*******UCLA CLASS OF 2020 DECISIONS ONLY*******

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Los Angeles
101

Decision: Accepted

Objective:[ul]
[] SAT I (breakdown): 2240 (780 CR, 770 M, 690 W) (highest single sitting), 2330 superscored (780 W)
[] ACT: did not take
[] SAT II: 800 (Bio-M), 800 (Math II), 800 (Chem)
[] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.72
[] UC GPA: 4.31
[] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Top 20%, school does not officially rank
[] ELC?: no
[] AP (place score in parenthesis): Physics 1 (5), Bio (5), Stats (5), Chem (4, self-study), US History (5), Physics C Mechanics, Physics C E&M, AP Calculus BC, AP Computer Science
[] IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
[] Senior Year Course Load: AP Physics C (Mech 1st semester E&M second), AP Calculus BC, AP Computer Science, Government/Economics (AP not offered at our school), Digital Imaging, Expository Reading and Writing
[li] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Won some Quiz Bowl awards in NorCal and nationally, apparently it worked for UCLA (and all UCs I applied to other than Davis). Also won awards at regional science fairs and events. Other than that the usual National Merit Semifinalist, AP Scholar with Distinction etc.[/li]
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Junior Statesmen of America (Director of Debate), Quiz Bowl, Science Fair astrophysics research, various other clubs
[] Job/Work Experience: Worked at Lawrence Berkeley Lab, and at a biotech firm. Listed as ECs because these were not compensated (although I later received a paid offer from the company).
[] Volunteer/Community service: Worked at the Lawrence Hall of Science, assorted events
[] Personal Statement: Perfect 10. Talked about my passion for astrophysics and the work I’d done on it. Really must have caught the eye of someone at the Admissions Office.

[/ul]Other[ul]
[] Applied for Financial Aid?: N/A
[li]** Intended Major **: Astrophysics[/li][] State (if domestic applicant): California
[] School Type: Large Public (among highest-ranked in country)
[] Ethnicity: Indian (Asian)
[] Gender: Male
[] Income Bracket: $200k +
[li] Hooks (URM, first generation college, research, etc.): Probably the research that I’ve done in the field, and that I’ve continued doing, that got me through. Nothing really UCLA-specific, I did a lot more at Cal because I live in the Bay Area.[/li]
[/ul]Reflection[ul]
[] Strengths: My test scores probably got me past the original review while my essays and research experienced pushed me to the top of the pile. My course rigor was also significantly higher than the norm, as were my community-college classes. I’m sure that the smattering of statewide JSA and Quiz Bowl awards also helped.
[] Weaknesses: GPA was fairly low, and my community service was rather light (my place didn’t inflate hours as most do, but I’m happy I got mine honestly). Almost nobody below a 3.9 UW in our school got in.
[] Schools were you accepted/waitlisted to? Boston University (Physics), UCLA (Astrophysics), UCSD (Physics with concentration Astrophysics), UCSC (Astrophysics, Scholars Program, Merit Scholarship), UIUC (Aerospace Engineering)
[] Schools you were rejected from? UC Davis (Computer Science), Caltech (Astrophysics), Cornell (Astronomy)
[li] Schools you are waiting for? UCSB (CCS), Cal, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford[/li][/ul]General Comments:
To put it frankly, my GPA was terrible as far as admissions to a top school like UCLA go, and as far as objective factors go I think only my high test scores and extreme course rigor were my saving grace. I believe that my essays and research experience were the factors that pushed me over my peers in the 3.8 range (most of whom were denied or waitlisted). To all future applicants, I’d recommend trying harder in school than I did, while still providing richness and passion to your application that is sorely lacking in most “high GPA” applicants. I am personally humbled that the UCs have been as kind to me as they have been, and am looking forward to becoming a Bruin or Bear this fall!

102

Decision: Accepted

Objective:[ul]
[] SAT I (breakdown): N/A
[] ACT: 32 (34 E 33 M 28 R 34 S)
[] SAT II: Physics: 800 Math IIC: 800
[] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4
[] UC GPA: Don’t know, 4.8 weighted on transcript
[] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/615
[] ELC?:
[] AP (place score in parenthesis): Calc AB (5), BC (5), US History (5), Chem (4), English Language (4)
[] IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
[] Senior Year Course Load: AP Stats, AP Microeconomics, AP US Gov, AP Computer Science A, AP English Literature, AP Physics I, Introduction to Art
[li] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): AP Scholar with Distinction, National Spanish Exam Gold[/li]
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Physics club (vp), calc club (vp), mu alpha theta (vp), FBLA, chemistry club
[] Job/Work Experience: Only small scale things, like house watching and fish feeding
[] Volunteer/Community service: Worked at some car washes
[] Personal Statement: 8.5/10

[/ul]Other[ul]
[] Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
[li]** Intended Major **: Physics[/li][] State (if domestic applicant): AZ
[] School Type: Public
[] Ethnicity: White
[] Gender: M
[] Income Bracket: ~50000
[li] Hooks (URM, first generation college, research, etc.): [/li]
[/ul]Reflection[ul]
[] Strengths: Subject tests, GPA/class rank
[] Weaknesses: ECs
[] Accepted: ASU
[] Rejected: CalTech
[li] Waiting: USC, Stanford, Berkeley, Rice, Carnegie Mellon[/li][/ul]General Comments: Good Luck!!

