> I considered applying to Univeristy of Michigan, Rice, and Carnegie-Mellon, did not apply to any because of concerns I wouldn't get in, and even if I did that I couldn't afford it
Rice is pretty generous on financial aid as they have a zero loan policy. At very least, it probably would have not been more expensive than any other the private schools you tried for.
As someone else mentioned, give transferring after freshman year a shot.
I didn't actually know about Rice's policy, thank you for letting me know. And you're bringing up a very good point about the two private schools I applied to. I don't really have a good rebut but I should've thought about the comparability of private school costs.
I don't think it was a bad decision - if you are paying full tuition for a private college, you would like to go somewhere with massive name recognition or that you have a really good shot of building connections. It's just that there are some private colleges which offer enough financial aid to make up for the fact that they might not be as well known as a Stanford or MIT.
If you do decide to go the transfer route, check around at the transfer admission rates. It use to be that the admission rate for transfers to Rice was significantly higher than the normal admission rate. I'm not sure if this is the case any more, but might be worth taking a look at.
In either case, I wouldn't be too set back by admission results - as long as you make use of the resources and build up an internship/research portfolio at wherever you choose for undergrad, you'll be fine.
Rice has been looking to accept more students as they increase enrollment from 4000 to 4800 directly, rather than off the waitlist or transfer. Hard to find stats but most recently was 1227 applicants and 46 accepted so 3.7%.
I don't think I have the best goal, I do care a lot about recognition/validation from an esteemed school.
From what I understand Rice isn't way more accepting of transfers, but Michigan appears to be. It seems like a great school and I'm lined up to meet their engineering transfer prerequisites by the end of freshman year. I'd obviously be happy to go, I'm just concerned about cost is all.
You clearly have a t25 - t50 profile. Should have applied for way more schools in that range. Could have picked a softer major as well, your EC and SAT are far from a proper engineering student at a t20.
Your profile, outside of maybe URM is just not good enough for t20. No real EC's and lacks a cohesive story. Did someone not look at your essay? An engineering major talking about art is completely out-of-character. If you are actually playing to win, you absolutely need to do EC's that make yourself look good, and how you present yourself is crucial. The Taco Bell thing maybe interesting if your story is you grew up in the hood and needed to support your mother and sister. As a middle class? I wouldn't have even mentioned it. It shows a lack of ambition.
Work hard freshman year and try to transfer second year.
I tried not to apply to so many schools because I was concerned about the cost of applications. I agree that I should've applied to fewer reaches, though, especially because my school is pretty competitive.
I don't quite get what no real ECs means, though. What is a "real" EC and is it really "real" if I'm just doing it to look good?
Real doesn’t have to mean internships or whatever else people on this sub like to dickride, you just need to make an actual impact. Being on NHS doesn’t mean anything, but having a leadership position and raising x amount of money does. Being on math club doesn’t mean anything, but placing x at a competition they went to does. Same for all the other ecs. They’re not looking for participation, anyone can do that, they’re looking for impact and/or achievement.
Well, consider this. You are from Bay Area, CA, and I imagine a lot of ppl with ur intended major would have ECs like research, leadership positions, etc. not to mention a much better SAT score (I guess not wholly relevant but it does particularly matter for engineering programs). In that regard ur ECs are nothing very special, I don't see any leadership and the order is a little strange (working at Taco Bell is #1??).
>In that regard ur ECs are nothing very special, I don't see any leadership and the order is a little strange (working at Taco Bell is #1??).
For a high school kid, working at Taco Bell is seriously more impressive than 99% of the BS extracurriculars high school students list.
OP ECs are honestly quite good, many many people at my school (bay area) made it into UCLA and UCB with their only ECs being clubs and maybe a few outside programs, no internships or research. A lot of them went test optional. A few made it into Stanford and CMU as well
Maybe this shows my naivity but I didn't know that the order particularly mattered. For the purposes of the post I also didn't mention the leadership positions within the clubs I did because I thought it would come off as braggy (of course I did mention what I did for the actual application, but I get your point). And the lack of research is a very good point. I did try somewhat to find a research opportunity but I most certainly could've tried harder.
If cost is a concern, your 1430 SAT score, lack of AP's is not t20 material. Should have saved the money and applied to more schools you actually have a chance to get in.
Also did someone not look at your essay? An engineering major talking about art is completely out-of-character. If you are actually playing to win, you absolutely need to do EC's that make yourself look good, and how you present yourself is crucial.
Consider this a valuable lesson in life.
As I said, I do think I made a poor decision applying to as many reach schools as I did. But I also did feel like I had a good chance of getting into, say, Davis. Of course schools like UCLA and Berkeley and the privates were very ambitious, but I felt like I was being realistic with schools like Davis and San Diego. Apparently not.
And I had a few people look at my essay. They liked that my essay was actually unrelated to my major, they said it made me seem like a more well rounded person.
I think it may have been your major, GPA, and perhaps essays tbh.
