Prospects for rural CA KID for the UC's!

<p>Hi! I was wondering if I even have a decent shot at any of the top pier UC's (UCSD (bioengineering), UCLA, and UCB). I live in a rural desert part of California with limited opportunities (when compared to other better schools) in terms of EC's. Also my school sends like a couple of students even to the UC's(mostly Riverside). Well here are my stats:
Grade 11th
Rank 4/648
Race: Asian
GPA 4.0 UW
4.7 W
SAT (1st try) 690 CR
690 M
590 W
1970 Total
EC: Track JV 2 years
CSF 2 years
Extensive church service as altar boy
Guitar fanatic! Played for about 4-5 years
COSMOS @ UCSD Participant!
Special: Low Income
None of my parents went to College!
Took almost every single AP class available (not that many) I could while meeting the A-G requirements.
AP Scores: 4 AP European History
3 AP Biology
I'm especially interested in majoring in bioengineering and possibly go to med school in the future.
Class List
9th
Pre-AP Eng. I
Honors Geometry
Geography/ Intech
Pe
Earth and Space Science
Spanish I (no honors avail.)</p>

<p>10th
Pre-AP English II
Honors Alg. II
AP European History
PE
AP Biology
Hon. Span. II</p>

<p>11th (in Progress)
AP English III
Math Analysis/ Precalc(only Precalc available)
AP US History
Prin. of Physics
Chemistry (no honors)
Honors Span III</p>

<p>12th (next year)(already signed up)
AP English IV
AP Calculus AB
AP Gov./ Hon. Econ.
AP Physics B
AP Chemistry (hopefully they'll have it)
Art I (for A-G Req.)</p>

<p>With your background, 4.0 GPA and test scores you are a lock for UCSD and better than a 60% shot at both UCLA and UC Berkeley--even for engineering. The writing test score is a bit low--but not by much.</p>

<p>Keep in mind that the UCs are for the most part looking for the best California students. Better than 97% of all the students at UCSD are from California, 96% at UCLA and over 92% or so of the students at Berkeley.</p>

<p>You'll do fine. Best of success.</p>

<p>Hmm, although your courseload, GPA, and rank are good, your ECs and SAT aren't, so I'd say Berkeley/UCLA are slight reaches. UCSD is a match.</p>

<p>"None of my parents went to College!"</p>

<p>I think you mean neither; 'none' implies that you have many parents. =p</p>

<p>Yeah, sorry about that grammatical error. I was in a rush. Well, here is something in reply to Kyledavid80 who does not seem to realize I LIVE IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE!(ECs are so hard to do here, especially if you lack transportation this year like ME)Also, MY HS is 12 miles away, so I have to take the bus, making me forfeit my EC's at school(basically the only ones available in my area that I know of!). Also my SAT's are NOT BAD at all, especially for a junior taking it for the first time. kyledavid you 're too HARSH, you should stop giving negative and false advice to people about college because obviously you are too negative and arrogant to properly do so!
NOTICE*
About the part that says my high school sends kids to UC's, I forgot to mention that my school in fact sends only like some of the kids to colleges (including community)(most of them just stay home, I think!) and therefore sends very( emphasize on very) few students to higher level universities (Ivies, UC's) every year.
Also i plan to get a 2100+ SAT score when I retake it this MAY. (doing some extensive studying!!)</p>

<p>You know, without even looking at your post count, I could tell you're a noob.</p>

<p>I wasn't harsh at all. Just wait till you come across suze; then you'll know what "harsh" is. (Negativity? Arrogance? Where'd you get that?)</p>

<p>You're right, your SAT score isn't bad for a first time; a 1970 is well above the national average. But is it good enough for the top CA schools? No, it's not. </p>

<p>"you should stop giving negative and false advice to people about college because obviously you are too negative and arrogant to properly do so!"</p>

<p>If you don't want to hear what I say, then why are you even posting a chances thread? I mean, obviously, you know what you're talking about. If this is what you want to hear, then here you go:</p>

<p>UCB/UCLA/UCSD: shoo-in</p>

<p>As an added note, I'm from a small town on the Mojave Desert (southern California, if you didn't know), where there's little opportunity. In addition, my high school sends some off to college, most of which go to Cal State U's; I'd be very surprised to hear of someone from my high school who had gone to a top university. (Every once in a while, you'll hear of someone getting into UCLA or Berkeley -- but very rarely.)</p>