103

Decision: Accepted

Objective:
ACT (breakdown): 34 C (35 E, 33 M, 35 S, 34 R 29 W)
SAT II (place score in parentheses): 790 Math II, 760 US History
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.982
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): N/A
AP (place score in parentheses): APHG (5), APWH (4), Chem (3), Physics 1 (2 lol), APUSH (5), AP Lang (5), Psych (5), Calc AB (5),
IB (place score in parentheses): None
Senior Year Course Load: AP Statistics, AP Microeconomics, AP Government and Politics, AP Calculus BC, CP En
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): AP Scholar with Distinction (lol)

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses): Treasurer of American Red Cross, Golf, Officer of Advanced Computer Mechanics club, Internship at my local chamber of commerce
Job/Work Experience: Math Tutoring (calculus and physics for peers & SAT math for younger students)
Volunteer/Community Service: Volunteered ~400 hours at a hospital and ~100 doing other random things
Summer Activities: None
Essays (rating 1-10, details): 9/10

Other

State (if domestic applicant): CA
Country (if international applicant): USA
School Type: Public Charter
Ethnicity: African American
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: >150,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM

Reflection
Strengths: Grades, test scores, race
Weaknesses: ECs/Awards
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: Stats
Accepted: Northwestern, USC w/ Trustee, UCI, UCSD, SLO, SDSU
Rejected: None so far
Waiting on: UCB, Harvard, UPENN, Stanford, Princeton, UCSB

104

size=+2]Decision: Accepted[/size]

Objective:[ul]
[] SAT I (breakdown): 1800, Critical Reading (640), Math (530), Writing (630)
[] ACT: 25
[] SAT II: World History - 670
[] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.89
[] UC GPA: 4.67
[] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 15 out 614
[] ELC?:
[] AP (place score in parenthesis): World History - 4, US History - 3
[] IB (place score in parenthesis): Math SL - 5
[] Senior Year Course Load: All IB courses except for one regular class (out of 6 total in my schedule)
[li] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): None[/li]
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): member of California Scholarship Federation club (2013-2016), founder and co-president of a community service club dealing with animals (2014-2016)
[] Job/Work Experience: none
[] Volunteer/Community service: weekly volunteer at the local animal shelter (2013-2015)
[] Personal Statement: I played up my life struggles and I think I did alright on them. I then received a Supplemental Questionnaire and I definitely think I killed it. I think that’s maybe what got me in the door.

[/ul]Other[ul]
[] Applied for Financial Aid?: no
[li]** Intended Major **: undeclared[/li][] State (if domestic applicant): california
[] Country (if international applicant):
[] School Type: public
[] Ethnicity: multi-racial (primarily Mexican and then mixed with african american and some other things)
[] Gender: female
[] Income Bracket: middle class, 84K max
[] Hooks (URM, first generation college, research, etc.): none

[/ul]Reflection[ul]
[] Strengths: I’ve taken honors and IB courses since I was a freshman (with about 4 regular classes over the years), straight A’s all years except for sophomore where I got 2 B’s
[] Weaknesses: definitely my SAT scores. i also didn’t have great extracurriculars in my opinion.
[] Schools were you accepted/waitlisted to? Cal State Long Beach, Cal Poly Pomona, Cal State Northridge, San Diego State, UC San Diego, UC Irvine
[] Schools you were rejected from? none so far
[li] Schools you are waiting for? UC Santa Barbara and Berkeley[/li][/ul]General Comments: I looked on this website while I was waiting for my decision and it did not help my self-esteem one bit!!! Everyone’s stats are so amazing with such high SAT scores and great extracurriculars; I definitely felt less than good enough, like I had no chance at getting accepted. I guess UCLA thought otherwise!! So definitely don’t give up. Don’t let what you see from other people convince you that you aren’t good enough!

105

Decision: Accepted

Objective:[ul]
[] SAT I (breakdown): 1790
[] ACT: 27
[] SAT II: 620 Bio 620 Math 2 590 Chem
[] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.8
[] UC GPA: 4.2 capped
[] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 4ish/490
[] ELC?: no
[] AP (place score in parenthesis): n/a
[] IB (place score in parenthesis): Math HL, Bio HL, English HL, History of Americas HL, Chem SL, Spanish SL
[] Senior Year Course Load: All the classes above
[li] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):[/li]
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Key Club (Vice President), NHS (Treasurer), Blue and Gold Society (Founder), Volleyball (Captain), Robotics (General Member), Class Rep, Dance Team
[] Job/Work Experience: Starbucks (Senior Year)
[] Volunteer/Community service: A lot (weekly 5 hours)
[] Personal Statement:

1.) Wrote about the financial instability of my family and how getting a job while doing full IB got to be a lot, but I got through it. 9/10

2.) Wrote about not being masculine and not conforming to societal norms.