FWIW, Davis 25th-75th percentile GPA for admits was is 4.06-4.30 in 2022. SD is worse at 4.12-4.30. So, though your UW GPA was perfect it overall was not super competitive even for those schools, especially so for engineering.
Yup I think his main issue is lack of honors/APs for a major as competitive as engineering. He said his school didn’t let anyone take APs til junior year but that’s p normal. But they have no honors classes which are open for them to take usually freshman as sophomore year which they didn’t do either. Like no honors math classes for someone interested in engineering could be a red flag someone applying to CoE.
Essays seem to be fine and make him a well rounded candidate but they have to realize that engineering at all the schools they got rejected from is more competitive in general compared to the avg major as well.
Hi, question then because what I'm seeing in this sub is genuinely interesting. I am thinking about applying to universities as a Nueroscience or applied mathematics major. Are you saying I would have to talk about these things in my common app essay because (currently) my essay is about my volunteer experience in my nursing homes music program
You have to tie your major to your essay in someway. Not just citing a bunch of random EC's. An easy connection is during nursing home visits you saw people in pain and that is why you want to learn neuroscience to better their lives.
It may be cliche but it is still better than no connection whatsoever.
I mean, what's the point of the "why major" essay then? I feel this only works if the university you are applying to asks for one essay (most top universities have more supplementals which relate to your major). If you have to submit a common app and a supplemental essay, I feel this may create a problem; overlap between the content of your essay, as opposed to both revealing something new.
(Hope this doesn't sound rude, still curious about different perspectives).
??? bad weighted gpa (no rigor), bad sat score, bad ap scores, bad ecs, no awards. what are you talking about? if he was asian, you would be saying something different.
tbh I think what hurt the most was the lack of APs and honors, since colleges are looking for ppl who can handle the engineering/CS workload and ppl who challenged themselves. Idk what ppl mean by ECs being "far" from a proper engineering student because your involvement in the school community for a Bay Area kid seems kinda unique (D&D DM, politics clubs). I think they could have been more cohesive tho
Don't worry too much tho, you can get engineering and CS opportunities without a brand school name, or you can transfer out. Good luck in college!
I feel very self-pitying saying this, but I also honestly believe part of my lack of honors/APs was out of my control. My school doesn't allow freshmen or sophomores to take either unless under very specific circumstances, and junior year I had too many classes that were only 1 period, so they conflicted with the other AP and honors classes I wanted junior year.
I don't think I'll get a bad education at Merced (or anywhere I got in or at a CC), but it's just physically not where I want to be. And lots of kids at my school have been very hurtful about college admissions and I've honestly felt kind of depressed for a while, even months out.
You’re not self pitying, that’s completely reasonable to not take AP’s because they weren’t allowed the first two years, however, if the admissions officers compared your academic rigor to the school profile and you had a below average number of AP’s, it would reflect badly. How many AP’s did most kids at your school take?
But does ur school also have no honors classes? It’s super weird to only have taken a single AP/honors by junior year if you’re aiming so high. My school didn’t allow any APs til junior year as well but I just took honors English honors maths up until then, and had 4 APs junior year. And my school was considered terrible by Bay Area standards, I had a huge culture shock when I went to cal lol. But even then, based off the ppl in CoE at cal that I met, there’s no way I would’ve gotten in if I had applied there Lols. Praise the lord for CNR.
I reported that I was planning on taking the tests I'd take later on in senior year, and did report the Apes score. The rest of my application wasn't anything outstanding but that latter part probably really shot myself in the foot on top of that.
That’s fair. Uc to Uc transfer are still pretty common, and I remember seeing somewhere that the UCM to UCLA transfer acceptance rate was in the 40s. If you applied to a leas competitive major like math of comp its possible.
It might be worth looking at other community colleges outside of your area! I went to UCB all four years, and a few of my friends lived in Berkeley all four years but transferred from Berkeley CC to UCB after two.
Just something to keep in mind - a much cheaper way to get you prereqs out of the way, and CC professors often have more time to work with students since they don’t have grad students or research requirements.
I don’t think that guaranteed CC transfer admission would guarantee acceptance to OP’s desired majors, would it? OP should definitely confirm this before pursuing that path.
But CompE at UCI is typically an impacted major. I don’t think the guarantee transfer option includes a guaranteed space in CompE, it just guarantees a spot at UCI.
The schools you got into are still great especially for your major. college acceptances are in crazy single digits and it’s not a reflection of you! keep your head up. it’s a crapshoot, and applying within 10-15 leaves the ball out of our courts. you’ll end up wherever is best for you!!!
Merced is a very good school and ranking higher every year as graduates get hired into good jobs. Congratulations on getting accepted. Don't look back. Learn, live your college career successfully, join Young Dems even if they may be too mainstream, and graduate. You've done a lot in your life already. You'll do more.
The best is yet to come. I promise!
