<p>Now that we've got that out of the way, on to business.</p>
<p>I'm a 19 year old student from Dublin, Ireland and I've got my heart set on Berkeley. I'm currently in University College Dublin, studying a physics course. However I've realised that this isn't the college for me. In fact I know it's time to leave the country. </p>
<p>I've always wanted to go to college in America, but with the pressure of exams and other activities the past few years, I never had a chance to follow it up. Now that I'm in college however, I've decided that there's no point in sticking with something that in all honesty I'm only doing because of convenience. </p>
<p>I do realise however that there are bound to be certain difficulties in applying for UC Berkeley, some of which being that I haven't done the SAT's, as they aren't practiced in Ireland; and the fact that I don't have any grades stored from the past few years as in 'high school' in this country, continuous assesment plays no part in getting into college, and exam/homework grades are not recorded.</p>
<p>I was wondering if I had any chance of getting into the college with the below credentials:</p>
<p>Junior Certificate ( State Exam students in Ireland take at 14/15 ) : Maths(A), History(A), Civic,Social and Political Education(A), English(B), French(B), Geography(B), Religious Studies(B), Business and Economics(C), Irish(C).</p>
<p>Leaving Certificate ( State Exam students in Ireland take at 17/18 which decides which college we get into) : English(B+), Maths(C+), History(C+), History Research Project(A+), French(C), Physics(C), Classical Studies(C-). </p>
<p>Now I know those aren't the best results in the world, but as far as I know, the Leaving Cert is much more difficult than the SATS, at least in regards to the amount of content you're required to know. The leaving cert is less about intelligence and more about one's ability to cram as much info into your head for the exams, which all take place at the end of our final year, and then forget it all once we're finished. Crazy I know :).</p>
<p>Anyway, other accademic achievements worth noting are: </p>
<p>-Special Award for Excellence in Maths ( Got that in my final year of Junior School. I think that's the equivalent of Junior High in the states ).
-I was in a special advanced class the same year, where myself and 4 other students from the school were chosen to study abstract subjects such as Latin and Philosophy.
-I'll also be finishing this year of college in Ireland and will present these results to Berkeley. I haven't gotten anything below 85 % yet, though the year had only recently started so fingers crossed.</p>
<p>Other things that may be of use:</p>
<p>-I was a volunteer 2-star Private in Ireland's RDF ( Reserve Defence Force) for around 18 months.
-I put in around 50 hours of communittee service during my fourth year of High School.
-I've been playing guitar since I was 10 and I've been in two pretty good bands. I'll send in a sample track as a special talent thingy if it helps.
-I was on my school's rugby team for about 6 years.
-I was also on a golf team at my club.
-I set up and ran an irish teen forum for two years that had over 2,500 members.</p>
<p>Now that we've got all the background info out of the way, I'd like to ask a few questions.</p>
<p>1) Is the above enough to get me into the college if I write a '*****in' personal essay.
2) Should I do the SATs? There is an exam centre in Dublin for students who want to study in America.
3) Are international students usally welcomed in Berkeley?
4) Does anyone know if there's many irish students in the college?
5) Which dorms are considered the best. I was looking at Bowles because of the architecture but was a little put off by the all-male thing.
6) Any advice on which fraternaties are good? I suppose I'm getting a little ahead of myself there :P</p>
<p>Any other advice or tips would be great.</p>
<p>Cheers, Lep.</p>