Will I get into these colleges?
I’m just gonna say it… I don’t have the perfect grades or extracurriculars. I’m not the scholar with a 4.0 or the athlete that participated in a sport every season. I’m a junior and coming to the realization that in the coming months I will be taking the SAT, ACT, AP tests that I just don’t feel prepared for. I have family problems as I have a single parent with two other siblings. Right after school I have to babysit them after work as my mother has to work I night shift. I have a 3.7 GPA and in my junior year I got a 3.5 ( 3 Bs and 4 As ). I have been to 3 different highschools already as we move a lot and why my GPA was a 3.5 this year was because I feel depressed because I went to a different school this semester. At my old school I took AP physics, AP Language, and AP US history but at my new school they don’t have AP physics so I’m only testing out of two AP classes. I always read on how people are taking 6 AP classes in their junior year and it just makes me feel as I’m not going to be accepted to any of my top universities. My mother states that she is so proud of me and I feel like I would fail her if I don’t get accepted into my dream college (Cornell University). I want to go to UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, UC Irvine, Cornell, or UW but I feel like I am not smart enough to be accepted . Do you think colleges will understand the struggles I am facing or do they only want the talented musician with a 4.0 GPA that is the captain of the swim team? Also, I’m in key club (fundraising coordinator), best buddies, and on Saturdays I volunteer at a community hospital. I plan to get a 1300-400 on the redesigned SAT.
no
I feel for you, but with your current profile, you are not on track for Cornell. You are on track for UCI and Washington. Do the best you can on the SAT. Come back once you have your results.
So are you saying that I may have a chance at Cornell if I do really good on the SAT? Let’s say I get a 1500
Hey man, first of all I would like to give you a long distance hug (no-homo)
I am an international student awaiting college decisions, and I have some ideas that you might find useful:
Don’t be afraid to apply to the places where you want to go. This concept follows the idea of “you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take” and also you should only go to places where you truly want to go to. Cornell is a university that takes a hollistic look at your applications. I think you should write your future college essays about your experiences with dealing with family problems similarly to how you have written above, it might make quite a moving and wonderful essay. Do the best you can on your SAT. Colleges want students with talent, but they also love to see students with innate character, responsibility and mental strength, the way you show it through taking care of your family.
The most important thing is that not going to your dream college is not the end of the world, and your mother is proud of you no matter what. Just by reading your story, you have already earnt my respect if it amounts for anything ;p. Good luck man 
I don’t live in California, but I think you can really shine in your Berkeley app (personal statement too) even though your academics aren’t on par with the badass asians that dominate that campus. I wish you the best, and advise you not to major in STEM if you do get in unless you really want to.
@AmanInd98 Just for your future reference, saying “no-homo” implies that you are insecure about homosexuality. I understand you almost certainly didn’t mean anything malicious, but just for future reference, it does not come off the right way.