UC-Berkeley

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

So i applied to UC-B, UC-LA,UC-D and im doubting myself a lot because i keep seeing things everywhere about people not getting in with higher test scores and GPA’s than my own.

Can i have a little motivation/help/tips/advice?

GPA- unweighted-- 3.65/4 (my school doesnt weight)
ACT- 31 composite; 27 English and Math; 36 science; 33 Reading; 29 Writing
First Honors Student(Maintaining a 9.0 average)
Senior Year Class Schedule-- AP Physics, AP English Lit, Honors Senior Thesis, AP Spanish, AP Calculus, Honors Modern Euro History, Studio Art, Mock Trial
AP Scholar 2015-
APUSH- 3
AP US Gov- 4
AP English Language and Composition- 5

Extras/Activities/etc
I went to a week long law program that was hosted by a judge; very selective; 23 others, application, essay,etc.
Certified EMT-B
300+ hours in service

6 month class
NJCL- 3 years
Model UN-- 2 years
Went to an international Confernence, got award
History Bowl-- all of high school
Regionals, States and Nationals
We the People Comp–
Regionals (2nd) States (4th)
AMC- 2 years
Kick Boxing-- 2 years

Latin- National Mythology Exam
National Latin Exam
NAtional Spanish Exam
Other awards on arabic, spanish, and latin related things

Work Experience–
Worked at a car dealership as a caller, errand person, and assiatnt for 3 years

Worked at my mosque during summer to teach Arabic, organized events, and did volunteer things over the the summer for 3 years.

Greater Manassas Volunteer Rescue Squad-- One year,
Every week, 6hrs per week,

Had an internship for a Delegate who was running for office in my district
Both paid and volunteer.
Put a solid 55-70 hours in it.

State of Residence-- VA
First generation college student, Parents were immigrants from Afghanistan
Muslim, but i am white(brown hair, pale skin)
Income-- 80k yearlyish( little more, little less)

With all that said, and i know it isnt organized the best, but i was wondering if someone could just help me out. I know OOS for most places is much harder to get into and for an amazing school like Berkeley the 16% goes down even further, but if anyone had any advice, tips, or etc; I would gladly appreciate it.

Oh and sorry about the grammar; i wasnt extremely focused on that…

2

Why not UVA? UVA is a great school.

3

What is your UC GPA? https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/
Note as an OOS applicant, that only AP/IB/DE courses count for the extra honors points.

4

3.88 for my senior year currently, but that is only counting my first quarter and second quarter grades.

5

I applied early action and got deferred… so x.x

6

And for my 10th,11th, and first two quarters of senior year it is at a 3.8 with 20 A’s and 5 B’s

7

Not sure if you are talking about UVA or the UC’s in you original post. UC’s do not use Senior grades in their admission evaluations, only 10-11th grade which is your UC GPA (see Roger hub calculator link).

8

3.75. So it went down. And i thought they did use the first quarter of senior year grades? At least the ones you put down in your application, i might be wrong though. @Gumbymom what would you say my chances are, knowing what you know?

9

As an out of state student, you realize you have to pay about $55,000 a year for the UCs. The don’t give financial aid to non CA residents…

10

if i were to get accepted, i would invest money into an apartment or something so that i could be considered instate by the second year, which would decrease the tuition by a large amount. But im not exactly worried about the money, im more worried if i get in or not…

11

@Ragbar: When you applied during the November application period, you had your 1st quarter Senior grades already to report on your application? Does these quarter grades show up on your transcript?
You should only report what will be on your transcript since this is what will be used once you are accepted and your self-reported grades will be checked against.

A UC GPA of 3.75 will not get you into to UCB/UCLA or UCD especially when the average UC GPA is around 4.0+. ACT is within range and your EC’s look good, but since you are OOS, your chances are 50/50. Also to establish California residency, your parents have to move to California (if you receive support from them) or you have to be completely independent of your parents. Buying property here will not get you in-state residency. Here is a link of how to establish California residency:
http://registrar.berkeley.edu/Records/establish.html?no_server_init

12

Well that won’t actually work. The UCs do not typically change residency mid schooling. It would be a shame if you got in and then had to leave when you realize you are looking at over $200,000 for school.

But since you are only concerned about acceptance I will leave it alone.

13

I am confused. I thought i had a pretty good shot at UC-Davis since its average ACT was a 29 and its average GPA was a 3.8ish. With my EC’s and ACT i thought that i did. But again my primary choice is UC-B. And it asked me for my first quarter grades and i put them down as such because i had received my report card just prior to submitting the application in.

14

i admit that it would be a very big shame and i would definitely flip, but my parents do make more than just 80k and a few of my uncles and aunts are quite successful, so i am not sure exactly how it will go, but hopefully i will see what happens in about 2 months from now.

15

Average UC GPA for UC Davis was 4.07 last year so you are on the cusp if your UC GPA is 3.75. Your ACT is above average and good EC’s, so maybe a little higher than 50/50. Really hard to tell since EC’s and essays are subjective. If you do get accepted, just remember as stated above, that you will need to come up with $$$$ to attend.

From the UC Website in calculating UC GPA:
UC calculates an out-of-state applicant’s GPA similarly to how it calculates the GPA of a California resident, with one exception. We use all courses the student took to meet “a-g” requirements from the summer before 10th grade to the summer after 11th grade. In calculating a nonresident’s GPA, UC will grant honors weight for AP or IB courses only, but not for school-designated honors courses.

16

With the 29 ACT and 3.8 GPA, keep in mind that those include California students, where the bar for them is significantly lower. Look up the average stats of OOS students.