<p>Top Tier UC's:</p>

<p>UCB: Match-Slight Reach
UCLA: Match-Slight Reach
UCSD: Match </p>

<p>What is your UC GPA? Bio-engineering is very cometitive at UCSD. That could make UCSD a slight reach as well. I want to call Berkeley and UCLA a match, but your lack of EC's leads to me to believe they are slight reaches.</p>

<p>I kind of agree with KyleDavid, and yes Suze wins the harsh award...</p>

<p>Your academics look good and I'm not saying that you have no chance whatsoever, but EC's help students stand out. And lets face it...you don't stand out from jack (I'm sure you are a great person though). What this means is that you will have to do extra work on interviews and essays making sure that they remember you and feel compelled to send you the thick envelope. If you feel that your isolation is something you have had to overcome, write about it. Attach an extra letter. Just do something!</p>

<p>Ok, i guess you are right in saying that im too ordinary to have a really good shot at the schools I'm looking at.
You know what I don't really care anymore if I don't get into my dream school; I don't think its worth all the EC's and ultra high SAT scores that you have to do in order to get in.
Also, as an added note, you guys should really learn to make constructive criticism about people when talking about admissions instead of just flat right attacking them for it. Like for example, you guys simply assumed that my 1st Sat score was going to be my last, I know that i have a not as strong SAT score but I'm sure im going to improve. My stats are not yet completed.
You guys seem to act like you guys are the admission officers or experts themselves when many of you seem to be just ordinary HS students with too much time on their hands! Keep in mind that even the worst students with special circumstances can get in to even the Ivies. (Example: MIT doesn't require a HS diploma)
As a word of advice, don't make the mistake of ruining or tarnishing someone's hopes of getting in to their dream school no matter how horrible and ridiculous their stats are. Because you never know!</p>

<p>I don't think we assumed you weren't going to retake the SAT (in fact, I assumed you would, unless you really though a 1970 is cutting it for Berkeley).</p>

<p>Toughen up.</p>

<p>I agree with kyledavis80. if you ask for peoples opinions about your odds, would you rather them sugar coat the truth, or be honest? if i was you i wouldnt want the fake answer which makes you feel good right now, i would want a realistic answer, even if it was discouraging. hell, it wasnt like anyone said you had no chance. most of the posters said you deff had a good shot at getting into some of the schools you listed. i could call harvard a match for you, but eventually you would be even more let down when you got your denial letter. or i could tell you it was a reach, and you be a bit mad at me now or discouraged, but atleast youll know and it wont be a shock. hell no one here said they were the admissions officers or such, but you asked for your odds, then when you dont like what is said, you attack the posters for "acting like admissions officers". so im not sure what the hell you want other than us calling these schools safe matches or safeties for you, which they are not (they really arent safeties for anyone). all three top uc's are very competitive. toughen up, and dont get mat at people for telling you your odds not "considerably enough". no one said anything extremely mean to you or anything. sorry you didnt like the odds everyone gave you. but work hard and get your sat up then and dont get mad at us for being honest. i am not in the business or being an admissions officer or sugarcoating your odds or chances. however i do believe in being polite, and it seems like nothing bad was said to you, other than you simply didnt like the odds people gave you. you have great stats, so dont worry, youll get into some great schools. you got a great shot at getting into one of these top UC's, maybe even more than one of them. but if you dont want honest odds, dont ask for them.</p>

<p>ok, its fine with me. I accept the fact that I'm just average. Sure, Ill still apply, but I really am indifferent now about whether I get in to these top schools.
To the people who responded to my question: Thank You! Im sorry for being a douche in taking out my anger out on you when you just wanted to help; I guess I was just a bit disappointed about my reality. You guys really help shed some light on admissions to the top UC's. Well, anyways thanks again for taking the time to answer my question.</p>

<p>Now, can anyone tell me my chances for UCSB? Ive been very interested in it lately.</p>

<p>You are deffiantly not an average applicant. Your stats are excellent. you have an excellent shot at the top UC's and are a lock into UCSB. Remember, places like UCSD, UCLA and UC Berkeley are very tough to get into for anyone, rarely is anyone a lock into those schools, and you are around a match for all of them. That is pretty damn good man. Best of luck!</p>

<p>If you bring up the SAT score (and I'm assuming you will) to around 2100, Berkeley/UCLA are matches (maybe a very slight reach due to a lack of ECs -- but you do show focus on guitar + church).</p>

<p>ucsd is easily a safety. Ucla and berkeley are matches, due to the fact that you are in CA and your Sat are good (for your initial conditions). well done.</p>

<p>jasonlee576:</p>

<p>UCB/UCLA: Slight Reach
UCSD: Match</p>