[/ul]Other[ul]
[] Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
[li]** Intended Major **: Biology[/li][] State (if domestic applicant): California
[] Country (if international applicant): USA
[] School Type: Inderkum
[] Ethnicity: Filipino
[] Gender: M
[] Income Bracket: 90,000
[] Hooks (URM, first generation college, research, etc.): Nah

[/ul]Reflection[list]
[] Strengths: GPA? Kinda. EC’s, Essays
[] Weaknesses: Test Scores
[] Schools were you accepted/waitlisted to? UCSD, UCD, UCI, SJSU, and SDSU
[] Schools you were rejected from? Cal Poly Slo
[*] Schools you are waiting UCB, UCSB, and USC

106

Decision: Accepted

(Program/Major: Pre Mathematics/Economics

Objective:

SAT I (breakdown): 2020 (1410 for Maths+ CR)
ACT (breakdown):
SAT II: Physics 700 Math II 770 Chemistry 700
Unweighted GPA: Not applicable(Took A- Levels) 3A*1A forecast
Weighted GPA: – Straight A’s in grade 12,11 and 10 but got numerous B’s and C’s in grade 9 due to personal problems
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):-
AP (place score in parenthesis): -
IB (place score in parenthesis):-
Senior Year Course Load: 4 Subject in A-Level, 10A in SPM examinations
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Award for scoring straight A’s in national examination, Distinction in University of New South Wales Assesment in English

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Taekwondo (Vice captain, Gold medalist for State Competition for 3 years), Rotaract Club (director), Corporation Board ( Stock Manager), UNESCO Club ( Treasurer), Mathematics Club ( Secretary), Environmental Science Club(Publicity Director)
Job/Work Experience: Intern at Construction Firm, Work at school book shop for 3 months
Volunteer/Community service: Volunteer at soup kitchens fortnightly(4 hours per visit), volunteer at national zoo, tutor in orphange(3 hours weekly), teacher to migrants from Myanmar in English, organized coastal cleanup to beaches around Malaysia), organized educational trip to historical sites around Malaysia
Summer Activities: -
Essays:= 1st one was pretty basic, talk about overcoming fear of eyes
2nd one was decent, I guess. Talk about sleep paralysis and how it affected me
Teacher Recommendation: Not used
Counselor Rec: Not used
Additional Rec: -
Interview: None
Supplementary Material (portfolio, etc.): None

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: No
State (if domestic applicant): -
Country (if international applicant): Malaysia
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: 50,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): First Generation College

Reflection

Strengths: Nothing much.Pretty Average
Weaknesses: SAT scores, lack of experience in the field of study
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: Essay, Luck
Schools were you accepted/waitlisted to? U of I Urbana Champaign, Uni of Washington,seattle ( all for Electrical engineering), Georgia tech(Waitlisted)
Schools you were rejected from? None so far.
Schools you are waiting for? UC Berkeley!!
General Comments: Excited! Didn’t think I would get accepted due to my low stats. Don’t listen to the people telling that your stats are too low:)

107

Decision: Accepted

Objective:[ list]
[] SAT I (breakdown): 2320 (800M/750CR/770W; Essay:9)
[] ACT: N/A
[] SAT II: Math 2 (800), Physics (790), Chemistry (750)
[] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.92
[] UC GPA: IDK
[] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): no rank, but probably top 2-3%
[] ELC?:
[] AP (place score in parenthesis):
[li] IB (place score in parenthesis): Predicted 41/42, 44/45 (HL Math 7, HL Economics 7, HL Physics 7, SL English 6, SL Spanish 7, SL Chemistry 7)[/li][ *] Senior Year Course Load: same as above
[ *] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): nothing major

[/list]Subjective:[ul]
[li] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):[/li]Varsity Tennis (Captain for 2 years)
Varsity Badminton (Captain for 3 years)
Academic Bowl
Math and Physics tutor
Art (auctions and minor exhibits)
QuizDubai question writer

[] Job/Work Experience: none
[] Volunteer/Community service: Have hours, but nothing noteworthy
[li] Personal Statement: I think it came out quite well (9/10)[/li]
[/ul]Other[ul]
[] Applied for Financial Aid?: no
[li]** Intended Major **: Mechanical Engineering[/li][] State (if domestic applicant):
[] Country (if international applicant): UAE
[] School Type: International Private
[] Ethnicity: Asian
[] Gender: Male
[] Income Bracket: 150k
[] Hooks (URM, first generation college, research, etc.): some small research projects

[/ul]Reflection[list]
[] Strengths: Scores, GPA, extracurriculars
[] Weaknesses: lack of awards, being international
[] Schools were you accepted/waitlisted to? GATech, UIUC, Purdue
[] Schools you were rejected from? Harvey Mudd, MIT (Deferred–>rejected)
[li] Schools you are waiting for? Cal, CMU, a couple of ivies, and Stanford[/li][ /list][ b]General Comments:[ /b] Good Luck!!

