[mr.viviano]

Rank: 25/600 (top 4%)
GPA: 4.25 weighted/3.92 unweighted

STANDARDIZED TEST SCORES

1st SAT
CR: 660
MATH: 660
WRITING: 750/Essay 9
TOTAL: 2070

2nd SAT
CR: 710
MATH: 690
WRITING: 740/Essay 11
TOTAL: 2140

^ I'M GOING TO RETAKE! My goal is at least 2200, and I've gotten past that on Elite practice tests so....hopefully I can reach it?

PSAT
CR: 75
MATH: 75
WRITING 73
TOTAL: 223

SAT II
Math Level II: 700

^ I ran out of time so I left 15 blank LOL. I'M GOING TO RETAKE!
and I'm planning on taking SAT II Biology and SAT II Chinese

AP Scores:
Soph year-
AP Euro: 4
AP Calc AB: 3
AP Environmental Science: 4

Junior year-
AP Calc BC - 5
AP Bio - 5
AP English Lang - 4

Classes:
Freshmen
Honors English 1 - A
Honors English 2 - A
Physics 1 - A
Physics 2 - A
Algebra 3 - A
Algebra 4 - A
Journalism 1 - A
Journalism 2 - A
Spanish 3 - A
Spanish 4 - A
Spanish 5 - A
Spanish 6 - A

Sophomore:
Honors Humanities 1 - B
Honors Humanities 2 - B
Honors Precalculus 1 - B
Honors Precalculus 2 - A
AP Calculus A - A
AP Calculus B - A
Honors European History 1 - A
Honors European History 2 - A
AP European History 1 - A
AP European History 2 - A
Journalism 2 - A's for the whole year
AP Environmental Science 1 - A
AP Environmental Science 2 - A
Chinese 3 - A
Chinese 4- A

Junior:
AP English Language and Composition 1 - A
AP English Language and Composition 2 - A
Honors American Literature 1 - A
Honors American Literature 2 - A
AP Calculus BC 1 - A
AP Calculus BC 2 - A
Honors Biology 1 - A
Honors Biology 2 - A
AP Biology 1 - A
AP Biology 2 - A
US History 1 - A
US History 2 - A

Senior (planning to take):
Honors Chemistry 1-2
AP Chemistry 1-2
AP Art History 1-2
AP Government 1-2
Civics/Econ 1-2
World Literature 1-2



ECs:
Youth Symphony - 9, 10, 11, 12
- Assistant Principal Cellist in 11th and 12th grade
- Participant in selective (out of 25-30 members, only 4 are chosen) chamber orchestra 9th-11th grade (possibly 12th? I don't know yet)

Tzu Shao - 11, 12
- Vice President 12th grade

Science Olympiad - 9, 10, 11, 12
- Student Coach 11th and 12th (also counts for volunteer hours...for 11th grade, I'd say I did around 20 hrs...I haven't started 12th grade yet so Idk how many for that)
- 4th Place in Ecology Event 11th grade

Asian Culture Club - 11, 12
- Publicity Adviser 11th and possibly 12th

Volunteer San Diego - started summer of 12th grade
- So far volunteered 37ish hours...planning to volunteer at least 60 by the end of the summer

Key Club - 9
- Vounteered 28 hours
- Bronze Medal Awardist

School Newspaper - 10
- Page Editor

Chinese School - K-12

HONORS/AWARDS:
California Scholarship Federation - 9, 10, 11, 12
Honor Roll - 9, 10, 11, 12
AP Scholar - 10
AP Scholar with Distinction - 11
Commended National Merit Scholar - 11 (possibly semi-finalist...but results haven't come out yet)

Other:
Piano for 12 years
Cello for 6 years
I play the guitar for my church (started the beginning of this year)
I've been working as a cashier at Panda Express starting this month

** I think I'm a little lacking in the volunteer work department? I'd say I've done around 100 hours.... but is that too little?

Reach:
UC Berkeley
UCLA
John Hopkins
Cornell

Match/Safety:
UCSD
UC Davis
UC Irvine
UC Santa Barbara

Undergrad major: Undeclared

My dream school is UCLA...what are my chances =X?

Hey there, your stats are almost as the same as mine. I was top 4% and your sat score is about 100 points higher than mine was. Don't worry to much about volunteer hours...when you apply for UC's you can always beef it up a little [iono if you want to do this, because i didn't remember my hours volunteered per week so i "guesstimated". Whatevs. Your ec's are solid. As long as they see commitment (mine was Interact, so gah I can't believe I'm helping a keycluber , I was a hardcore interactor (area rep, vp, member for 4 years etc). I don't know if Interact what put me over the top, because I was on the District Council. There is a version of that for Key Club, but don't go on it if you don't want to. ANYWAYS (sorry for mumbling), honestly your stats are pretty much the same as why, our ec's differ but my main things were yearbook and interact.

