<p>Hi, I know that UC berkeley's eecs program is difficult to get into, more so than even berkeley. I would like to know how I stand! thanks, and I'll chance you back if needed! :) please chance me for ucla too if you are able to </p>
<p>Asian male (Chinese)
Lives in Sacramento
Born in Sacramento</p>
<p>Academic Info:
~Unweighted: ~3.8
~UC Weighted: 4.28
~Number of AP Classes since freshman year: I'll have 11 by the end of the year. I've gotten A's on all of them so far: AP Chemistry, AP Psych, AP Calc AB, BC, AP Physics, AP USH, AP Econ, AP Gov, AP Statistics, AP English, AP Biology.
~I'm also taking Differential Equations this semester at city college
Test Scores:
AP Scores: 5 Calc AB, 5 AP Psych, 4 Chem, 4 AP us history, 3 AP Physics
SAT: 1900 (bad)
SAT Subject: 700 Math II, 700 Physics
ACT: 32 (about equivalent of 2130, much better) </p>
<p>EC:
~Key Club 4 year
~NHS 4 year
~Chess Club 1 year, founder and president
~CSF 3 years
~Matheletes 1 year secretary </p>
<p>Essays: They were very good. </p>
<p>Majors:
UCLA: Computer Science
UC Berkeley: electrical engineering/computer science
(I know that my majors are more difficult to get into).</p>
<p>Again, please throw what you feel my chances are to get into UCLA and UCB! anything! thanks!</p>
<p>The only thing that gives me pause is your lack of engaging ECs. Did you have a job/any other commitments that held you back? Just so you know, at berkeley you may have a better shot at getting into the college of Letters and Sciences (L&S) which also has a Computer Science major. Send in your ACTs. UCLA I can’t really say, but right now I’d say cal is a mid-reach considering your lack of a hook.</p>
<p>Lack of engaging ECs?
Also weak stats including unimpressive test scores.
No AP CS and no stated extracurricular activities involving programming?</p>
<p>I’d say that it’s unlikely you’d be accepted and if you were, you’d struggle greatly with the coursework anyway.</p>
<p>Kind of being a little negative. My son did get into EECS and he had no engineering extracurriculars. However he was high on everything required (test scores, GPA, AP classes/scores and the like). Your scores seem a bit low but with a good essay anything can happen. Good luck.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the replies! Since EC’s seem to the be the greatest focus, I will say that I consider them my strong point, even though they don’t seem so on here. I mentioned them in the college essays.</p>
<p>Slight reach to get into CoE, but…
I’m majoring in CS and I have several EECS friends and I think we would all agree that if your 3 in AP physics and700 on both subject tests reflects your true ability, you will struggle greatly in the required courses for EECS.</p>
<p>If you get in, try learning some programming and reinforce your physics mechanics because your CS and physics classes will be extremely difficult.</p>
<p>A low score on the AP physics exam and low SAT 2 score doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll struggle greatly. I got low scores (3, 1) on my AP exams and still did OK in physics 7a (A-) and 7b (A)here . My SAT 2 for physics was like 500 something. also If your teacher was pretty bad like mine was, then you shouldn’t be entirely discouraged.</p>
<p>Lack of programming experience shouldn’t hurt too much as long as you play catch-up, and are a very strong student regardless. What is more worrisome is your test scores - I don’t care too much about SATs but my impression is that they affect your admission chances a fair bit at Berkeley.</p>
<p>A 4 in AP Physics is not the end of the world, and I don’t think AP scores are quite the right measure of mastery of those subjects; they depend too much on the rigor of the individual’s courses at the given school. A smart person who goes on to a school like Berkeley that actually makes clear the level of rigor it’ll expect of you can still do great and get A’s, as foobar’s record no doubt indicates.</p>
<p>A 700 on the Math II is, in my opinion, a worrisome score. However, the Math II test is a poor reflection of ability at any serious problem solving anyway, so it could just be that you had a superficial knowledge of those topics, which in my honest opinion aren’t that hard to learn properly anyway. You CAN boost your ability to get up to the level EECS will demand, but that will take serious effort (work lots of problems, maybe read different books on the same subject, go to office hourse, etc etc). But it is definitely going to require a lot of determination, given you’ll find there are people who will be racing by the initial requirements without any such determination.</p>
<p>The crux of what I’m saying is that it IS possible for a serious student to boost his/her ability to do well, but not everyone will actually put in what it takes.</p>
<p>And make no mistake, based on your profile, it seems you are not as well prepared as a lot of EECS students (and not just at Berkeley - depending on where you end up, you may be surprised at how strong the students are even at lesser ranked schools). I just refuse to believe high school performance is much of a good indicator of ability anyway, because most of that stuff can be learned with just a little effort.</p>
<p>I don’t think engaging ECs are necessary, given extremely high achievement on the other fronts. So the “only thing” that worries me is the <em>combo</em> of commonplace ECs and relatively low test scores.</p>
<p>im pretty similar to you…i dont expect to get into berkeley but uhm feel free to look at my most recent chance thread that ive posted if u wanna compare.</p>
<p>Just wait in hope. You never know how adcom works and they might just see something in your app that makes you Cal-qualified. Don’t stress too much… this is your last semester in HS, enjoy it! You can worry more once you’re here!</p>