108

Decision: Accepted
Major: computer science (Henry Samueli School of Engineering)

Objective:[ul]
[] SAT I (single sitting): 2270 (M 760/ CR 710/ W 800)
[] ACT: didn’t take
[] SAT II: Math 2 (800) Physics (800)
[] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.86 cal-grant GPA (my actual unweighted is probably lower if you include freshman yr because I had a lot of B’s as a freshman)
[] UC GPA: 4.1? This is off the top of my head.
[] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 20/~556
[] ELC?: yaa
[] AP (place score in parenthesis): Calc AB (5) Physics 1 (5) Computer Science (5;self-study) English Lang/Comp (4) World History (5)
[] IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
[] Senior Year Course Load: AP: Calc BC, Statistics, Physics C, Chemistry | Regular: World Literature, Econ/Gov
[li] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):none really, not sure if AP scholar with distinction is even notable.[/li]
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):HS Orchestra (assistant concert master), Robotics (Co-Captain) Art Club (Pres), School’s “IDEA magazine” (Editor), Programming Club (Founder/Pres)
[] Job/Work Experience: none
[] Volunteer/Community service: CSF, Volunteer at organization(s) aiding people with special needs and mental disabilities
[] Personal Statement: Pretty good. First, I talked about my idealistic personality and how it applied to my desire to study computer science. For my second essay, I used a “mundane” topic about learning to ride a bike despite being 15 years old and despite discouragement from my friends and family. It wasn’t ground-breaking, but I related that story to my tenacity and desire to pursue things that others wouldn’t expect me to succeed in.

[/ul]Other[ul]
[] Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
[] State (if domestic applicant): California
[] Country (if international applicant):
[] School Type: Public
[] Ethnicity: Asian (Chinese)
[] Gender: Male (May I also add that I’m gay?)
[] Income Bracket: $100k
[] Hooks (URM, first generation college, research, etc.): none

[/ul]Reflection[ul]
[] Strengths: Test scores (even without an 800 in SAT Math 1 !!!) They also might have liked my essays and my diverse arrangement of extracurriculars (I think I’m a pretty unique applicant, to say the least)
[] Weaknesses: My GPA was a rising trend, but it would definitely be the thing dragging me down.
[] Schools were you accepted/waitlisted to? Accepted at UC San Diego, UC Irvine, UC Davis, UC Santa Cruz, and Cal-poly SLO
[] Schools you were rejected from? Cal Tech, Harvey Mudd
[li] Schools you are waiting for? UC Berkeley, USC[/li][/ul]General Comments: I feel like a lot more people are getting accepted this year! Happy about that c: Best of luck to future applicants!

109

Decision: Accepted
College of Letters and Sciences
Objective:[ul]
[] SAT I (breakdown): Didn’t submit
[] ACT: 34 (29 writing)
[] SAT II: 720 Chemistry
[] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
[] UC GPA: 4.4
[] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): top 10%
[] ELC?:
[] AP (place score in parenthesis): World History (5) Biology (4) Chemistry (3) APUSH (4) Lang (5) Calc AB (5)
[] IB (place score in parenthesis):
[] Senior Year Course Load: AP Physics, AP Calc BC, AP Lit, Art, AP Gov, Student Gov
[li] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): lots of school awards and AP Scholar w Distinction [/li]
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Student gov (4 years, treasurer last year), Tennis- school and club (captain every season), some other clubs at my school
[] Job/Work Experience: babysitting and tutoring
[] Volunteer/Community service: mostly NHS
[] Personal Statement: I thought they were good and worked a lot on them

[/ul]Other[ul]
[] Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
[li]** Intended Major **: political science [/li][] State (if domestic applicant):CA
[] Country (if international applicant):
[] School Type: public
[] Ethnicity: white
[] Gender: female
[] Income Bracket: 200k
[] Hooks (URM, first generation college, research, etc.): none

[/ul]Reflection[list]
[] Strengths: scores, GPA, leadership
[] Weaknesses: lack of volunteer hours, basic extracurriculars
[] Schools were you accepted/waitlisted to? Accepted: SDSU, Davis, GW, Santa Cruz, Boston College Waitlisted: Nothwestern
[] Schools you were rejected from? none yet lol
[li] Schools you are waiting for? Brown, Berkeley, UCSB[/li][ /list][ b]General Comments:[ /b] Good Luck!! I did not receive a supplemental and did get invited for the alumni scholarship :slight_smile:

110

Decision: Accepted

College of Letters and Sciences

Objective:[ul]
[] SAT I (breakdown): 800 CR/760 M/750 W
[] ACT: 35
[] SAT II: 800’s on two, 790 on one
[] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.974
[] UC GPA: about 4.4 - 4.5
[] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):
[] ELC?: Out of state
[] AP (place score in parenthesis): 5’s on three, 4’s on three (all self-studied)
[] IB (place score in parenthesis): None
[] Senior Year Course Load: IB English HL, IB Computer Science SL, IB Astronomy SL, IB Biology HL, US History, Publications, Linear Algebra at local university
[li] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): quite a few national writing awards (I go into more detail on other results threads), a few math things as well. I’ve also won some regional writing/math awards. [/li]
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Started a creative writing mentorship program to help kids, youth poet ambassador for my city, poetry reviewer for submissions to a national literary magazine, on teen advisory board for community library, did math, played badminton, on student council for one year, editor of school magazine
[] Job/Work Experience: Writing tutor for over 15+ kids weekly
[] Volunteer/Community service: see above
[] Personal Statement: Both parts focused on different aspects of my writing (I go into more detail on my Berkeley results thread)

