I know UCB has the most holistic admissions out of all the UCs so I hope they consider me. I know the avg gpa is a 3.9uw and 4.4W- and less than 9% got in UCLA in 2015 with under a 4.26 so Im hoping to be one of those students or at least get a supplemental/ be wait-listed.
Stats
GPA 10-11
uw 3.8
UC Cap/UnCap 4.1-4.15 (I have 8 honors so its the same)
SAT
1510 (740E 770M) Essay 6 6 6 (18/24) one sitting
Other info
I had 4 Bs 1st sem of soph year and 1 B in second sem
All A’s juinor year
I hope UCB takes in consideration my improvement and that I was working 1st sem soph year and started participating in ECs (had none freshmen year)
10th: 1 honor
11th: 3 AP (5, 5, 4)
(all my honors are STEM related however)
High School offers 20+ APs so I have low course rigor
High School: Top 50 in CA . 38/130 accepted to UCB last year
12th: 5 AP (might get 2 Bs out of 6 classes- 3.7ish GPA)
Me
Major: Linguistics
Asian
First Gen American
Low income according to UCs (2005 post said <60,000$/yr gets “bonus points”- I will take this with a grain of salt)
Speech problem
Bilingual/Background info in two languages
I noted how my background influenced me to major in Linguistics
Awards
An English award (Not a school one- its recognized by colleges) relates to my major I hope
PSAT commended + 3 more ones on AP scholar level
ECs
Tutoring 10 11 12
Band 9 10 11
Sport 10 (could not work and play after 10th)
Job at same place for 3 years tutoring 10 11 12
Key Club (volunteering) 10 11 12
Other volunteering Organization 11 12
2 other clubs (1 Leadership position) 10 11 12
Local Leadership Program 12
Essays
Reviewed by school college counselor as good
Cliche topics
Mistake on one sentence (sentence has extraneous words that confuse its meaning- UCLA responded that it would not affect the competitiveness of my application)
Your UW and capped UC GPA are in range; however, the uncapped is low. You would want at l least a 4.3 uncapped to be more competitive. SAT scores are great. I’d say it could go either way, like a 50/50 chance.
Did you get ELC? (Top 9% in HS) That could help quite a bit; they want to know how you’ve done in context of your school.
Unfortunately I am not. Do you know how this is calculated by the way? My school doesn’t rank and I have not submitted transcripts so far. I used the estimation on the UC page and it said I qualified for the 9% statewide path though.
Stats are up-to-par, but your “cliche” essay topics will really hurt your chances. As schools with holistic admissions, they want to see how you have stood out. This can go either way.
I don’t know whether they consider Eligibility in the Statewide Path; I just know that ELC is one of the 14 factors they consider. Did you apply to other UC’s? I think you have a really good chance at SD, I, D, and SB.
@uclahopefull Thank you for the response. I do feel that they are cliche and to be specific the topics were tutoring (talent), overcoming my speech issue (challenge), my leadership program (educational opportunity), and English (my favorite class).
Even though the topics may not be special, I did put effort into them and they demonstrate the traits that I want to show. Hopefully the strength in them makes them interesting.
I didn’t see the part about cliche essays that @uclahopefull mentioned. I agree that if they are cliche, they probably don’t show much about you and won’t benefit you much in the admissions process. Would you mind elaborating on how exactly you think they’re cliche?
edit: Just saw your post about the topics. Your essay topics sound fine to me. I like your challenge topic; I think it’s a good one. If you wrote your essays well,I think you should be fine. They don’t sound cliche IMO
@wormholes
OP says,
“Essays
Reviewed by school college counselor as good
Cliche topics
Mistake on one sentence (sentence has extraneous words that confuse its meaning- UCLA responded that it would not affect the competitiveness of my application)”
I posted the topics of my essay above. I feel that the topics don’t stand out on their own and that many other applicants would be writing about them, but I wrote about what is important to me and about me. I feel they convey my tenacity and initiative (overcoming a challenge and educational program) and my interest of my major- English (favorite class) shaped my social and academic skills and developed me as a person.
How competitive is your high school? Do you have naviance so you can compare your stats to ppl who got admitted to those UCs? That would give you the best gauge. Overall, I’d say that you have a shot, but just not a big one
You are qualified applicant but so are the 56,000+ applicants that UCB receives each year. With around a 21% acceptance rate last year, it will be a tough admit but you by no means is out of the running. All you can do is hope for the best and make sure you have some good Match and Safety schools on your list that you would be happy to attend.
Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 3.80-4.19:
UCB: 12%
@BLTZZZ I’d say my high school is fairly competitive although we do not have rankings. And my naviance shows 9-11 UW grades but I did check the average GPAs (3.89 UW for UCB). And thank you for your assessment a shot was what I was hoping for.