Anyways, UCLA is weird. GPA is a HUGE factor, huge and I believe rank is too, but UCLA looks alot in to your essay and ec's. they want well rounded kids (that's why i'm excited for the upcoming year, all these cool and social kids). so when you write your essay, make sure you write something you want to write about, not what they want to here.

so if you didn't want to read all that
1. stats are good (puts you in the running, and even ahead of some)
2. work on essay
3. keep everything up
4. good luck.

I was really on the fence I think, because I didn't get into Berk, but I got into LA but I don't care ,LA was my dream school (ho ho guh bye parents, 6 hours away hehe and this year it beat Berkeley in acceptance rate )


SO GOOD LUCK OK? don't stress, you're def in the running.


ps, my major is undeclared as well. a little less than half of the UCLA class is undeclared from what I hear, so I guess we're twinsies (you're the smarter twin though, HA)

pss. your safetys are FOR SURE (unless this year its unbelievably way harder)

I think my sophmore/junior year gpa average will be 3.8-3.9
Just got my sat score
670-math
580-critical reading
590-writing
_____
1840

im planning on raising the sat score to atleast 1950+ hopefully

Extra curricular:
Key Club
national honors society
Varsity Tennis

I want to know what my chances are for UCSD, UCSB, UCLA =/
thxxx~~

uh really can't tell you much. your sat score is ok, but it looks way better if you get it up to 19/20's. your gpa is alright, it honestly depends on how you stand amongst your peers. UC's choose people depending on the people around you. That's how come kids for less competitive schools get in, even if a person from a competitive school is smarter (does that make sense). You're compared amongst your peers, because that's the only way they know how great you really are.

I think the safety zone for any SAT score is 20+ (I was so jealous = = of people because I could never hit the 20's)
But 1840, for your first time is great, I got that too.

I got into all 3 of the schools on a 1940 (BUT DON'T SHOOT FOR THAT, UC's are case by case and it gets MORE COMPETETIVE EACH YEAR.)

your ec's look weak, it looks like you've only been a member. no forms of leadership. the varsity tennis is good, but that's 1 count for you. show more leadership and initiative. A previous poster also said you need a good essay. heck yeah you do! so good luck

[adorkablexasian]

Rank: 19/555
GPA: 3.58

ACT: 30 (working on raising to 33+)
SAT: Have not taken (Received around 2000 on Kaplan practice test; hoping for a 2200+)

SAT II:
Literature: 680
U.S. History: 720

Freshman: All honors
Sophomore: All honors except AP Psychology
Junior: All honors except AP Eng. Language and AP U.S. History
Senior: (this year) All AP's (biology, spanish, english literature, calc AB, european history)

ECs:

Korean Club (4 years, V.P. last year and President this year)
We Help Others (W.H.O.) Club: (4 years) many volunteering activities
Volleyball (Freshman year)
Dance Marathon (3 years; helped plan an event that raised 70,000+ for charity of choice)
Executive (2 years): group of 30 that plans event year round
Morale Captain (1 year): helps keep dancers spirits up
Hospital Volunteer (150+ hours)
Animal Shelter Volunteer (40+ hours)
National Honor Society
National Spanish Exam (2 years; silver)
Orchestra Award (Sophomore year; I forgot the name)
1st Chair, Second Violins Philharmonic Orchestra (Sophomore year after playing violin for only 1 year)

AP exams:

AP Psychology: 5
AP U.S. History: 5
AP English Language: 4

Reach: Cornell University (Early Decision)
Safety: University of Illinois-Champaign Urbana
Mizzou

Is it possible for me to get into Cornell if I raise my standardized scores? And if so, to what number?

[Illicit]

Affirmative action. If you are latino or black, you actually get a boost in your GPA and SAT scores (~200) in the eyes of admission officers. If you are asian you actually lose points on the SAT (~200) as well as with your GPA.

Ew, racism! D:
Now I don't want to answer ' What ethnicity are you ' questions anymore. Should I mark "Other" rather than "Asian"?

[SurpriseSex]

Ew, racism! D:
Now I don't want to answer ' What ethnicity are you ' questions anymore. Should I mark "Other" rather than "Asian"?

Now THAT'S racist. Not to mention cheating. We should have all put down "other", it would have given us a much greater chance in acceptance.
...And guess what? They check.

[Illicit]

Now THAT'S racist. Not to mention cheating. We should have all put down "other", it would have given us a much greater chance in acceptance.
...And guess what? They check.

It wouldn't be cheating nor racist if I wanted to keep my race private. And of course they can find out!
Note to self: Sarcasm doesn't show up in text T.T Sorry.

