Those kids with a B in chem or calc may have been aiming for humanities. Or had a different picture with ECs. They may have matched themselves, which is understanding how they fit what the college wants, not just what the student wants. Other than maybe their stats, you don’t know their apps.
@“Prestigious Nerd” Wow, you’ve done some amazing stuff during your hs career! I’m still a HS Junior, so I can’t give you any tips, but I just wanted to know how you started some of the activities. The hardest part for me is finding the opportunities; for example, I am committed to volunteering at a robotics or other stem-related locations, but I couldn’t find any. I was hoping you could give me any tips. Thanks!
@lookingforward one with a b in ap chem went to cal this year for mech.e and had very average ec’s. i know a few others went to cal for engineering with b’s in AP stem class. My calc teacher says that several people got b’s in the class and went to schools like mit, stanford, and harvard
@JP6201 Happy to help!
For STEM volunteering opportunities, I suggest going to your local elementary or middle school and asking for a volunteer position on maybe their robotics team or math team. My local elementary school has an FLL team with quite a few high school volunteers and I just asked if I could help. Also, you could even start your own coding or robotics camp and ask your local elementary school or middle school if they could include an advdertisement in their newsletter. My VEX team does this annually around the holidays and what I mentioned worked for us.
If you’re interested in internships and research opportunities, you can find them by emailing professors and startups a statement of interest and why you’d be a valuable contributor. There’s also a website called AngelList with many opportunities for startup internships (including remote ones). Larger organizations might be more difficult though. I got my NOAA internship through the Marine Technology Society of San Diego, which offers internships to high school students at affiliated organizations. There’s also a program called SEAP which matches high school students with research internships with stipends, similar to MTS. People will usually be very willing to help High School students.
Honestly, personal projects are an excellent way to gain experience. I just used many online tutorials and occasionally reach out to professors for mentorship.
Feel free to ask me any additional questions!
@“Prestigious Nerd” Thanks so much for your help! I admire that you take hard classes, challenge yourself, and help people like me. I hope that you can make it to the school of your choice!
“Also, should I try to explain the B in my essays if it’s really that much of a negative factor? I personally think I shouldn’t because it will sound like I’m making excuses.”
Definitely don’t explain a B in an essay, that would be red flag. Instead as others have said your initial list is ten reaches and three matches, so you have to reduce your reaches probably in half and add a couple more matches and safeties. Maybe UC Davis or UCSB as matches and a local CSU for a safety.
@JP6201 my pleasure
Look, I know I’m probably not going to HYPS because I don’t have a huge hook (there’s always that small chance tho) but I think Berkeley for EECS is within reach. At the very least, I’d hope to get into UCLA or UCSD for CSE. I think UCI and UCD might be good low matches (not really that big on UCSB). I guess I might need to apply to a CSU reluctantly if a safety really is necessary. But tbh, cc and transferring to a top school seems preferable than 4 years at a CSU tho still unideal. I think MIT, Cornell, CMU, and Caltech might be possibilities because I’ve seen a lot more unhooked people get in there than HYPS. The essays will probably help.
I’m just wondering what my chances are in the context of my stats and ec’s and how I can improve them.
Have you visited UCSB? It’s not just a party school any longer. It’s quite good for engineering. If you haven’t visited, you might like it more than you think.
@Ynotgo I probably can’t visit colleges at least until the summer, but I’ll keep an open mind.
I’m just really hoping I can get into the selective schools for engineering, but am afraid because of my not so great first semester of junior year. Very stressed right now and I’m feeling quite hopeless, especially when I’m working to bring my 73 up to a 78 (B) in physics (lol). Gotta ace that final! This is going to be my first ever (and hopefully only) semester with multiple B’s. Hoping my ec’s and test scores will make up for it.
heard that virtually all EECS majors at Berkeley had a 3.9+ Gpa with their b’s coming from humanities classes. I’m just really wanting to get in their. The other selective privates are crapshoots. I’ll still be able to show I’m proficient with the material through great test scores and my gpa is above a 3.8 but my grade patterns … yeah … they’re pretty bad
Just calculated my expected UC GPA and if I’m lucky and only get 2 b’s this semester it should be a 4.23 but if i get 3 b’s I’ll have a 4.18. 42% of people with a 4.2+ get into cal and la, but only 14% with a 3.18-4.19. One freaking b is making this “huge” difference. Is the difference of .02 going to dramatically affect my app?
EECS at Berkeley – good luck with that. I have interns from top HS in Palo Alto with straight A’s and superb test scores who did not get in. I agree with another poster who said look at UCSB as their EE, CS, and Physics programs are top notch. I have interviewed students from many campuses, and UCSB ones seem to be very happy and well adjusted, besides being strong technically.
To reiterate: All of the UCs except maybe Merced have good CS programs. Berkeley, UCLA are probably top 10, UCSD probably top 20; UCSB, Davis, and Irvine top 30-40 (though some rankings have UCSB above UCSD); SC and Riverside also good. You’ll get into a CS program at one or more of these schools. And probably at many of the private colleges you might consider. So just concentrate on learning and excelling, and do some research about what it’s like to attend the colleges on your list (and of course visit), and refine the list accordingly.