[/ul]Other[ul]
[] Applied for Financial Aid?: No
[li]** Intended Major **: English[/li][] State (if domestic applicant): OR
[] Country (if international applicant):
[] School Type: Public
[] Ethnicity: Chinese
[] Gender: F
[li] Hooks (URM, first generation college, research, etc.): Nope![/li]
[/ul]Reflection[ul]
[] Strengths: My essays were likely good; high stats
[] Weaknesses: I’m not a 4.0/2400 kid. But I’m satisfied with my application.
[] Schools were you accepted/waitlisted to? Accepted at MIT EA, UC Berkeley early, USC w/ full-ride finalist status, University of Washington Seattle, University of Oregon w/ full-ride finalist status
[] Schools you were rejected from? None yet!
[li] Schools you are waiting for? Stanford, Harvard, UPenn, Princeton[/li][/ul]General Comments: Oh wow. I visited UCLA a while ago and the campus was so beautiful. It was one of my top choices in middle school but I never thought I could get in, back then. I’m really grateful for this opportunity and congratulations to everyone who was accepted!

111

Decision: Accepted, Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, Aerospace Engineering

Objective:
SAT I (critical reading+mathematics): did not submit
SAT Subject Tests: Physics (790); Math II (760); Biology (700);
ACT: 31C, 34E, 34M, 25R (lol) 29S
UW GPA: 4.0
UC UNCAPPED GPA: 4.8
Class Rank: 4/957
AP : Calculus AB (5); US History (5); Human Geo. (5); Physics 1 (4); Biology (4); European History (3); English Language and Composition (3);
IB (place score in parenthesis): n/a
College courses? If so, list them.: n/a
Senior Year Course Load: AP Calculus BC; AP Literature and Composition; AP Physics C; AP Government; AP Chemistry; Band,
Extracurriculars?: Jazz band for four years, Marching band for four years, Concert Band for four years, with leadership positions in all of them, FIRST Robotics programmer, STEM Club Secretary, Rocketry team, Founder and president of humanitarian club,
How were your personal statements? Rate out of 10, including the additional comments section: I’d say 8/10 and 7/10. In one I wrote about a time I failed miserably during a jazz performance, and what I learned from it. In the other I wrote about why I wanted to become an engineer. I threw in extra info on my ECs in the additional comments, not sure if that helped or not.
Supplemental?: n/a
Other
Intended Major : Aerospace Engineering
Are you from California? If not, from what state & county (city)? If so, what county (city)?: in-state
School Type: Public of 4000+ kids, Class size of 1000.
Ethnicity: Hispanic
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: 70k-90k

of Family Members: 5

Level of Education of Parents/Guardians: College/ High-school
Hooks (URM, first generation college, research, etc.): URM
Living on-campus?: Yes
Reflection
Strengths: Subject test scores, GPA,
Weaknesses: Lack of any major STEM awards, ACT score…
Schools that I was rejected from: waitlisted at Caltech
Schools that I was accepted into: UCLA, UCSD, UCD, UCI, Cal poly SLO,
Waiting on: Stanford, UCSB, UCB
Are you going to UCLA?: Most likely.
General Comments: I’m really happy that I got in. I expected to get rejected because of the competitiveness of engineering and my low ACT score, but that just shows that UCLA looks at the whole applicant.

112

Decision: Accepted

Objective:[ul]
[] SAT I: Took once as a sophomore. 2250: 800W, 740R, 710M
[] ACT: Never took it
[] SAT II: 800 M-IIC, 780 US, 760 Chem, 740 Korean. Took the first three in one sitting first try.
[] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
[] UC GPA: No idea, sorry
[] Rank: Valedictorian
[] ELC?: Yup
[] AP: Human Geo, Chem, Calc BC, Lang, USH, Env Sci, Micro, Macro. (All 5, got one 4 in Lang)
[] IB: N/A
[] Senior Year Course Load: AP Lit, TA for Calc AB, Vocal Ensemble, AP Gov, AP Physics 1, AP Stats
[li] Major Awards: National AP Scholar, Presidential Gold Volunteer Award[/li]
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[] Extracurriculars: Tutor’s Club (VP), Orange County Academic Decathlon §, FBLA
[] Job/Work Experience: Prestige Tutors (small biz. venture with friends)
[] Volunteer/Community service: IRS Tax Preparer, Young Leaders of Orange County (Tutor, VP) , St. Jude Medical Center, Livingstone Clinic.
[] Personal Statement: Wrote about reviving OCAD as a President (stressed how the club was more to me than another bullet point on my resume and stressed leadership). Wrote another about my habit of making goals in my daily life (I guess it showed focus and desire to succeed, as well as shed light on who I am)

