very very low GPA but high SAT.. any chance at all at Berkeley?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Berkeley
1

<p>hi all, I was wondering if I had any chance at Berkeley at all with such a low GPA.. my GPA is terrible, 3.33 unweighted 3.77 weighted (i don't think Berkeley does capped GPAs.. so this is my uncapped GPA since I took more than 4 semesters of honors/AP classes.. capped would be lower) though i guess i took really challenging/hard courses (the hardest ones offered and i took calc BC AP my junior year). got 5s on all the AP tests (even in AP physics where i got a C in... hard teacher but also my fault.. got my act together but it was too late to make up the last few years). huge upward trend, pulled up all my grades to get a 4.0 UW 2nd semester junior year.. so you can probably tell how low my grades were sophomore year and 1st semester junior year. </p>

<p>i took the SAT once and got 1980, studied a lot and took it again to get 2300. SAT II, even though i got Cs in physics i got 780 on the physics SAT II and 780 on math, 800 on history. </p>

<p>pretty good ec's, did sports for many years (played 2 sports and reached a very high level in one of them).. 5 years of community service/magazine editor, 3 years of officer of a small club. went to the national level of a business club my freshman year (but didnt have time to do the club the 3 years after that.. i dont know how much that will hurt =/), also entered in a science/engineering project and got to the regional level.</p>

<p>Also, pretty good essays (i hope).</p>

<p>do I have any chance at Berkeley with such a terrible GPA? have people been accepted with such low GPAs before (and not athletes etc)? thanks.</p>

2

<p>My S had 2240 SAT's with a 3.4 UW/3.75 W GPA, and was rejected by UC Berkeley.</p>

<p>If you are high SAT/low GPA, UC Berkeley probably isn't where you will do best. The UC's appear to be relatively fixated on GPA in comparison to SAT. One reason for this is they have been banned from AA, and thus lower the importance of GPA in comparison to SAT, at to snag the high GPA low SAT URM's from at risk laden high schools.</p>

<p>Run your numbers at University</a> of California: StatFinder, although it doesn't distinguish between SAT's of 2200 and 2300. It will give you a percent likelihood of admission to each UC. Post your result below.</p>

<p>You should shop your outsized SAT's around some private colleges, who are ever mindful of USN&WR rankings, and one of whom may be tempted to increase their published 25-75% SAT averages at the expense of their unpublished average GPA's. </p>

<p>I've posted a thread before on <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/603402-sat-s-gpa-where-apply.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/603402-sat-s-gpa-where-apply.html&lt;/a>, but never got any great answers.</p>

<p>Where else are you applying?</p>

3

<p>What is your UCGPA (sophomore-junior GPA in UC accredited courses, with up to 8 additional grade points for AP/accredited honors classes)?</p>

4

<p>to tell you the truth, i honestly do not find UC berkeley to be that difficult of a school to get into.
and yes, there are plenty of people who got in w/o stellar GPAs as long as other aspects remedied their applications.</p>

<p>upward trend is good, and that SAT score is hard to ignore.<br>
all those ECs are just frosting on top of the cake :)
are you instate or out? if you are instate you have an even better chance. </p>

<p>i think you have a very good chance of getting in.</p>

5

<p>thanks for the link. that's discouraging :(. i think i have the Ecs, SAT, but just the GPA is so low. im also applying to other UCs, UCLA, SD, Davis, Irvine, SB. besides that, schools like Boston University and UPenn (just what the hell, why not). </p>

<p>i tried the link, but it looks like it only gives you information.. not %s of admission. do you know the exact steps to follow to get in?</p>

<p>edit: i am also instate.. my school sends a lot of people to berkeley/ucla and other ucs every year.</p>

<p>edit: uncapped gpa is like 3.77, so i think my capped gpa is like 3.62 or 3.63 or something like that (=(). i thought berkeley looks at uncapped gpa though.</p>

6

<p>You're unlikely to get in. Too bad, the school could use somebody like you instead of somebody from an inner-city school who happens to be slightly more intelligent than those surrounding him.</p>

7

<p>haha yea, i figured i was unlikely to get in.. but just wondering if there have ever been people with such low gpas but higher SATs/good ECs/good essays who have gotten in, or if it was even worth it to apply. </p>

<p>i go to a pretty competitive public school that sends tons of people to berkeley/ucla and other ucs (like i said) as well as top colleges like ivies, MIT, and stanford. seems like it alternates years where more people go to berkeley or ucla.. for example, 3 years ago was a "ucla year", 2 years ago was a berkeley year, last year was a ucla year, so technically this year is a "berkeley year". the last "berkeley year", i believe 30+ people went to berkeley (i'm assuming more got in).</p>

8

<p>I had a 3.9 weighted UC GPA and a 2190 SAT and I got in. I would say with your AP scores and upward trend, you have a good chance.</p>

9

<p>
[quote]
i tried the link, but it looks like it only gives you information.. not %s of admission. do you know the exact steps to follow to get in?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Geez. Just follow the dang steps. You got 2300's, you should be able to figure it out. Maybe the low GPA is reflective of lack of intrepidity.</p>

10

<p>
[quote]
UCs, UCLA, SD, Davis, Irvine, SB. besides that, schools like Boston University and UPenn (just what the hell, why not).

