Hello, I want to keep this as objective as possible. I finished high school in December of 2013 in a non US high school, in my country there is only up to 11th grade and I believe with no doubt that the educative system is US is far superior. Anyway I came to US in January, 2014, and during that year I could not apply as I did not have my residency and I had to wait a year. I prepared myself for the SAT and enhanced my skills in English. The thing is that my aim is UC Berkeley.
I got a perfect score on the SAT: 2400
Subject Tests I have taken(and will take);
Physics: 800
Biology: 800
Chemistry: 800
Japanese + listening : In November -( Expecting 700- above)
French: In December ( expecting 750 or more)
Spanish: 800
World History: In December(expecting 800)
Math Level II: 800
Portuguese Language Proficiency: Intermediate - Advanced
No AP—as my high school did not have any. Not 9999 hours of community service, really little I suppose. In my country doing community service was quite an unknown task. Extra curricular activities, National Stock Market runner up, business achievement participant, sports Rowing(not linked with my school obviously, I did it individually), English Debate team winner( in my high school), Exchange Student with Brazil, helping certain non-profit organizations with disabled and poor people. I know, this is not a lot, I am a little ant when it comes to this, but I wish I were born in US—the high schools here are far better than those in my country.
Thank you,
if english is not your first language you have to take the TOEFL english proficiency exam, which I think you should be fine with because of your amazing SAT score !!! write about your experience as an international student and what you like to do in your free time, all this in the app with make up for the lack of EC’S/AP’S and UC B will be lucky to have you.
Why are you taking 8 subject tests?
Thank you aik257, yes I forgot to mention that, I got 119/120 on the Toelf iBT. On the other hand, I am taking a lot of subject tests because I want to improve my chances of getting into UCB, I hope they see that I am indeed prepared integrally for college. I know the competition is high so I want to keep myself at a standardized level. Oh I have a gpa of 3.9 if that also helps.
I also took the ACT and got 35, 35 on English, 36 on Math, 33 on Reading and 35 on Science. I hated the reading section—I remember that I guessed the last 5 questions lol. Anyway, I probably will not send them my ACT score.
All comments will be appreciated, thank you!
Are you a resident of CA now? How were your grades at home? Your scores are superb, and will get you into many colleges, but Berkeley is very focused on student GPAs. If your grades are not as strong as your test scores, you will have to re-calculate your UC GPA. Your test scores are fine; the questions will be about your high school grades.
Is that GPA weighted or non-weighted?
Hi, it is unweighted, and no I currently live in Florida. My gpa unweighted over the 4.0 scale is 3.89 or simply 3.9. I am also considering UCLA and UF, and probably I will also apply to some top schools like upenn—though it would be a waste of time :(. I am the first in my family to go to college if that helps lol. I could also start in a community college right now and transfer, but I think it will be exquisitely harder and you don’t get from a community college in Florida to UC Berkeley everyday lol, I mean if I were in California, the situation would be different
Thanks in advance
Your scores are superb. I don’t see the need to take more subject tests now. What do you want to study? If it is anything other than EE/CS, I am sure that you will get into Berkeley (I assuming that you don’t need aid). Honestly, I think that you have a good shot at the Ivies too. Focus on writing a coherent set of essays.
All the best!