[/ul]Other[ul]
[] Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
[li]** Intended Major **: Pre-Mathematics, Financial Actuarial[/li][] State: CA
[] Country (if international applicant):
[] School Type: Public
[] Ethnicity: Asian (Korean)
[] Gender: Male
[] Income Bracket: $100-150k
[] Hooks: None

[/ul]Reflection[ul]
[] Strengths: Good essays
[] Weaknesses: SAT score, lack of amazing summer activities. Should’ve pursued a sport or joined the school newspaper.
[] Schools were you accepted/waitlisted to? UC Berkeley (Regents), UT Austin, Babson, Indiana Kelley, UMich, Irvine (Regents), Boston College. (All accepted for their business schools)
[] Schools you were rejected from? UPenn Wharton
[li] Schools you are waiting for? CMU, Cornell, Dartmouth, Duke, NYU Stern, USC, Yale[/li][/ul]General Comments: Don’t apply to too many safeties T.T Such a waste of time and money… instead, apply to a lot more reaches! You never know what can happen. One of my good friends applied to UC Irvine as a safety, and ended up getting into Harvard early instead. I don’t plan on attending since I got into Cal so hopefully my spot will go to a waitlisted student. Good luck guys. :slight_smile:

113

Oh my gosh he got into UCI too! Ik harvard is great and all but UCI…, dude he’s a legend.

114

Decision: Accepted

Objective:[ul]
[]ACT: 32
[]SAT II: Did not send
[]Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.96 (weighted 4.3)
[]UC GPA: Not sure…
[]Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Top 9%
[]ELC?: yes
[]AP (place score in parenthesis): didn’t send
[]IB (place score in parenthesis): none
[]Senior Year Course Load: ap calc ab, ap gov, ap lang, physics, ib spanish year 2
[]Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):

[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[]Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Debate (vp), JSA (president), surfrider club (treasurer), student athletic council, Girls State
[]Job/Work Experience: Surf instructor, tutor, design assistant
[]Volunteer/Community service: southern california indian center, orange county debate league judge, a local city surf program that I started at as a volunteer and then was hired at, middle school debate coach
[]Personal Statement: 1st essay was about how I have achieved in the context of extremely humble beginnings, 2nd essay was about being a debate judge

[ /list][ b]Other[ /b][ list]
[]Applied for Financial Aid?: YES
[li][ b] Intended Major [ /b]: Political science[/li][]State (if domestic applicant): California
[]Country (if international applicant):
[]School Type: public
[]Ethnicity: native american, mexican
[]Gender: female
[]Income Bracket: under 20,000
[]Hooks (URM, first generation college, research, etc.): URM, first generation college, low income but I live in the most affluent city in the US

[/ul]Reflection[ul]
[]Strengths: I do not waver in my passion for my major and future career. My essays clearly showed that I will be a person who stays with their major. In my opinion, I fit into a box that made me a good admit. I have heard that they try to think of who you would be on campus. It is easy to sum me up from my application. I am also native american. No roll number, but I have historical evidence and I am involved in my native american community. It also does not hurt that I am Mexican as well. I think that my essays were the deciding factor. If you look at my gpa and act they are not amazing but not terrible. I am no genius. I think that they saw my ambition in my essays. My socioeconomic circumstances also probably helped me a lot, as I used them in my essays as well.
[]Weaknesses: GPA, Test score, Did not send ap or sat II, I have never taken a lot of classes: Max class count was 5.
[]Schools were you accepted/waitlisted to? Deferred by Harvard, Accepted USC (explore), UCI, UVA, UC Davis, Chapman, CSULB
[]Schools you were rejected from? none (yet)
[li]Schools you are waiting for? Harvard, Georgetown, Yale, UC Berkeley, Claremont McKenna, Stanford[/li][/ul]General Comments: For anyone applying to college in the future, I am living proof that you do not have to be a genius to get into top tier schools.

115

Decision: Accepted
College of Letters and Sciences

Objective:[ul]
[] SAT I (breakdown): Didn’t send.
[] ACT: 31 (32 superscore) Something along the lines of 32-E, 35-R, 29-M, 29-S (This still upsets me)
[] SAT II: 710 both Lit and Math II
[] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.95
[] UC GPA: 4.2ish (uncapped 4.55)
[] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/~400
[] ELC?: Yes
[] AP (place score in parenthesis): Taken 9 APs, 1 UC-approved Honors, and 6 non-UC honors
[] IB (place score in parenthesis): none
[] Senior Year Course Load: AP Lit, AP Gov, AP MacEcon, AP Calc B/C, AP Physics, Journalism, Leadership Seminar
[li] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): AP Scholar[/li]
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[li] Extracurriculars[/li] Leadership Seminar (an actual class) (4 years)
Student Body–President (1 year)
Student Body–Treasurer (2 years)
UNICEF-- Founder and President (2 years)
Bhangra Team–Captain/MVP (2 years)
AP Computer Science Club–VP, Founder, and then President (2 years) Received over $1400 in external funding to run this club
Journalism-Copy/News Editor (promoted extremely quickly, one year)
I was the student representative (Elected) on four other school and district councils/organizations (not clubs)

(If I wasn’t in a significant leadership position, I didn’t list the activity/extracurricular on the UC App–there’s only 10 precious spaces, and they don’t want pointless activities that appear to them as resume padders.)