[/quote]
</p>

<p>No USC? You'd have a real shot there, as they really like to increase their 25-75% average (although they too rejected my high SAT/low GPA S). Big gap between BU and UPenn. Nothing in between, such as Cornell, Northwestern, Pomona, University of Chicago, Georgetown?</p>

11

<p>oh, i applied to schools like cornell, dartmouth, uchicago, USC as well (just didn't list everything.. haha i feel like those are big reaches so i was a little embarrassed to say them :o). but berkeley would be one of my top choices still.. i would easily chose it over USC.</p>

12

<p>When I was applying I read all the cc threads on this, and realized one common theme: high gpa and stellar essay seem most important to Berkeley App readers.</p>

<p>Having said that, the upward trend you have. So that is the thing that just might pull it for you IF you really worked those essays.</p>

<p>Good luck! It's amazing here. No worries if you don't get in. You'll find something equally amazing -- just learning is a great thing.</p>

13

<p>lol i went to: Undergraduate admissions rates and counts by applicant term</p>

<br>


<br>

<p>only lets you pick one.. so i chose SAT first. </p>

<p>berkeley was for full year applicants 1212, admits 1323.. la was 1183 for applicants, 1326 for admits. sd was 1192 for applicants, 1290 for admits.. </p>

<p>thats what i got when i followed the steps..</p>

<p>and weighted capped for berkeley was 3.82, la was 3.77, sd was 3.75 for APPLICANTS. however the admits were above 4 for them.. like 4.1 ish. </p>

<p>so my sat seems to be more than 200 points above average and around .4-.5 below average for gpa (=/). </p>

<p>i worked pretty hard on my essays and got it proofread by my sister (haha she attends berkeley.. for grad school), so i'm hoping those are good. </p>

<p>my gpa for sophomore year and 1st semester junior year were just TERRIBLE though. 1st semester sophomore year was under 3.. (took a really hard course load, probably the hardest of the whole class of ~600 people, and really paid the price). if i didnt get 4.0 UW 2nd semester junior year, my GPA would have been like 3.1x probably.</p>

14

<p>I know a guy who got in with a 2400 SAT and pretty bad GPA, probably not better than yours. He's very smart actually (judging apart from the SAT), but didn't care about school earlier.</p>

<p>I dunno...you have a shot as long as you applied to L&S or a less competitive college. COE will be rather hard without a higher GPA, for instance.</p>

15

<p>Honestly as a Cal student, I'd agree getting in is really not the hard part...it's doing great things that's hard. Though GPA is important in admissions.</p>

<p>I'd not give up hope though with a good SAT and upward trend.</p>

16

<p>Give them a reason to believe that your low GPA was an aberration and that you had a good "excuse" for it (like family problems, health problems, etc.). You can also take a college class between junior and senior year to boost your GPA since it counts in the UC GPA. Have a great essay. Look up the Houte report regarding UC Berkeley admissions... it is long, but describes the process in great detail, including what EC's they like, etc. The UC's do look at the total application, not just GPA. Good luck.</p>

17

<p>Yeah, I wouldn't give up hope. I had a low GPA/high SAT and got in to my surprise, although the split was less drastic than yours.</p>

18

<p>thanks guys. haha yea, not applying COE. </p>

<p>i did have a few problems, but nothing REALLY drastic (to bessie).. how would you say this though?</p>

<p>i googled "uc berkeley houte report" but didn't find anything.. is this something you have to purchase (sorry for my ignorance)?</p>

19

<p>
[quote]
oh, i applied to schools like cornell, dartmouth, uchicago, USC as well (just didn't list everything.. haha i feel like those are big reaches so i was a little embarrassed to say them.

[/quote]

These schools may be less a reach than Berkeley, which is particularly unfavorable to a high SAT/low GPA applicant such as yourself. </p>

<p>Check out the Berkeley CollegeData Scattergram. Hard to find applicants such as yourself, but what examples there are are mainly red dots.</p>

<p>Compare that to Cornell[/url</a>], and [url=<a href="https://www.collegedata.com/cs/admissions/admissions_tracker_result.jhtml?classYear=2012&schoolId=1138">https://www.collegedata.com/cs/admissions/admissions_tracker_result.jhtml?classYear=2012&schoolId=1138</a>] USC where your stats appear not unfeasible and somewhat likely respectively. If admitted, you can be assuaged that both these schools have higher</a> SAT's than Berkeley.</p>

20

<p>USC is a particularly good bet. It's also an excellent school (I love Berkeley, but if money was not a factor, I'd rather go to USC.)</p>