Hey guys, prospective UCB student here who loved the school after my first visit.
I am applying in the fall, but I am wondering about my chances.
[so far] I have a 4.o UW and a 4.17 w, but I have taken relatively easy classes. All regular except for honors/ap English, accelerated math [calculus junior year], so how much will this hurt my application? I had some mental health issues during my first two years of HS and was anxious about overloading myself when it came time to choose classes. I will say that I have strong EC’s, with a lot of community involvement and leadership roles.
So how much will a weak courseload hurt if I still have all A’s?
Just make sure you mention your mental health issues somehow and make it clear that you only took easy classes because of that. Focus on your extracurriculars.
I was in your shoes, sort of. I moved from India after freshman year and due to some confusion/misunderstanding/miscommunication, I ended up with only regular classes all of sophomore year, with just advanced Math. However, basically all my academic classes were weighted for the junior and senior year so I had a strong upward trend. I also had strong test scores. I explained this on all of my college applications and while I was waitlisted at Berkeley (fingers crossed rn!), I did get into some great places like Caltech, Georgia Tech, Purdue, UCSD, etc. I also had solid ECs I’d say, with all As. It’s all about how you present yourself on your applications and how you can demonstrate excellence in ways beyond just class rigor!