i’m a rising senior from los angeles, CA
all i want to is to get into berkeley
please honestly tell me how you think it looks
i will be applying under the Molecular and Cell Biology major (MCB) under the College of Letters and Sciences
science olympiad 4 yrs
peer counsellor 2yrs, will be college center office manager and peer counsellor this yr
strong volunteering at a hospital 4hrs/wk for the past 3 yrs
3.95 weighted UC GPA
2230 SAT I (680 v, 800 m, 750 w)
800 SAT II Math 2c
taking SAT II Bio M come october. definite 700+
psat 221 (71 v, 76 m, 74 w) national merit semifinalist qualifying score
my ap scores are quite iffy.
10th grade: physics c e&m- 1
10th grade: physics c mech- 1
10th grade: european history- 3
10th grade: calculus ab- 4
11th grade: calculus bc- 4
11th grade: calculus ab subscore- 5
11th grade: chemistry- 1
11th grade: us history- 1
11th grade: english language and composition- 5
please honestly tell me how my chances look for mcb at berkeley
i think my gpa and ap scores hurt me badly. and my rank isn’t pretty either.
thank you very much.
<p>Class rank doesn't matter for UC's. As long as your grades are really good (A's and B's) your GPA isn't that much of a concern. Your AP scores don't look that favorable, but I know someone in my hs graduating class who failed every one of her AP tests, and she's soakin' up the sun up at UC Berk. Your SAT scores are more than good enough for Cal, too; I'm sure that counts for something.</p>
<p>eeek my grades? very shady.</p>
<p>i have 5 Bs and 5 Cs and 14As. ouch? yes.</p>
<p>that's also a crazy worry for me. cuz my grades are not nice.
10th grade:
h eng 10: A B
ap physics C: C B
got 1, 1 on the aps
h spanish 2: A A
Tennis: A A
ap european history: B C<br>
got a 3 on the ap
ap calculus ab: A A
got a 4 on the ap</p>
<p>11th grade:
peer counselling: A A
ap english language and composition: B C
got a 5 on the ap
h spanish 3: A A
ap us history: C C
got a 1 on the ap
ap calculus bc: A A
got a 4 on bc, a 5 on the ab subscore
ap chemistry: A B
got a 1 on the ap</p>
<p>i think the huge disparities will make them wonder
to add to my mess. i took the last old SAT in jan.
and busted out a 1590 (m 790, v 800) if i report this score to berk even though they dont want it, it will help, yes? does it solidify anything?
come to think of it, does it help at all?
oh man, so worried. </p>
<p>thank you.</p>
<p>It probably won't help if they only take the New SAT for your graduating class. To be honest, on paper there really aren't that many disparities: If you did well in the class, you normally did well on the AP test (except chem), and if you didn't get good grades in the class, you scored poorly on the test. Students get into Berkeley with a couple of C's all the time, so there's still hope (though straight A students still get rejected by the thousands). Here's a question: since you want to go to Berkeley really bad, you probably wanted this for a long time, right? Why did you put yourself in a situation where you'd have to worry about your grades then (when you were in the classes they were totally under you control, you could have done well if you wanted to, and since you seem to test well you shouldn't have had a problem with any of the AP's)? If you had a serious family crisis during this time, then it's something you can address in your essays, but I don't think that's the case since you seemed to do well in predominantly math/science classes. It's just kind of a shame that if your grades were better (mostly A's and a couple of B's) you'd literally be a lock for UC Berkeley, Regents' scholar material even. You should consider the safer UC's like Riverside, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, Irvine, etc. just in case</p>
<p>of course im applying to ucla, ucsd, and uci in case i dont get into berkeley.</p>
<p>yeah. idk why my grades came out the way they did. i didnt have any dire situation or anything. but anyhoo. now all i want is to get in. hopefully ill get that.</p>
<p>thank you so much man for the replies.</p>
<p>anyone else?
:)</p>
<p>C's are gonna hurt at any selective school; UC's don't use rank since ~50% of Calif high schools don't rank; also, they don't use AP scores either.</p>
<p>did you calc the UC gpa correctly (capping at 8 semesters worth of bonus points?)?</p>
<p>that was the gpa my school gave to me as my UC Weighted GPA
yeah im so worried esp about the Cs..so many of them </p>
<p>i don't know. i'd like to go there a lot. </p>
<p>quick question. i just came back from an 8 week summer program at Harvard University, studying biology. should i mention that on my uc app at all or would it be bac cuz its not a uc and its some other place? and i wonder if itwould be appropriate if i wrote one of my essays about that "academic opportunity"... but this summer was the one that made me realize i dont want to ever get near harvard again. BERKELEY BABY (if i get in)</p>
<p>thanks all</p>
<p>I'd put it in. Your only other choice is to leave the summer activities section blank, and taking summer classes is a good way to show academic initiative.</p>
<p>Really?? Is their still hope if I get 3 B's in my sophomore year?
(I took 5 honors classes, and our school's not offering any AP course; I going to become a junior and I live in Canada.)
Please tell me!!!</p>
<p>Iwanna:</p>
<p>DEFINITELY show the class at H, particularly if you received class credit. It shows that you did something academic instead of hanging at the beach or mall. Be careful in an essay, however, as you don't want to appear to be dissing H. Heck, you never know, the adcom's spouse, cousin, uncle, etc., could be an H grad.</p>
<p>Jimmy: a few B's never hurts anyone, as long as Jr grades continue to go up, but not sure about the competition for international spots.</p>
<p>Being from Canada will hurt you far more than having B's ever could.</p>
<p>bump</p>
<p>any more opinions as to my shot at berkeley?</p>
<p>thanks all</p>