UC Berkeley (too chicken to have people rip me apart if I ask about MIT)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hello, Asian here (have I doomed myself already?). Going to be a high school senior, and of course, admissions are coming up. Well, here’s my specs:

Weighted GPA: ~4.44 (will go up to… I think a 4.5 if I end up getting a 5 on my AP Eng Comp test and my teacher decides to round my grade up to an A, seemed willing before)

Unweighted: ~3.7, drastic improvement between grades 9-10 and grade 11.

SAT Old : 2310
SAT New: 1590, essay score 17/24 (OK, this is before I hardcore studied for AP Eng Comp, and the format was totally new, so cut me some slack >.<)
SAT Chem: 800
AP Euro: 4
AP Stats: 5
AP Chem: 5

AP Classes taken: AP Euro, AP Stats, AP Chem, AP Calculus AB (no BC, still took the BC test though, oh God), AP Biology, AP English Language and Composition, APUSH, AP Comp Sci A or whatever you call it (not Principles)

Man, I’m praying that I get the National AP Scholar Award, but AP Calculus and AP Comp Sci are literally so scary right now (then again, AP Euro was too, and that was a miracle)

Anyway, so extracurriculars (so far), awards, etc.
AMC top scorer at my school for 4 years (4 years because I got highest AMC 10 score at school in eighth grade)
GIS internship with the city (apparently this is like a new program, and I’m part of the pilot group) where we work with GIS software, the city GIS department, and the fire department, will start 7/5
CSF two years so far
Certificate of Merit Level 10 (I think that was one of the highest certifications I could get for piano), nine years of piano experience
Can’t think of any more because I’m a scrub…

Feel free to reply if I’m missing any info. Thanks for the help, it’s truly appreciated.

2

I believe you have a good chance of getting in. What is your UC GPA and what do you plan on majoring in?

3

Are you in-state?

4

It seems I can’t edit my post now because it’s too late. Thanks for the help, people. I’m southern Californian, born and raised B-)

So yeah, in-state. My plan is to major in Mechanical Engineering (oh, boy, here we go; my chances just got a lot slimmer, didn’t they?)

Anyhow, so I believe I calculated my UC GPA, correctly. It’s a 4.14.

In case I didn’t, here’s the classes I used.

10th
Honors English II - B B
AP Stats - A A
AP Chem - B B
AP Euro - A A
Spanish II - A A

11th
AP English - A B
AP Comp Sci - A A
AP Calc - A A
APUSH - A A
AP Bio - A A
Spanish III - A A

5

A UC GPA just means giving your Bs a 3.0 and your As a 4.0

So you have a 3.76 I believe. I mean I think UCB is a reach in my opinion and so is UCLA, but because you have an upward trend… Idk

6

What is your class rank? Was your AMC score high enough to qualify for the AIME?

7

Looks like your UC weighted GPA is 4.27.

http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/infocenter/freshman-admissions-summary indicates that, for fall 2015, 46% of frosh applicants with GPA >= 4.20 were admitted to Berkeley. However, since you are applying to mechanical engineering, you should expect admission to be more difficult than the campus overall.

8

Thanks for all the help.

I didn’t know how to calculate UC GPA, so thanks to the people who helped me with that. One question though. I’ve heard that a relatively low GPA can be tempered by how much course material and the number of difficult classes I’ve taken, and at my school, the grades I have put up are for all possible honors and AP courses that a student could even possibly take whilst still maintaining a steady track to high school graduation and on A-G (my class schedule is restricted to 6 periods). I know that the number of bonus points for honors and AP courses is capped at 8, so at one point, more A-G coursework will actually drag your average down, even if it’s AP or Honors. So does UC GPA really matter?

And my class rank is… Last time I checked, top 40. And since that was based on first semester grades and even with an additional B second semester, considering the sheer number of AP classes I took, it’s likely to rise again. I’m already in the top 5% or so, however (~rank 40 out of a class of 800).

I’m stupid so I’ve never qualified for AIME :((

“but because you have an upward trend…Idk”

  • Isn’t an upward trend something colleges like? Particularly for a class I’ve historically had issues in? I’m wondering because, counting grades by semesters, I had 2 B’s freshman year, 4 B’s sophomore year, and then only 1 B junior year, even though the difficulty of my coursework greatly increased junior year (I went from 3 to 5 APs, where a maximum number of class periods was 6).

Anyhow, thanks for everyone’s help here. It’s greatly appreciated.

9

I believe UC’s don’t use freshman year grades when calculating GPA btw

10

Your stats are similar to my son, who also had a 3.7 unweighted GPA due to a sprinkling of B’s, but high test scores. He got into Cal, but applied to College of L&S. As stated above, the College of Engineering is more competitive.

For backups, I think you have a very good chance for Davis and Cal Poly SLO.

11

https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/
I used this site for my UC GPA calculations and I think it’s accurate. According to the calculations, you have a 4.14 which puts you in a good spot. There is a chance you get into Cal (I would guess around 50/50). Hopefully this helped and good luck!

12

@mpurd18 Yeah, I didn’t use those grades at all when calculating my UC GPA. Don’t they still see the grades on my transcripts though?

@Yomama12 “Cal?” Forgive me, I’m rather new to this site and I don’t know what you could be referring to. Are you referring to “Cal” as in CalTech or a Cal State? Thanks for your clarification. Also, I think my parents would rip my face off if I only got into Davis or a Cal State…

@“Dhaval G” Same thing. Uh, what does “Cal” mean, exactly? I’m not quite sure. Thanks again.

13

Cal is UC Berkeley, no?

14

“Cal” is UC Berkeley. It’s not a CC abbreviation.

15

University of California Berkeley = Cal
California Institute of Technology = Cal Tech

Berkeley is the oldest university in the UC system and the original name was University of California, or Cal

16

In engineering, Cal Poly SLO is very highly thought of, with acceptance rates lower than some of the UC’s. It’s highly rated (compared to other schools that do not offer doctoral degrees).

http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/engineering-no-doctorate

17

Yes. It matters a lot. UC weighs gpa much more than test scores relative to other top programs. For engineering, it’s going to be a bit of a reach, maybe a high match given your ECs.

@Yomama12 had good suggestions. I think Cal Poly SLO is a terrific option for mech eng. Davis has been known to waitlist STEM applicants with your gpa but in recent years they’ve ended up admitting tons of kids from their waitlist so I suspect you would get in…just be prepared for them to make you twist in the wind a bit.

In theory yes but my guess is that it only comes into consideration when weighing your 4.14 against someone with the same scores. The fact that you are trending towards a 4.4 isn’t going to put you in the same bucket as the people who have actual 4.4s. (again, my guess)

18

So, apparently, “Cal” is referring to Berkeley, eh? Pretty sure a student interested in Cal should have known that much about the place. Well, pardon my embarrassing moments. I might as well do some better research about the place and slap myself in the face . :-S

I know San Luis Obispo is really good, but with my test scores and the amount of effort I put in, SLO or UC Davis just feels like a bit of a waste. Yeah, I know with my low UC GPA, non-stellar grades, and lack of amazing extracurriculars, I might sound a bit arrogant here, but I just wanna shoot higher than that.

19

If your UC-weighted-capped GPA is 4.14, then your chances go down. Even UCD should not be seen as a sure thing; this year, some UCD applicants in that GPA range (particularly applying to engineering majors) got rejected. Do not assume that high test scores will compensate for a slightly lower GPA at UCs.

20

UCD has been really unpredictable the last few years for engineering. A higher GPA and SAT score than yours have not made it in while significantly lower have. Be very wary of counting that or any of the top 6 or so UCs as a sure thing for engineering.