<p>Hey all, female Asian junior here. Resident of Cali, applying for electrical engineering. [death, I know]</p>
<p>Academic GPA: UW 3.91 (expected by end of junior year)
W 4.16
UC GPA: 4.05 (UGH)</p>
<p>SAT: 2260 (CR 730, M 740, W 490) -miiiiiiight retake
SAT II: Math 2C 800, Chem 720
taking Physics and US History in June</p>
<p>-2 honors classes (our school has almost NO honors classes. :/)
-2 APs (AP Calc BC, AP Physics C) - expecting 5's (couldn't take AP's till junior year)
-self-studying AP Chinese, AP US History</p>
<p>Expected course schedule for senior year:
AP Chem
AP Gov/Econ - Econ is normal, Gov is AP
AP Stats
AP Art Studio
AP English <-- only good English course at our school. Which I will fail b/c English is a weakness of mine, but at least I will LEARN something. Rare, I know.</p>
<p>EC's (these are fail)
Water polo, JV (9-11) - I suck at athletics, but I like the sport
CSF (10-11) - typical community service
NAHS (11) - didn't take required art class till sophomore year
Math Club (11) - time conflicts with NAHS, thus haven't participated in as many math contests as I'd have liked
Kumon's (11) - I work as a tutor/grader.
Summer peer tutorial program (10)</p>
<p>Looking into these colleges:
UC Berkeley - #1 choice
Carnegie Mellon
University of Texas-Austin
MIT - for fun
Harvey Mudd
San Jose State
Cal Poly SLO</p>
<p>UC B...you are on track-If you can, try to get in the top 5 for your graduating class-and make it a point to ace yuor AP English--EE is tough to get into---and while your math background is admirable, Cal looks for strength in all departments. G'Luck!</p>
<p>Aaah, I hope so. I don't think there's any hope of getting in the top 5. Our school is huuuuge (600+ people in senior class), not to mention the school ranks by unweighted, so the people who take all easy classes and get A's get to be valedictorian too. I can probably make top 15% though.</p>
<p>UC Berkeley - Might Be a little stretch since you're Asian, and rumor has it they're biased already cause they have a huge Asian population. your scores and GPA are good, since your an instate I would give you a good chance maybe 60% chance...
Carnegie Mellon-Same as Cal, minus the Asian bias...since its private the ground is leveled
University of Texas-Austin- Same proportion as cal, it is a big university. But it is still public and in Texas. So this one might be a little uphill, I don't think that have any biases...they have a big Asian population but nothing close to proportionally being close to UCB. Your scores should level the ground, people think its that easy to get into UT and UM but these schools are top notch Public schools. i hear many disappointments, you should be addmited with your test and gpa though...
MIT - sort of a reach, don't give up though...They already have a good Asian population so that might be a semi-strike against you.
Harvey Mudd- a little of a battle, I would give you a good chance...
San Jose State-Pretty Much in...I would say 99%
Cal Poly SLO-pretty much in...</p>
<p>SAT: 2260 (CR 730, M 740, W 490)
"730+740+490 = 2260" does not compute, rejected</p>
<p>jk</p>
<p>UCB - match
CMU - match
MIT - reach (I'm not surprised if you get in though)
UT Austin - low match
Harvey Mudd - match
San Jose State - safety
Cal Poly SLO - safety</p>
<p>Also UCB is a match? I thought it was a reach at least. .... Cool. :] And I hope your prediction about MIT comes true. That would be crazy if I got in. [bragging rights to rest of family back in China, booyah]</p>
<p>Your UC GPA is slightly weak, though your scores are strong, and your ECs are average. Do you have any honors/awards?</p>
<p>Berkeley: slight reach, depending on your essays
CMU: match, maybe a safe match
UT: match
SJSU: safety
CPSLO: safety
Harvey Mudd: slight reach - high match (being a girl may help)</p>
<p>You have a good shot at MIT, though it's probably a reach.</p>
<p>Well, no significant honors/awards, really. Unless you count the in-class Green and White awards my school has, in which case I got...3? I think?</p>
<p>Thanks for the chance! Also, is there anything else I can really do at this point to increase my chances? I'm hopefully participating in a couple of engineering-related summer programs over the summer, but does that really help my chances any?</p>
<p>
[quote]
Berkeley: slight reach, depending on your essays
CMU: match, maybe a safe match
UT: match
SJSU: safety
CPSLO: safety
Harvey Mudd: slight reach - high match (being a girl may help)
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Is Berkeley a slight reach because of EECS or am I missing something?</p>
<p>
[quote]
Is Berkeley a slight reach because of EECS or am I missing something?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>One part because EECS is the second most competitive program to get into at Berkeley, after undeclared engineering (not to mention I don't see much interest in it in her ECs/awards). Another part is that her UC GPA is slightly weak.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I just realized that I miscalculated my UC GPA. It's actually 4.14.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I don't think it's going to make much of a difference. However, are you sure that you're calculating it right? You have 2 AP courses and 2 honors courses, and the honors courses must be UC-approved to add weight. On top of that, based on your UW GPA, it seems you haven't gotten quite straight As (though very near it), so that would change the UC GPA slightly too.</p>
<p>Yeah, I checked, hence how I realized the GPA I posted on the original post was wrong. I've only got 5 UC-approved courses junior year, and 6 sophomore year.</p>
<p>Yes, but how many of those are UC-approved for weighting? The APs are automatically approved, but the honors courses may or may not be. If they are not, they do not add weight.</p>
<p>I'm just wondering...what draws you to UT-Austin? Why are you interested in that school? </p>
<p>Your schools are all in California except UT, Carnegie Mellon, and MIT. I understand Carnegie Mellon and MIT, but not quite UT.</p>
<p>Since no one has offered an opinion on UT, I'll try to chance you. I applied this year and was accepted into the business school and Plan II Honors. </p>
<p>UT emphasizes rank a LOT, though my school does not rank. They don't really look at GPA if rank is provided, but I don't know if your school does rank. Does your school rank? Realize that about 80% of UT's student body is from Texas, or actually, even more than that. It's extremely difficult for out-of-state students to get in, but it is not impossible. Make sure your essays are really good.</p>
<p>You look pretty strong academically but EC-wise, very weak. It seems as if you started all your ECs your junior year, as if to play EC catchup. That does not really bode well for you. I'd say the best thing for you to do now is really strengthen your ECs, although it's junior year second semester, and of course keep up your grades, since junior year is the most important.</p>