Hi everyone,
I come from a semi-competitive high school in SoCal, there are others around me that are much more competitive. Anyway, I feel like I am a smart student, but obviously could be better in many ways. I want to realistically see where I can get into for college. I want to go to a college that will strongly prepare me for a job, but I also want to have fun, perhaps intramural sports, maybe try to parties, etc… I am somewhat introverted, but am willing to change in college to have the best experience. Location doesn’t really matter, but working in the Silicon Valley would be amazing. My dream job would be for Tesla.
Anyways I am mainly looking in-state because California is an amazing place that I don’t want to leave.
I am interested in Electrical Engineering (don’t know much about it however), but looking into other engineering majors, physics, perhaps CS (don’t know any coding though).
Here are my stats:
GPA:
4.32 W , 3.86 UW, 4.2 UC weighted and capped
Tests:
SAT: 1490 (790 math, 700 english) 6/7/6 essays
SAT Subjects: 800 math, 730 physics
AP: 5 calc bc, 4 physics, 4 lang
PSAT: 1440 (760 math, 680 english)
Taking 7 AP’s and 6 honors by graduation, senior year am taking: AP Stats, AP Computer Science Principles (not A), AP Spanish Lang, and AP English Lit
Ranked in top 5% of my school
Essays:
not sure how to put them here, but I will try to get them edited by professionals and/or english teachers
ECs:
3 years tennis, varsity senior year,
NHS 10-12, Treasurer 12th grade
Mu Alpha Theta 11-12 Vice-President 12th grade
Volunteer at Hospital 10-12th grade (about 100+ hrs by now)
UCSD Cosmos - summer before 12th grade
Tutoring Job at local center teaching math and science -12th grade
Awards:
AP Scholar
Gold Honor Roll every semester
PSAT Commended
Tennis MVP Award
Top 3 Scorer AMC 12 in School
District Science Fair 3rd Overall / 1st in Physics
I feel like my EC’s/ awards aren’t that great, Cosmos is the only good thing. Anyways, the Cosmos experience was good, UCSD was pretty cool campus. I also visited UCLA, which is pretty good, and UCI which good, but I didn’t like it as much as the other two. Schools like Berkeley and Stanford are my reaches, and going there would be awesome, especially since they’re near Silicon Valley, though that isn’t super important.
Here’s my application list so far:
Stanford (REA)
CalTech
USC
UC Berkeley
UCLA
UCSD
UCSB
UCI
UCD
UCR
Cal Poly SLO
Cal Poly Pomona
Please honestly chance me and let me know how to improve my application tips. Thanks!
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I would say:
UCB Reach
UCLA Reach
UCSD high match/ low reach
UCSB high match
UCI high match / match
UCD match / maybe high match
UCR safety
SLO low reach - pretty hard to get into for engineering
Pomona - safety
Stanford - high reach
CalTech- high reach
USC - reach
You have a balanced list, Stanford and CalTech are very unlikely. Your EC’s look solid, so does your GPA and SAT. Work on essays. I didn’t expect to get into Berkeley for engineering, but I did. You never know what happens.
good luck!
Trust me, you don’t want to work for Tesla, many people hate the work atmosphere there…
Anyhow, what SREE33 posted is pretty accurate, though if you were thinking about EECS specifically at either Berkeley or UCLA, your chances are very low.
You look like a competitive applicant for all the schools on your list but realize that Stanford and Cal Tech are High Reach schools while UCB/UCLA and USC will be Reach schools but possible.
Your UC capped weighted GPA is within range or above for all the UC’s along with SAT and SAT subject scores.
2018 UC capped weighted GPA averages:
UCB: 4.23
UCLA: 4.23
UCSD: 4.16
UCSB: 4.13
UCI: 4.13
UCD: 4.11
UCSC: 3.96
UCR: 3.81
2018 Data:
25th - 75th percentiles for SAT:
UCB: 1360-1540
UCLA: 1340-1540
UCSD: 1300-1520
UCSB: 1270-1500
UCD: 1220-1480
UCI: 1230-1490
UCSC: 1210-1450
UCR: 1130-1380
SLO’s EE project acceptance rate is around 40% which is higher than many of the other Engineering majors.
I think your target UC’s would be UCI/UCD and UCSB. UCSD probably a High Match. SLO a High Match. UCR and CPP would be your safeties.
Best of luck.
Pomona has an admission rate of 7.9% so it is a high reach, not a safety.
@Deaston: OP is talking about Cal Poly Pomona the California State University not Pomona College which is private and part of the Claremont Consortium. Many people mistake the two schools.
Thanks everyone!
@deas’ I was talking about Cal Poly Pomona. I also might apply to UCSC. Is there any other schools I should add?
Preferably in-state?
Also, can people give me advice for my apps?
I am assuming you are not a minority.
Stanford (REA) - super reach, SAT scores are a little low
CalTech - super reach, you would need to get some type of major STEM award, internship of some sort, or research paper
USC - low reach
UC Berkeley - reach, those SAT scores and GPA are gonna hurt
UCLA - reach, just like Berkeley
UCSD - reach, this is becoming a UCLA school, it gets harder and harder each year
UCSB - high match
UCI - match
UCD - match
UCR - safety
Cal Poly SLO - match / low reach (STEM there is competitive)
Cal Poly Pomona - match
Should i retake the SAT?
I would aim at getting above 1500. You are sooooo close.
Thanks I’ll try my best to do that. I don’t think most of the schools I am applying to superscore though.
Can other people give advice?
I would really appreciate it, thanks!
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