SAT Essay Scores

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - GENERAL
1

I am going to take my SAT with essay soon, and I want to know what my chances are to getting admited into a top UC (I’ve really got my heart set on UC Berkeley and UC LA).

I am positive I’ll get at least a 1510, and a 6|4|6 or if I’m lucky, 6|5|6|.

EC’s- I’ve been a musician for last 10 years, and I’m going to UC Berkeley’s summer sessions this year, taking community classes next 3-4 semsters for CS, and thinking of developing an app.

I’m also a TA for a music group, but no other leadership activities…

What are my chances?

At least, what essay score should I aim for, or at least, what is the lowest score I can get before having to retake the test again? In other words, will anything lower than a 6 in 1 category (like a 4) hurt my chances of admission?

2

Not sure how much the top tier UCs consider the SAT essay, but I would think that 18 from what I hear is probably the baseline that you need to achieve. So 18 and above.

3

UC admissions is not just about your test scores and your essay score is considered but your SAT Math and EBRW scores are considered more important.
For 2017 the 25th-75th percentile for the eassay section was 16-20. What us important to the UC’s is your UC GPA capped weighted and Fully weighted along with HS course rigor and essays. Your music EC’s should help you.

25th - 75th percentiles for SAT:

UCB: 1280-1490

UCLA: 1280-1500