Please chance me for UCs, Stanford, and CalTech!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I am a rising senior planning to major in Chemical Engineering, and am interested in these schools:
-Stanford
-Caltech
-UCLA
-UC Davis
-UC Berkeley
I would really appreciate any feedback regarding my chances with each of these schools, as well as any advice about other schools I should consider. Also, I am aware that all of these schools are difficult to get into, and I would value any suggestions regarding safety schools. I am from California and would prefer to stay on the west coast, but I am willing to consider schools outside of CA, if they are strong in the field I am interested in and their financial packages are good.

Here are my stats:

Demographics:
-female
-white
-middle class
-first generation college student

Courses:
Freshman Year
-Honors English 1
-Geometry
-Honors Intro to Sociology/Personal Growth
-Biology
-Spanish 1
-Band 1
Sophomore Year
-Honors English 2
-Honors Math 2 (my school adopted the Common Core curriculum this year)
-AP World History
-Honors Chemistry
-Spanish 2
-Band 2
Summer at Local CC
-Statistics (at the time my school didn’t offer AP Statistics, and wasn’t planning on doing so in the near future)
-US History (took this course to fit in Physics Junior year, but Physics only offered one period, so due to scheduling
conflicts, I have to wait until Senior year)
Junior Year
-AP English Language/Comp.
-Honors Math 3
-AP Biology
-Spanish 3
-Band 2
-Computer Applications (Dual enrolled at local CC)
Planned Senior Year
-AP English Literature
-AP Calculus
-AP Econ/Gov
-Physics
-Honors Earth Science
-Band 2
I am aware that comparatively, this list does not include many AP courses, however, by the end of my senior year, I will have taken all of the AP courses that my high school offers (it is in a rural district), except for Statistics and US History, both of which I took at the local CC.

Test Scores:
SAT - Reading: 790, Writing: 730, Math: 760
SAT Subject - Chemistry: 760, World History: 770, Biology-M: 800
ACT - Combined: 34, Reading: 36, English: 35, Math: 30, Science: 36
AP - AP World History: 5 (Still waiting for the scores on this years exams… fingers crossed!)
American Mathematics Competition – 84 (I know this isn’t a great score, but it was the top score at my school… does that count for something?)

Clubs/Extracurricular/Volunteering
-Science Bowl
-Science Club: Have served as Treasurer and President
-Math Club: Treasurer
-Interact Club: Vice President
-Freshman Link Crew
-Marching Band
-Have played piano for 12 years
-One of founding members of a local group of teen volunteers that supports our county’s Women’s Refuge

Sorry for such a long post, and once again, I would greatly appreciate any feedback and advice!

2

Oops! I completely forgot!
Unweighted GPA: 4.0
Weighted GPA: 4.18
PSAT: 224

3

You are certainly competitive for the UCs.
You also have a shot at Stanford if you can write exceptionally well and have great teacher recs.
Caltech isn’t looking too good due to your weak performance in math and chem.

4

I think you will get into all the UC schools. Caltech is really hard to get into but I think you have a shot. Not be sexist at all, but you being a female will help you at getting into Caltech because there are so less girls at the institution. You have a great chance at Stanford. Good Luck!

Please Chance me back! http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1769031-what-are-my-chances-at-these-schools-p2.html
You will need to read through the comments cause I got a 31 on ACT and I added some colleges (BostonU, UTAustin, Northeastern)

5

Thanks @JustOneDad and @tomatoes123 ! I’m pretty frustrated with my test scores in math and chem… I’m capable of much more, and put in the time on practice exams to prove it, but I let nerves get the best of me on those test days, knowing how crucial they are given the field I’m interested in. I’m planning to take the Math 2 Subject test in October… Hypothetically, if I score an 800, would that make up for my weak performance in math on the SAT and ACT? Also, do I need to add safety schools to this list?

6

What’s your intended major?

7

@DrGoogle she said it was chem engineering
@GingerTea12 You haven’t taken your math sat 2 yet, and that’s needed for your caltech app. Also, what test scores will you be sending? Remember that Caltech’s average SAT score is approaching (or basically) 2300. Your low performance in math will hurt you though. Remember that your SAT 2 and AP scores are a reflection of your proficiency in a certain subject, so do well on those. Caltech is a reach for everyone. Be prepared. And yes. Please please please get some safety schools (maybe things like UC Davis UCSD or UCSB to name a few)

8

you definitely can get in UCs. It is very hard when it comes schools like Stanford, because everyone that is applying is competitive. You have to demonstrate who you are and why you are special beyond grades (passions,projects,etc…) You can try networking with the people from some of these schools on schoolinks.com
I know schools like Berkeley are on there

9

Thank you @michelle426, I am registered to take the Math 2 SAT Subject test on the October test date. I have been putting it off to give myself as much time as possible to practice and make sure I am as confident and prepared as I can be for it. I know Caltech is an insane reach, as well as Stanford, and that since I have some major reach schools, I really need some safeties. Along with UCSD and UCSB, you mentioned UC Davis as a safety… UC Davis is one of the schools I was already planning to apply to; do I have a good enough chance of getting accepted to consider it (or any other of the UCs, for that matter) a safety? I’ve heard that it can be more difficult to get into the UCs engineering schools; is that true?

10

@GingerTea12 yes, it generally is more difficult to get into the UCs for engineering. UCB engineering is a reach for everyone. However, your stats look great (surprisingly tho my W GPA isn’t that much lower than yours even though my UW is a lot lower than yours), and I can say with complete confidence that you will get into at least one UC, but I have no idea which one because competitive majors often throw wild cards around. Try applying to some CSUs maybe? Things like Cal Poly SLO and SJSU would be very nice safeties for you.

11

Thanks @omarlinks; I will check out that website… I definitely have some passions that I pursue in my extracurriculars, but I’m worried that I won’t stand out very much, considering that I don’t have any impressive projects or research related to the field I’m interested in. I would love to do that sort of thing, but I live in a fairly rural area… I’m hoping that I can stand out through my essays instead.

12

Chem Engineering at UCB is incredibly difficult to get in. It’s actually College of Chemistry.
UCLA chem-e is also pretty hard from what I’ve hard.
Stanford and Caltech—reaches for everyone.
While being a woman in engineering is helpful, the College of Chemistry of UCB and UCLA from what I’ve heard are very small (few students) and very competitive.
Should be pretty good for all the other UC’s.
Also a lot depends on the depth of your EC’s as you only listed them, your teacher/counselor recs, essays etc.