What are my chances on a UC Berkeley Appeal?
I was accepted to UCD, UCSB, USC, and St Johns Uni. I was rejected to UCLA, Cal, and Stanford.
GPA: 4.14 (3.92 unweighted)
Ranking: 1st Decile (My school doesn’t release rankings)
SAT : Critical Reading 680, Math 660, W 600
SAT Subject Test: Bio (670), Chem (620), Lit (660)
ACT: Composite 30, English 29, Math 30, Reading 32, Science 29, Writing 27
AP Classes: AP English Language (4)
I was in the school band for 2 years and have played basketball out of school for 2 different teams for all 4 years of HS. I have coached basketball as a volunteer for 4 years. I have also participated in after school tutoring projects, served as a religious youth leader, had some work experience working for a small business, etc
I intend to major in biochem & molec bio.
After submitting my app, I began a 50 hour project involving working with mentally handicapped children. My grades for the 1st semester came out in January and my GPA was slightly better (4.16) than my cumulative GPA (5 A’s and a B).
Those are some of the ideas I’m thinking of writing about in my appeal. I’m also thinking of asking my academic counselor, english teacher, and possibly my basketball coach to write letters of rec to accompany my appeal.
Some of the other things I was thinking of adding to my appeal were talking about why I wasn’t able to get involved in more school activities (I live 45 min away from school and coming from a low income family, I don’t have access to a car). On top of that, I spent time after school involved in work study at my school so I could help cover my tuition. That also limited my study time. Coming from a low income family, I wasn’t able to get out of school tutoring or take SAT prep classes like many of my classmates. I also avoided taking too many AP classes because paying for AP tests was an extra burden on my family. I didn’t have time to take summer school classes because I was either working or traveling overseas.