<p>Hi.</p>
<p>Last year I applied to UC’s and I got accepted into UCSD and UCI (rejected from Berkeley). At that time, I was torn between those schools and a private art school and it was a hard decision to make for me. It was either go to art school and give up academia or go to UC and give up art (art school was for animation, btw, which is not offered at UC’s). </p>
<p>It was a hard decision, but I decided to take a year off to decide what I really wanted to do with my life and to save money with a job for college. </p>
<p>This year, I plan to apply to UCSC, which I haven’t applied to last year, and again to Berkeley. </p>
<p>Last year I also made the mistake of writing a “humorous” college essay which when I look back upon it, was not the right thing for me to do. I have re written my essays this year and made them more of my personal voice. </p>
<p>My stat’s are:</p>
<p>Stats:
Female/1st Generation/ Took a gap year to work for college funds</p>
<p>SAT: 1810
SAT2: 574, 540
UC GPA: 4.0
REG GPA: 4.24</p>
<p>Class Rank: 7/414</p>
<p>AP:
Art 2D: 4
Art 3D: 3
Art Drawing: 3
Eng Lit: 3
Eng Lang: 3
World His: 3</p>
<p>EC’s:
Japanese Club President [9th grade]
Chinese Club [10-12]
Art Club [10-12]
Principal’s Round Table- helped principal w/ plans for school [11-12]
Animal Shelter Volunteer [10-12, not so many hours though]
California State Summer School for the Arts- pre-college program for arts [11th]</p>
<p>Honors:</p>
<p>Governor’s Medallion- highest art award for students in california
NHS, NJHS, CSF, AP Scholar
Random Chinese language award</p>
<p>Work:</p>
<p>Candy Store Sales Associate [~32 hours per week; year round] <–current job.</p>
<p>Do you think I have a shot at either school? I personally do believe it was my essay that hindered my chances last year when I was rejected from Berkeley. Does a gap year show much significance into acceptance?</p>