[] Job/Work Experience: None
[] Volunteer/Community service:
Commission on Human Rights–Vice Chair (1 year)
Hospital-- Volunteer (1 year)
Two other local organizations–Data Entry Intern (4 years)

[li] Personal Statement:[/li]

1: Well developed, about overcoming race barriers through leadership and developing my identity as a leader 9/10

2: Wrote the night before; it was cliche, awful, and generic, but I've been told I have an aptitude for English so 4/10; it was about the conflict between Western and Indian culture and how that's affected my life/goals

[/ul]Other[ul]
[] Applied for Financial Aid?: Nah
[li]** Intended Major **: Psychology (but I’m going to switch to Pre-psychobiology)[/li][] State (if domestic applicant): CA
[] Country (if international applicant):
[] School Type: Public
[] Ethnicity: Asian, Indian
[] Gender: M
[] Income Bracket: 100,000+
[] Hooks (URM, first generation college, research, etc.): I was born in Australia, if that counts.

[/ul]Reflection[ul]
[] Strengths: Hella leadership (There’s more extracurriculars than what’s up there–I was just trying to give you the jist/highlights); Essay #1, GPA
[] Weaknesses: Did you see that ACT score…? Essay #2
[] Schools were you accepted/waitlisted to? UC Merced/Riverside/Santa Cruz; UC Irvine (honors), UC San Diego, UC Davis, Waitlisted from Johns Hopkins
[] Schools you were rejected from? Northwestern (but I wouldn’t have gone anyways so)
[li] Schools you are waiting for? UC Bezerkeley (I probably wouldn’t go if accepted, anyways), Duke, Cornell (again, wouldn’t attend if accepted), Brown[/li][/ul]General Comments: College Confidential, as some have mentioned before–is cancer. That said, I’m not going to be hypocritical; I’ve spent quite a bit of time (fine, hours on hours) comparing myself to past, accepted students. To the Class of 2021, go ahead and lurk on this forum but know that sometimes admissions is just a crapshoot and that you’ll end up where you’re meant to be (cheesy, I admit, but true). If you are looking for a recipe for success, I offer you this: after talking to many UC admits and even browsing this site, it seems to me that UCs favor GPA, a rigorous course load, and meaningful extracurriculars over standardized testing. Obviously, however, the aforementioned items will not make-up for an extremely poor ACT/SAT for each specific UC.
And finally…Go BRUINS! I hope to see many of you next year!

116

Pick one:
Decision: Waitlisted

[ b]Objective:
[ *] SAT I (breakdown): 670 CR/680M/740W (2090) and 750 CR/630M/700W (2080) both submitted
[ *] ACT (breakdown): Not taken
[ *] SAT II: Not Submitted
[ *] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.90
[ *] Weighted GPA (if available): 4.30
[ *] Rank/percentile (if available): School does not rank
[ *] AP (place score in parenthesis): English Lang (5), World (4), US History (3), Psych (4)
[ *] IB (place score in parenthesis):
[ *] Senior Year Course Load: AP Calculus AB, AP Biology, AP Spanish Language, AP English Lit, Econ/Gov, Leadership
[ *] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):

[ /list][ b]Subjective:[ /b][ list]
[ *] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Competitive year round club swimming 16-22 hrs/week grades 9-12 (2 Coaches Awards earned), 4 Years of Varsity Swim (Captain Sr. Year), Lead facilitator of a student-run Challenge Day program at my high school (President this year, VP last year), member of Comedy Sportz improv team, ASB (freshman class representative, letter of recognition from former principal)
[ *] Job/Work Experience: Unpaid Research fellowship @ Rosetta Institute of NeuroscienceSummer 2015 at UC Berkeley, Office assistant at SAT prep center during summer (nerdy, I know)
[ *] Volunteer/Community service: Intern (Shadowing) at hospital, 50+ hours grades 9-10 at animal shelter, NHS member projects
[ *] Summer Activities: Club swimming, shadowing, work (my athletic EC’s and shadowing go year round)
[ *] Essays: Both strong, UC1 was about academic culture shock and UC2 was about my leadership in Challenge Day and opening an elective class at my HS.
[ *] Teacher Recommendation: Submitted two for Cal but none for UCLA
[ *] Counselor Rec: Did not submit
[ *] Additional Rec: Did not submit

[ /list][ b]Other[ /b][ list]
[ *] Applied for Financial Aid?:No
[ *] Intended Major: Genetics and Society
[ *] State (if domestic applicant): CA
[ *] Country (if international applicant):
[ *] School Type: Large, competitive public HS
[ *] Ethnicity: White
[ *] Gender: Male
[ *] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): none

Reflection[ /b][ list]
[ *] Strengths:Strong UC GPA, diverse and consistent EC’s with leadership, unique essays
[ *] Weaknesses: No honors/AP math until senior year, No SAT II’s
[ *] Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Strong personal statement but most admits from my school had higher stats
[ *] Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Accepted at UC Davis, UCI with CHP, UCSC, SDSU w/ Weber Honors College, CU-Boulder with Chancellor’s and Honors College, Chapman University
Waiting on UC Berkeley, UCSB, NYU, UW-Seattle, Occidental College

[ /list][ b]General Comments:[ /b]
Good luck to all and congrats to admits!

