What are my chances at Berkeley and Georgia tech ?

Student Lounge International Students
1

CBSE student living in the UAE

Academics
9th grade - 9 CGPA
10th Grade - 10 CGPA
11th Grade - 85.4%( Economics 93, English 86, Chemistry 84, Physics 82, Math 82) [really low, I know :/]
12th grade - 90-95% predicted score
ACT - 33
SAT Subject tests- Math- 800 Physics- 800 Chemistry-790 World History- 780

Intened major- Aerospace/Mechanical engineering
Desired Unis- UC Berkeley, UCLA, Georgiatech

Extracurriculars-
Trinity guitar exams Grades 1 through 6 with merit and distinction
Member of school band
Active member of international organization called Best Buddies. It is a club where me meet up and interact with challeneged individuals (9th-12th)
Best Buddies prefect - 11th
Best Buddies President - 12th
Editor on a blogging website (12th)
MUN (10th and 11th)

Work Experience-
Internship at a local firm in India during summers of 10th and 11th
Internship at GM company summer of 12th
Voulanteer at Dubai Autism Center summer of 12th

Extra info-
Completed a uni level course on coursera.com

Appreciate all the help

2

Can you pay?

3

Yes

4

UCLA: low reach
GT: high match

5

Why is UCLA a low reach ?

6

UCLA rejects very qualified student EVERY YEAR.
Plus your junior year grade, which is the most important, is not the best.

7

UCB, UCLA, UCSD: automatic reach for international applicants (there’s going to be a cap in order to admit more Californians since this is their state university… and it’ll make things much harder for internationals).
Georgia Tech: you’re a match but because it’s highly selective and you’re CBSE which is a very competitive pool, I’d go with high match.

8

Just peruse the GT thread for the OOS/internationals, loads of high stats kids just deferred and then rejected. I would not consider it a match.

9

I can’t speak about Georgia Tech, but your grades are not close to what Berkeley is looking for despite your excellent ACT/SAT scores. Your trend of improvement from 11th to 12th grade is helpful, as are your impressive ECs. Most impressive is your performance skill with guitar. You are well-rounded, but the most important factor for Berkeley (and UCLA) is academics, and international students are held to the highest standards.

10

Hard to know what those grades mean at a school in UAE. SAT IIs are way above average for those schools, but presumably is different for an Asian international student.