Hello!
I am going to be a junior in high school in California and I am just getting started on my college search process. I am super interested in science and medicine at UC Berkeley which has now become my dream school to go to. I looked up stats and it looks VERY competitive to get in to in regards to grades and academic achievements.
I heard that they look at sophomore and junior grades and so far, I am not doing up to those UC standard (4.12 weighted and 3.5 unweighted). I got a B- first semester in chem honors and a B in chem honors in second. I am not super proud of this and it was partially because of my teacher. I am doubling up in junior year in AP Bio an Physics. If I were to do spectacular in my junior year classes by taking 4 honors/AP classes and got a good GPA and standardized test scores, could I still have a chance.
I also play sports and do a lot of community service and clubs related to medicine outside of school which I plan to put on my personal essay. I also fall under the category of being Hispanic which I hope will maybe help
You can still get in, you could easily recover from a B sophomore year, I know people who have gotten C’s and then perfect scores on ACT and SAT Math 2, they are now going to Brown and got accepted to Hopkins and company. But anyway you need to get that GPA up try shooting for 3.8 or higher for the rest of your high school and if you don’t get into Berkeley you will go to another great university and will succeed. If you wouldn’t mind chancing me back I would love it ;)/
Thanks @WaterpoloGod23 for giving me hope! Is it worth even taking AP World History if I am not even interested in history? Like I just want it for the GPA boost.
You need to be at least semi interested or at least sure you will be able to get an A. Because you don’t want to take a class that will bring you down. Especially if it is something that you aren’t even interested in.
Nope. The UC’s and CSU’s do not use ethnicity to admit (affirmative action). It is against the law in California. Private schools may be interested in underrepresented minority status (URM).
You can’t blame the teachers for a grade; at the university level, you will be expected to do the work and will also have professors that will grade harshly. That is part of being a college student.
I know I can’t put the blame on them. But like if I were to do spectacular in junior year, would you think I had a chance? Like if I improved.
UC’s have their own way to calculate and weight your HS courses from 10-11th grades. Most of the UC’s use capped weighted GPA (8 semesters of UC approved Honors courses). UCLA/UCB will also consider your Fully weighted UC GPA (unlimited Honors courses taken 10-11th grades).
http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/freshman/profiles/index.html
You really need to wait until end of Junior year to gauge your chances at a school like UCB. Right now you only have 10th grades available and no test scores. Yes, you if you do well Junior year, there is a chance but do not take classes just for the same of your GPA. If you have no genuine interest in a class, it may be difficult to pull out an A grade in the end.
Here is some target UC GPA and test scores to aim for in you are considering UCB and some of the other UC’s.
The Freshman profiles listed are from 2016 and the updated profiles will be available in August but it will give you an idea the competitiveness of a school like UCB. Again these are averages and intended major can make a big difference.
http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/freshman/profiles/index.html
And just to give you an idea of how your GPA stacks up to admit rates for the UC’s:
Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 3.40-3.79:
UCB: 2%
UCLA: 3%
UCSD: 6%
UCD: 15%
UCSB: 14%
UCI: 13%
UCSC: 59%
UCR: 78%
UCM: 92%
Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 3.80-4.19:
UCB: 14%
UCLA: 14%
UCSD: 44%
UCSB: 54%
UCD: 58%
UCI: 65%
UCSC: 85%
UCR: 94%
UCM: 96%
Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 4.20 or above:
UCB: 42%
UCLA: 54%
UCSD: 87%
UCSB: 85%
UCD: 91%
UCI: 94%
UCR/UCM: 98%
I don’t mean to sound harsh, but if you are not the best of the best in science and you want to go to medical school, don’t go to Berkeley undergrad. In order to get into medical school, you need a really good GPA. It is a lot harder to get that really good GPA at Berkeley than at some other places. It’d be much more beneficial to go to a school that’s smaller and would give you more opportunities for research and leadership, which you’ll need both of to get into medical school. On average in the country, only half of med school applicants get into any medical school. This average is no higher for applicants from Berkeley. However, many other smaller/more supportive schools actually have med school acceptance rates closer to 70-80% among their students who apply. Just food for thought. I personally love Berkeley and think it’s a great school, but I would never recommend it as an undergrad to a potential doctor.
My cousin just graduated from Berkeley class of 2015, and she advised me that you have to be a self-starter to be successful there. You have to fight to get placement in the classes you want when you want, and you have to know how to study on your own. She was very successful, and ended up going to Stanford for grad school. But she also had friends who ended up dropping out junior or senior year under the stress.
To answer your chance, I’d say it’s possible if your grades were really good junior year, and with great ACT/SAT scores. Berkeley is hard to get into regardless, even with amazing everything.
I hope you do well in your Junior year and do well on SAT or ACT. I would also advice you to maintain a high GPA and rank high at your school. UC offers a guarantee UC admission to the top 9%, so it’s important to make that top 9%. If you have time start writing essays on anything about you, your family, your surroundings, your ambition, your hobbies, etc. perfect those essays by making it serious yet fun. Select a meaningful community service now. Help at summer camps with special needs, volunteer at low income day camps like the Y and I mean not just a few hours, but a full dedication. For medical, volunteer at hospitals or medical research.
I can tell you that at my daughter’s school the 12 that were accepted at Berkeley all graduated cum laude, which at her school was 4.5 or higher. My daughter was waitlisted with perfect gpa 4.88, perfect Math score with leadership and lots of community service. Thankfully she got off the waitlist in the first round.
If you don’t get in, go through the transfer route and perform extremely well in CC with great recommendations.
I am not exactly wanting to become a doctor. I am still pretty undecided. But I know that one of my choices is becoming a dentist or orthodontist which leads me into needing to go to dental school. Would this be the same chances/ competitivety?
@AnxMom2021 How do I find out my class ranking?