Hey! Fellow Fall 2020 UCB EECS applicant here.
To be honest, without some deep insights into how the UCB’s admission process works, anyone on here can only speculate. So, take what I will say with a grain of salt.
TL;DR Considering your decent essay and strong EC’s, if compelling enough to Berkeley, you have a “decent” shot. There are people who got in with similar GPAs as yours whether that be 3.75 or 3.91.
I have thought and researched a lot about my own chances of getting in, so I would like to share my perspective on how the admission process might work and try to gauge where you stand in terms of being admitted into EECS. To anyone else reading this, I would appreciate pointing out any mistakes, misunderstandings, or any logical or factual flaws in my statements.
Let’s start with some real data. From the UC info center statistics for acceptance data in Fall 2018 (the latest year they put on the stats for), the EECS acceptance rate was 11% (151 admitted out of 1,319 applicants) with 25th-75th percentile of ADMITTED GPA range of 3.86-4.00. Of course, this stats is over a year old and things could have changed a bit. I suspect it could be a bit more competitive by now. But let’s just go with it because this is the real tangible data we can work with for now. So, going with your lower GPA of 3.75 (let’s assume the worst here), you’re below the MIDDLE range of admits. But do note that the lower bound of that range is the 25th percentile meaning 25% of the admits had a GPA lower than 3.86. 25% of 151 admits which is roughly around 37 people. So, out of the total applicant count of say, around 1300, the acceptance rate for YOU based on your GPA and GPA ONLY would be about 2.85% (~3%), much lower than the 11%. So, pure chances-wise, it’s looking a bit bleak.
However, the situation is a bit more nuanced in your case, especially if you demonstrate an upward trend of your grades which I think is the case for you because from the information you provided, it seems that most of the time you got anything less than an A was in high school and first semester in CCC. So, this is not as bad as getting B’s and C’s towards the end. Whether how STRONGLY they take this into consideration, I do not know. But I assume it will help you a bit.
Regarding those two courses you have taken in high school, I really think there’s no reason for them to “overlook” it. But let’s assume they actually do, then your chances can improve quite a bit because then your GPA of 3.91 would fall in the middle range of admits. In that case, you do have a decent shot considering your decent essay and imo, strong ECs. But since GPA and the courses you have taken is the main criteria, it’s hard to tell to what extent it will benefit you, but it WILL benefit you, for sure. I presume EC’s and essays help borderline candidates (GPA ~3.8) the most, and probably help differentiate 3.9-4.0 students.
So, if your GPA ends up actually being 3.75 or somewhere around that like 3.8 for example, your chances of getting in is pretty low, to be frank. But I’ve done my research and people HAVE gotten in with such GPAs. All you can do is hope that your essays and EC’s are strong enough to give you enough boost to get you in.
That was long lol, I am a bit overzealous with these kinds of things… but anyway, best of luck to you, and I hope we can both get in. 