: good luck!</p>

3

<p>Thanks for your encouragement :slight_smile: And when I say crap, I’m not trying to fish for compliments at all. I see the stats of all these UCB applicants and I shudder. Just trying to see where I stand.</p>

<p>Are you a Berkeley student?</p>

4

<p>There’s people who apply to Berkeley and then there’s people who actually go to Berkeley… A lot of people just have Berkeley as a back up.</p>

5

<p>Nobody is a shoo-in, but you’re close, IMO! ;)</p>

6

<p>Berkeley as a BACK UP? For what, HYPS? If I got in, I would be floored. I’m definitely competitive for my top-choice schools (USC and sort of UCLA) but Berkeley seems near-impossible for some reason.</p>

7

<p>Nah. Berkeley is often backup material. Don’t worry about it.</p>

8

<p>Looks good to me. I got in with similar stats. I had a higher GPA but a lower SAT.</p>

9

<p>Wow, thanks everyone. Feeling really good now.</p>

10

<p>Your stats aren’t crap. You’re more admittable than something like half of the people on my floor were when they applied, and…well, I’m pretty sure they got in.</p>

<p>As to using Berkeley as a back-up: yes. It’s pretty common. I know far fewer people here who took Cal over, say, Cornell, than I do people at other schools who took them over Cal. Neither group contains any member who does not appear to be satisfied with their choice.</p>

11

<p>Seriously? Then why does it seem like everyone FREAKS out about admission to Berkeley? I applied to Cornell and would definitely choose UCB over Cornell, but only because UCB’s in CA.</p>

12

<p>Berkeley’s living on a reputation that has been dropping is the way I see it. It’s still the top UC which is why people still freak out about it because it still does have some good qualities (engineering, etc). But most people I know would choose B over Cornell just because Cornell is a pretty terrible place to be location-wise.</p>

13

<p>you have decent EC’s fairly avg. GPA
and Cal’s SAT’s aren’t that high anyway.</p>

14

<p>

</p>

<p>“Everyone” doesn’t, only some. There is a good batch of students from CA who would rather go to any Ivy League they can get into than Berkeley.</p>

<p>I’m sorry to word it this way, but for the “masses of intellectuals” there can be better schools, but for an intellectual who knows what (s)he wants and calculates things ahead of time, noting the things that <em>could</em> work for them about here, this is a land of some very rare treasures in its (many) strong departments. The strength of those I’m thinking of isn’t dropping any time soon.</p>

15

<p>While there a definitely people who would rather go to an Ivy than go to Berkeley, it’s not a backup in any safe sense. A school with a 20ish% admit rate is twice as easy to get into as a school with a 10% admit rate, but it’s still pretty reachy. Berkeley’s a reach for nearly everyone–ask the 4.4gpa 2200 sat 2008 validictorian from California’s ****** Unified High School. It’s still about fit.</p>

16

<p>From the looks of it, it seems like people on CC paint Berkeley as a school with a glamorous name but without many perks. Of course, I’m not putting down the Engineering, Law, and other strong programs there probably are (I’m not that knowledgeable about the school) but are many students in lesser-known majors actually happy there?</p>

17

<p>Marmar16, what do you consider a “perk”? As to your question about lesser-known majors, frankly you can’t expect to get an answer here – there’s no way a few CC-ers can speak to the entire school, only give ideas of our experiences. I know biology, English, political science, math, business, a ton of engineering and computer science students who seem to like the school/environment. </p>

<p>What you should ask yourself is what you want specifically out of a major, and also out of general undergraduate environment.</p>

18

<p>I consider “perks” to be individualized attention in classes, career/internship resources, etc. I hope to get into entertainment or advertising after college so I majored in Media Studies.</p>

<p>I wasn’t expecting engineering or business majors to answer my question, since I realize that one student can’t speak for the entire student body.</p>

19

<p>individualized attention whaaaaaaaa</p>

20

<p>“Berkeley is often backup material”</p>

<p>I’ve noticed that a lot for CCers striving for HYPMS in Cali. From what I’ve heard you only need a high GPA and SAT and you’re in at CAL</p>

<p>@OP you have a great chance!!! I know a 1700 SATer who got in so don’t beat yourself about your stats. </p>

<p>CAL is BIG so if you want to be spoon-fed with individualized attention apply to LACs where the class sizes and the teacher to student ratio are small.</p>