What are my chances at UC Berkeley?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I'm currently in my senior year, at a decent high school in San Jose, California. I'm in the top 10% of my high school. I have: </p>

<ul>
<li>4.2 weighted GPA</li>
<li>2100 SAT</li>
<li>Planning on achieving a good score and SAT II Math
::AP Courses with scores I achieved on exams:

<ul>
<li>AP Environmental Science (5)</li>
<li>AP Calculus AB (5)</li>
<li>AP Computer Science (4)</li>
<li>AP Language and Composition (4)
::AP Courses in progress: </li>
<li>AP Physics</li>
<li>AP Calculus BC</li>
</ul></li>
</ul>

<p>Some other things that I have done: </p>

<ul>
<li>Won a hackathon competition in San Francisco. 100 participants, and
I was on a team with two others. 1st place. </li>
<li>Ran a small web development business during the summer of 2012</li>
<li>This last summer, I had a paid summer internship at a cloud computing company (startup)<br>
based in san mateo, the co-founders both of which were Berkeley alumni</li>
<li>I'm a self taught mobile software developer. Currently in the middle of developing a large<br>
scale iOS application (by myself) that I plan to put on the market. I plan on accomplishing
this before November and writing about it in the personal statement (not 100% sure about
completing it on time however) </li>
<li>Started a "Hackers @ ST" club (ST is my high school) with a friend of mine, modeled after
the well known "Hackers @ Berkeley" group. I am currently the vice president. </li>
</ul>

<p>I plan on getting a recommendation letter from the guy that I worked under in the summer (will him being a Berkeley alumni help?). Assuming that I write a very well written personal statement, what are my chances of getting into either UC Berkeley or maybe even Caltech? It would be nice to assume that I DON'T get my application project complete before then. Will I need to rely on that? </p>

<p>Any information will be helpful. Thanks in advance!</p>

<p>edit: I suppose I should also mention that I am trying to major in EECS.</p>

2

<p>What is your UW GPA? Colleges now look at applications holistically and they take into account that some schools may not have AP courses. And by that, some UCs put more of an emphasis on UW. Your ECs are good - they are part of a central theme of which you enjoy.</p>

3

<p>Berkeley: High match</p>

4

<p>thanks for the replies guys. My unweighted GPA is a 3.8.</p>

5

<p>Also, could you guys tell me which parts i have listed above are more valuable than the rest? I want to know what things I should emphasize and/or achieve.</p>

6

<p>Berkeley: high match
it’s gonna be difficult to get in, but you definitely have a chance</p>

7

<p>What’s the difference between match and reach? I can’t find an explanation of this scale anywhere on here. It seems to me that “High Match” is a good thing?</p>

8

<p>High Match. You can do it!</p>

<p>Chance me back!</p>

9

<p>Could someone possibly give me a bit more feedback? Such as what to improve on to make me more likely to be accepted? How beneficial would it be for me if I were to finish my application that is in development and put it on the market? Any more information would be appreciated!</p>

10

<p>I feel you have a great chance at Berkeley. It would be great if you could elaborate on your technological extracurriculars in the personal statement for Berkeley to get a better picture of who you are in general!</p>

11

<p>Thanks for the input! I plan on doing just that in my personal statement. </p>

<p>Another question, in regards to the recommendation letter that I can receive from my ex-boss (an well known berkeley alumni), should I even bother to get that? I’ve been reading that UCs don’t read rec letters.</p>

12

<p>bump bump bump</p>

13

<p>High Match. Is your GPA recalculated for UC (Some high school classes MAY not receive UC weights)? If so then you have a pretty decent chance. Probably might wanna retake that SAT though :). Also, we have very similar stats so chance me back plz! Good Luck!</p>

14

<p>btw Berkeley EECS is known for being notoriously difficult when compared to ALL the other majors that ANY UC has to offer. 800 Math on SAT 1 and 800 Math 2C on Sat 2 are a must!!</p>

15

<p>FYI, Berkeley does not request (or accept) letters of recommendation. But a letter of rec from your “boss” will help at Caltech.</p>

<p>Match is a school where your stats are right in the middle of the accepted range … you are likely to get in.</p>

<p>A reach is a school where your stats are on the lower end of the accepted range.</p>

16

<p>High match :)</p>

17

<p>Also, a safety is a school where your stats are on the upper end of the accepted range … you are sure to get in. So it goes safety (sure thing), match (likely), reach (hard to get in).</p>

18

<p>Ah thank you, that makes sense. I’m assuming high match means you are on the better side of the spectrum? </p>

<p>Also, when people determine whether you are a reach, match, or safety, is this based solely off stats? or the entire profile?</p>

19

<p>You’re welcome. I always get a little confused by what ‘high/low’ means, too. If it’s a high match, does that mean it’s a strong match and I’m more likely to get in … or is it higher on the scale and closer to being a reach, so I’m less likely to get in??? Personally, I prefer ‘strong’ and ‘weak’ as modifiers to avoid confusion. </p>

<p>Admissions is predominantly GPA and SAT/ACT driven, so those two factors will determine which category you fall in. Then your ec’s will determine if you get pushed up or not (ec’s rarely pull you down). At least that’s how I do it. Everyone probably does it a little differently.</p>

20

<p>Oh, I realized I never really answered your question … to me, a high match is not as good as a low match, so you are less likely to get in. But maybe some of the previous posters will write in again and let you know what they meant.</p>