@EV2017 I do know that Berkeley is holistic and that 4.0/1600s get rejected all the time while many people with lower stats but great extracurriculars and essays get in. Luckily my test scores and extracurriculars are pretty good and it’s not like my grades are god awful (just one not so perfect but not failing semester). Yea there’s that minor chance I’ll get a C in physics, but I’m doing whatever I can to prevent it. My 3.8ish uw gpa is also strong from what I’ve seen. At least I have next semester and loads of AP exams to prove myself.
Berkeley may be a mid reach and LA might be a low reach, but luckily I’ve seen people get into UCSD, even ivies and the aforementioned schools, with almost straight B’s. I’m just at least hoping I’m good enough for ucsd which is literally 5 minutes from my house and I know that it has great programs as I’m starting to do research with a professor there. Maybe doing research with a professor at Berkeley eecs this summer will increase my chances there
You need to round your activities. You have time, but seem stuck on the idea activities that are all stem gives an edge. I highly doubt you’ve seen straight B grades get a non hooked kid (usually athletes) in at a highly competitive. The more you truly open your eyes, the better. For now, your activities don’t show as consistent. And the possible grade issue in a core stem class. All the more reason to ensure you hit all the right buttons, not just stem.
@lookingforward I’m not trying to say that doing exclusively stem activities will give me an edge nor do I do that, it’s just a main focus for me. I however could probably add some more non-stem by being a volunteer at the library or tutor. I’m also quite heavily involved with leadership and planning events. So I’d say I have some breadth in my extracurriculars (probably 75% stem, 25% non stem because of all the time spent on leadership roles). Overall I’m not too concerned about my extracurriculars.
I’m really concerned tho about screwing up the first semester of junior year. If it was just that one b in AP physics, id be fine, but the fact that I might get 3 b’s is pretty scary. There’s even that small chance of a c in physics. A c! Honestly, I’d rather have 5 b’s than 1 c as a c just makes you look stupid. I feel like you’d need some international award to make up for a c. I’m going to talk to my teacher about how I can raise my grade to make sure this doesn’t happen. But in the small chance that it did happen would my life be over even if I got an a next semester and aced the ap exam and the sat 2?
Grades and Scores are useful benchmarks, but unless you know more about the background of a student, you will never really know why someone with lower scores got in or why someone with higher scores was rejected. Most schools list enrollment data which give specific scores/grades of accepted students.
I think a better way for everyone to understand their competitiveness for a certain school is to discuss what makes your application unique (grades can only go so far to prove intelligence, but it can’t expose potential creativity, selflessness, passion). So think about how you spend your time outside of school. What are you doing to self-prepare for your future career/education? Are you aware of the accomplishments of high school students outside of your state? What resources do other high schools have compared to yours?
Think about it. If you are interested in robots, but you don’t have a robotics club nearby, how can you compete with a student who does?
I’m writing only to share my idea to this conversation among the future generation and learn new perspectives on how I can understand or solve this problem in our education system.
I feel like my extracurricular accomplishments are very good in the context of what people at my school normally do. But there are several people in my class with 4.0s unweighted, but many don’t have phenomenal extracurriculars. Neither do I, but I’m accomplishing a lot of projects this year and have a good amount of community involvement. Will they have an edge at top UC’s, ivies, and the like over me? I should still be in the top 10% and I calculated that my unweighted should be a 3.82 and weighted a 4.55. Our valedictorian usually has a 4.8ish weighted and the minimum to be in the top 10% is a high 4.4. Tho at the moment, I have a few concerning grades. I have a 72 in physics, which I can still bring up to a 78 because we still have many more tests, quizzes, labs, and heavily weighted homework assignments; i have an 81 in both history and stats (where 95% of the grade is tests which I usually get B’s on, but I got a 26% on one due to being very ill-prepared which really screwed me over) and those are nearly impossible to bring up to A’s. Honestly, can an outlier semester with 3 B’s junior year really ruin my chances to the point where I’d need to cure answer in order to get in? Major awards like ISEF finalist or USAMO gold metal are highly unlikely as the they are for everyone. I just fear that all is lost and that I won’t even get into ucsd at this point cuz of this awful semster. 
I say relatively good chance at UCs. The top schools are roll of the 20 sided dice. Your school may inflate gpa but colleges will look at that and determine how much. You are asian which is a huge down push.
Yes, for MIT, Stanford, Caltech, and Berkeley EECS you need a top record. I keep saying, it’s not GPA alone, but your transcript, the courses.But there’s no fix in curing cancer. None of us want you to be depressed. We want you to see how this semester and spring go and proactively ensure you’re exploring good, affordable safeties. Then you see how things develop.
I’m also quite heavily involved with leadership and planning events. So I’d say I have some breadth in my extracurriculars (probably 75% stem, 25% non stem because of all the time spent on leadership roles). Leadership and planning in stem activities is in stem activities. Since you have all these reachy reaches, why not step outside that comfort zone for community service, too. Tippy tops ike this sort of stretch. Not just stem with elementary kids,not tutoring in your hs or putting in some hours at the library, but something direct with the needy.
You want to take a “cover your bases” approach.