<p>So I am an international student currently studying on east coast. I've been in the states since my sophomore year and will be a senior this September.
just visited colleges in cali and i was really impressed by berkeley and stanford. especially their engineering program. stanford has a design program that involves engineeering and arts, which is something i really wanna do. and i was rlly interested in berkeley's industrial engineering too (IEOR)</p>
<p>so as an international student, i hv a toefl score around 110 (score not out yet) and SAT score around 2150 (might improve to 2200). my GPA is 3.65 (my sophomore yr first term was only 3.4 since i wasnt used to the school so it pulled down my accumulative GPA by a lot..)</p>
<p>i took AP stats, AP calc BC, AP us history and AP biology my junior yr. got all 5s except for APUSH i got a 4. </p>
<p>next yr im planning to take AP physics C, AP psychology, AP art history, multi variable, advanced seminar in computer science (AP computer science ab) and advanced abstract and applied mathematics. </p>
<p>i dk abt my class rank...class size around 130~140. maybe my rank is top 15%. well the only thing im sure is that im graduating cum laude. but teachers dont write that on their recommendations do they?</p>
<p>i hv some ECs, not many..varsity track (short/mid distance), 1st violin in orchestra, and president of a small NGO that holds annual charity trip to Tibet to help kids there go back to school ($100 annual tuition for a kid go to school there). international student organization leader. internship at a company in china. science program (a new program at my school this yr, basically helping student getting into the labs they wanna work in. so i worked at Yale University for six weeks in a biology lab) </p>
<p>so.. what are my chances getting into berkeley and stanford (especially their engineering school) as an asian female applicant??? i know there might be advantages to be a female applicant, but I'm really not sure if im as competitive among all the applicants</p>
<p>You don’t have very good chances at Berkeley engineering with that kind of GPA. Berkeley is a GPA whore school. Meaning, they weigh GPA more than they do SATs or ACT. And, normally, Berkeley is easier to get into than Stanford. But I would still apply if I were you. You really wouldn’t know unless you tried. Good luck!</p>
<p>so they do look at accumulativeGPA more than SAT scores?
my past three term GPA were all over 3.7… its just that the first term pulled down by a lot.
is there a possibility that they look at my sophomore yr and junior yr GPA separately?
or do i hv a better chance by just applying to letter & science??
so many questions sorry… but thanxxx!</p>
<p>Your 3.70 would put you in the bottom quartile of the admitted students. But that is just a guess. </p>
<p>The reason why I think you should still apply despite your (low) stats is because, unlike the other top schools, Berkeley emphasizes a holistic review process. Meaning, the adcom will (greatly) consider your past and current situation, and how you’ve overcome through difficult times. If you can put that out on your essay, including a leadership role you’ve held in the past or you hold now, you might persuade the adcom to consider you. Here’s an excerpt from Berkeley’s website:</p>
<p>You may already know that Berkeley is a highly selective public university. But did you know that every freshman application to Berkeley is read individually in our holistic review process? That’s because we’re looking for students who can add to the extraordinary educational atmosphere at Berkeley; although grades and test scores are important, we’re not just looking at the numbers. </p>
<p>L&S students have generally lower stats compared to COE, so I think it would help increase your chances a bit based on stats alone. But what would you major in L&S? They only have CS, mathematics and stats, as far as your interest in numbers goes. I’d stick with your original program choice of IEOR, if I were you.</p>
<p>“You may already know that Berkeley is a highly selective public university. But did you know that every freshman application to Berkeley is read individually in our holistic review process? That’s because we’re looking for students who can add to the extraordinary educational atmosphere at Berkeley; although grades and test scores are important, we’re not just looking at the numbers.”</p>
<p>Holistic is an euphemism for Hispanic surname or under represented minority. Since you do not submit recommendations with your application and what you list in the extracurricular section cannot be corroborated, there really is nothing to holistically review.</p>
<p>thanks!
so apparently its easier to get into L&S. i know this is like cheating…but is it possible to change major and switch to school of engineering if i got into L&S?</p>
<p>That depends on the status you’re admitted. If you are just a regular admit, switch to engineering will be very hard. I heard that to apply Berkeley’s Engineering school, you better have a 2250+ SAT score to meet the cut.
Good luck!</p>
<p>^Making the Engineering cut at Cal may or may not require a 2250 but may require around a 2200. Much depends on your EC’s, leadership, and awards. The more impressive the EC’s, the (slightly) less impressive the SAT can be. My S was accepted into Engineering with a 2220 single sitting SAT score however his EC’s were fairly solid. Not sure what his UC GPA was, but his GPA ended up at 3.8uw and 4.6w.</p>
<p>So far my S’s score is 2190 single sitting and few friends (who have kids in Berkeley) told me he’d better to achieve 2250+ score for better chance to get in Engineering school. I also have friends’ kids with very high SAT scores and GPA but didn’t get in though. I think you are right, EC’s, leadership, and awards play more important roles nowadays.</p>
<p>Don’t limit yourself. There is plenty in engineering. Stanford is the better of the two & then there is Caltech, UCLA, USC, Cal Ply, Harvey Mudd, Columbia, Rose Hulman, Dartmouth, Georgia Tech, Vandy, Purdue, UMichigan, Brandeis, Tufts, Cornell, RPI, WPI, Rutgers, UWisco, UMiami, UFlorida. That gpa should get you in one of those.</p>
<p>Yes, but you have to apply to do so, and have a good GPA at Berkeley in the prerequisites for the desired engineering major.</p>
<p>Note that the IEOR department also sponsors a similar ORMS major in L&S, but that major is one of the few L&S majors that requires applying to declare (as opposed to other majors like math where you can just declare the major after completing the prerequisites).</p>
<p>Berkeley engineering (but not L&S) freshman admissions selectivity does depend on major; Bioengineering, EECS, and Engineering Undeclared are usually thought to be the most selective engineering majors.</p>
<p>UC admissions GPA is calculated based on grades in 10th and 11th grade courses in the a-g categories, with up to 8 semesters of honors, AP, or college courses with C or higher grades given +1 weighting. Class rank is not considered, though UC’s Eligibility in Local Context means that if your UC admissions GPA is in the top 9% of the historic UC admissions GPA at your high school, you will be admitted to some UC (probably Merced or Riverside) if you do not get into your choices of UC campus.</p>