[iMMA D0Rk XD]

Rank: 19/555
GPA: 3.58

ACT: 30 (working on raising to 33+)
SAT: Have not taken (Received around 2000 on Kaplan practice test; hoping for a 2200+)

SAT II:
Literature: 680
U.S. History: 720

Freshman: All honors
Sophomore: All honors except AP Psychology
Junior: All honors except AP Eng. Language and AP U.S. History
Senior: (this year) All AP's (biology, spanish, english literature, calc AB, european history)

ECs:

Korean Club (4 years, V.P. last year and President this year)
We Help Others (W.H.O.) Club: (4 years) many volunteering activities
Volleyball (Freshman year)
Dance Marathon (3 years; helped plan an event that raised 70,000+ for charity of choice)
Executive (2 years): group of 30 that plans event year round
Morale Captain (1 year): helps keep dancers spirits up
Hospital Volunteer (150+ hours)
Animal Shelter Volunteer (40+ hours)
National Honor Society
National Spanish Exam (2 years; silver)
Orchestra Award (Sophomore year; I forgot the name)
1st Chair, Second Violins Philharmonic Orchestra (Sophomore year after playing violin for only 1 year)

AP exams:

AP Psychology: 5
AP U.S. History: 5
AP English Language: 4

Reach: Cornell University (Early Decision)
Safety: University of Illinois-Champaign Urbana
Mizzou

Is it possible for me to get into Cornell if I raise my standardized scores? And if so, to what number?

Cornell does seem like a reach for you, what are your matches? take sat 2 math, its not that hard and usually ppl get 800 on that. i would try to raise my act if i were you for sure, 30 is a bit low.

[Misleading]

I just want to ask a quick question...

I'm going to be a sophomore this coming September. During freshman year... I got a B- on both semesters of my Advanced Algebra Honors class. I got A's and A+'s in everything else. Will the grades affect my chances of say... getting into UC Berkeley if I can get A's for the rest of my stay in high school?

Thank you in advance for any responses~

[*frutti]

^ UC Berkeley (as well as the rest of the UCs) doesn't look at freshmen year grades haha.

[Misleading]

^ UC Berkeley (as well as the rest of the UCs) doesn't look at freshmen year grades haha.

Oh my o ___o
I never knew that! Thank you~

[Christinaisweird]

Oh my o ___o
I never knew that! Thank you~

Mother F! I too did not know that.

Okay, as for the volunteer part, do universities actually ask that?

[Trinity <3]

Mother F! I too did not know that.

Okay, as for the volunteer part, do universities actually ask that?

On the application site there is always a "Volunteer" or "extracurricular" tab option.. just explain it the best you can, not to complex yet not too simple, and try to make it seem very impressive.

[jeffword]

A friend of mine is asking, what if he did decent-poor on his sophmore year, but did spectacular his junior year?
Do the colleges look at the improvement as a good thing? Or just see it as a negative thing, because of the poor grades he got on this second year?

[joie.de.vivre]

^
how poor are you talking ? improvement is certainly a good thing, though.

[S0URPATCH--]

Okay I'm not gonna use the same format as most of you guys did because I don't have a transcript on me right this second but I hope you guys can help me nonetheless.

I'm an upcoming senior in high school and my gpa is ... well, unweighted it's low. like 3.1 D: I get around 1700~1800 in the SAT and 30 on the ACT and my SAT II scores are undefined as of now because I've only taken one (language) and I got a 700. I'm planning on retaking the ACT because I do generally better on that and I want to take SAT II Literature soon.

Should I give up my hopes for going to any UC? I don't have many extracurriculars (no sports. only volunteer work/charity, piano for 14 years, internship, and work experience) so...what do you guys think my chances are? Also, does it matter that my freshman year sucked @$$? And what happens if I get straight A's in my senior year first semester? Will that affect my chances in any way shape or form?

[michellek]

^ i don't really have any sports. i have around the same extracurriculars as you do, more or less. my SAT score was above 1800 but under 2000, i'm retaking it. i feel pretty good about getting into at least a couple of the lower tier UC's at the minimum. i would just raise my GPA, if you applied right now, i highly doubt they would take you because of that, since from what i can see there's nothing that is very impressive. the uc's want at least a 3.5 or higher. they do look at weighted gpa's though, so that's a plus.

[S0URPATCH--]

@michellek: Thanks for the advice! My weighted gpa is literally at 3.5 so...uhhh, that's kind of good haha. If you don't mind me asking, what's your gpa? My friend tells me not to worry because as long as I take a lot of APs and have a gpa in the 3's..then Riverside will take me in haha but I'm not too sure.

[Christinaisweird]

On the application site there is always a "Volunteer" or "extracurricular" tab option.. just explain it the best you can, not to complex yet not too simple, and try to make it seem very impressive.

Because for volunteering it is mandatory for the IB program that I'm going to be, so it's going to be a little difficult.

But is true if by the time you graduate in the top 10% of your class the UCs saves some spots for you or more advantages besides that?

[*frutti]

^ I was offered that....but it was for graduating in the top 4%.

[Christinaisweird]

^ I was offered that....but it was for graduating in the top 4%.

Can you tell me more about that?

[LUX.]

Can you tell me more about that?

http://www.ucop.edu/sas/elc/

Here's the site for it. It was really nice to be a part of, merely for the fact that you know you've been automatically accepted into at least one UC, so it makes college applications/decisions just a tad less nerve-racking. Anyways, it just guarantees that the top 4% of participating CA high schools will each be given a spot within one of the UCs. They won't tell you which one until later on, but it's usually Merced or Riverside. Specifics are on the site.