117

Decision: Accepted

Objective:[ul]
[] SAT I (breakdown): 2170 overall, reading 750 math 680 writing 760
[] ACT: didn’t take
[] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.81 (weighted is 4.02)
[] UC GPA: no idea
[] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): no rankings but top 10%
[] AP (place score in parenthesis): Spanish Language (5), Physics I (4), Calculus AB (IP), Spanish Literature (IP), Computer Science (IP), US Government (IP)
[] IB (place score in parenthesis): none
[] Senior Year Course Load: English 12, AP Calculus AB, AP Spanish Literature, AP Computer Science, AP US Government
[li] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Merit Scholar Honorable Mention[/li]
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[] Extracurriculars: FIRST Robotics (outreach leader), Volleyball (JV and Varsity), GSA (Communications and Outreach head), Marigolds (my band) (manager and booking agent), theatre tech work (Master Electrician) [there are a few more but that’s the most important stuff]
[li] Job/Work Experience: Sales Associate (American Apparel, but I don’t know that this was on my application), internship experience with local magazine, [/li][] Volunteer/Community service: mostly working with local restoration foundation for a local theatre, not very much
[li] Personal Statement: wrote one about being a musician and music critic while also being a huge fan of One Direction (that was my best essay). The other was about how living in Richmond (which is a very diverse and up and coming city) helped form who I am[/li]
[/ul]Other[ul]
[] Applied for Financial Aid?: yes
[li]** Intended Major **: Undeclared-Humanities[/li][] State (if domestic applicant): Virginia
[] School Type: highly ranked private, all girls, parochial
[] Ethnicity: white
[] Gender: cis female
[] Income Bracket: ~$100,000
[li] Hooks (URM, first generation college, research, etc.): I’m bi and mentioned that as a part of forming who I am, also i’ve heard that being on the East Coast can be a plus for UC system? aside from that, nothing[/li]
[/ul]Reflection[ul]
[] Strengths: my essays were very unique and personal. honestly, the essays were probably the strongest part of my application
[] Weaknesses: Could have had a stronger GPA and SAT score
[] Schools were you accepted/waitlisted to? accepted at Ohio State University, DePaul, CCC, Lake Forest College, UCSD, VCU
[] Schools you were rejected from? Northwestern for Communication ED
[li] Schools you are waiting for? UW-Seattle, UWisconsin-Madison, Brown University, UVA (in state), Tulane[/li][/ul]General Comments: Good Luck to everyone on the waitlist and to everyone waiting on other schools!!! I still can’t believe I got accepted :smiley:

@pterosprite – i’m also queer and from va and was accepted! good luck w USC :slight_smile:

118

Decision: Rejected

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): didn’t take
ACT (breakdown): 30C
SAT II: US history 700
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.9
Weighted GPA: 4.08
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): n/a
AP (place score in parenthesis): Ap English Language(4), Ap Us History(3) Ap Biology (3)
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: Ap English Literature, Ap French, Ap Government, Calculus
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Ap scholar, honor roll, a bunch of french awards

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Gilr up(Director of Exapansion), Student council representative, ambassador of the school, volleyball team(captain), honor code committee member, girl scouts(silver award)
Job/Work Experience: camp counselor, volleyball coach, babysitting
Volunteer/Community service: over 100 hours at a hospital, over 100 hours at Meals on Wheels
Summer Activities:
Essays (rating 1-10, details): 8. I thought one of my essays was really good and the other was ok. But still good.
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details): 9. Read one and it was amazing. The other teacher likes me too and my counselor loves me
Interview: N/A

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: I said I was going to on the application but didn’t end up pursuing fafsa
Intended Major: undeclared
State (if domestic applicant): CA
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: small, all girls, catholic
Ethnicity: white(middle eastern)
Gender: female
Income Bracket: 60k
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): N/A

Strengths: essays, extracurriculars, i speak three languages fluently
Weaknesses: gpa and test scores are average
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I’m not really sure. There are just so many applicants
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
Accepted- University of washington, SDSU, Oregon, UCSB, UCI-honors college,
Rejected- Cal poly SLO
waiting on- USC, Duke, Berkeley, NYU

General comments: I didn’t want to go to UCLA. I live a block away and if I had gotten in it would just be a big argument with my parents about going. I’m just way more nervous about Berkeley now that I didn’t get into UCLA.

119

Anyone who is considering or going to appeal I made a thread over here: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-los-angeles/1872472-ucla-appeal-2016-class-of-2020.html#latest

120

@asavenko dude I’m also from Richmond! I saw that you go to an all girls school, that wouldn’t happen to be St. Catherine’s would it? (I go to Hermitage and we invited them to the picnic)