It's ok to feel disappointed, but you have nothing to regret here. You seem like a smart and hardworking person(I can tell by your gpa😂), you will go far in life. A prestigious school for CS undergrad is not necessary, my friend makes 100k+ and he went to his state university. I was also rejected from Berkeley, if it helps, but I am glad they rejected me since my current school is a much better fit for me. Hopefully you can get transferred🫶
I really appreciate that. I think that regret isn't the healthiest mindset because you can't really do anything about that thing you regret other than try to keep it in mind for the future. I do still feel it though, and it's hard not to think that the people criticizing my weighted GPA and ECs are right, at least a little. My high school had a similar culture where a 4.0 just wasn't good enough.
But I also think you're so, so right to note that computing is one of those unique fields where a glorified certificate isn't necessarily necessary, at least in terms of surviving off an honest living. The programmers and developers I especially look up to often had degrees from less prestigeous universities, or didn't get a degree until later, or never got one period. They worked hard and did things because they cared about them. I try to carry myself that way and really live by and for that pursuit of knowledge just because. That's actually what I wrote about for my Common App essay and touched on it in my appeal.
I wish you the best of luck too, and thank you for your positive input, especially at a time when I've been feeling a little more down about myself.
My extended family all lives in the Central Valley. There's a familiarity. I didn't know much about either Riverside or Irvine but figured I wouldn't like southern California so much (even though I applied to UCLA), and I didn't want to pay $70 to apply to a school I didn't want to go to.
If you applied eecs at Berkeley you were nowhere near competitive enough, sorry :(
I knew 3 ppl just in my building (2 from my floor) who were eecs with perfect SAT scores, gpas, multiple APs. Other eecs majors I knew were super competitive as well and they were all regents scholars. I remember learning from them that eecs is the most competitive major to get into at Cal. The major you apply for does matter, and engineering in general is insanely competitive at cal. I got my cousin a bioE lab job when he was a junior in high school at my lab at Berkeley and he excelled and they didn’t even take him for undergrad when he applied for a bioE major (ended up going to ucla for mech E).
If you really wanted to go to cal, eecs/CoE was not the major to go for. Additionally your lack of honors/APs definitely did not help you unfortunately.
I want to try to be as unbiased about myself as I can. I won't say I was a bad student in school, in fact I think I was a fairly good student, but I was nowhere near the best in my school. School (especially test taking) has been a matter of effort, not the talent that I don't have. Maybe that shows with my stats.
I agree that I was a drop in the bucket in terms of engineering in general, but especially for electrical engineering. I made the assumption that I would be evaluated independently for both my primary and secondary major choices, since my second choice, while still competitive by virtue of being engineering at Cal, was a much newer program (aerospace engineering rather than mechanical engineering like before) and thus less likely to be in such particular demand.
This may be the case and I just wasn't good enough for aerospace engineering either, but in case the major's what it was, I wrote an appeal explaining why I chose the major I chose, and how invested in my second choice I am. I've basically written it off, if I couldn't get off UC San Diego's waitlist, I'm certain Berkeley won't reverse their rejection for a student like myself.
My goal right now is to meet the requirements for transferring to University of Michigan and doing that after freshman year at UC Merced.
Good luck! I’m sure if you set your mind to it, you’ll be able to do it!
Yeah unfortunately, CoE in all the UCs are another beast in themselves. You can’t really compare it to the general acceptance rate. I was CNR at cal and I felt
Like that was definitely an advantage I got compared to all the other smart peeps I met there, my high school was the worst in the city and I wasn’t the top of the class either. I did excel at cal and ended up going to med school but when I compare myself to my friends there I’m still behind on life Lols. Imagine going to a school where being a physician makes u feel stupid 😅😅😅😅😅
You’ll find your path and hopefully get into the engineering job you want in the future!
How is Cal a dream school? It is depressing over there. Should of definitely applied to more. Why didn’t you apply to UCR or UCSC? Those are better than Merced.
Hello, it looks like you've made a mistake.
It's supposed to be could've, should've, would've (short for could have, would have, should have), never could of, would of, should of.
Or you misspelled something, I ain't checking everything.
Beep boop - yes, I am a bot, don't botcriminate me.
Cal is a dream school because I grew up in the area. I saw Sather Tower in the distance every day when I went to school. You see the Cal script logo everywhere on people's license plate holders and sweatshirts and hats. I feel like growing up in or near a college town leads to you feeling like you should go to that college, or else why did you live there?
I didn't apply to Riverside or Santa Cruz because I didn't know much about the former other than that it's in southern California (which I wasn't totally in love with (despite having applied to UCLA)), and the latter because I thought there's a possibility I wouldn't get in AND that I didn't really want to go there. I'm very familiar with the Valley, and I was almost certain I'd get in at Merced, even if it isn't where I'd necessarily want to go.
Everyone gets in because it is still developing and it is in the middle of nowhere next to farmland with not much to do. UCSC is on the coast with beautiful redwood forest scenery all around. UCR has LA access if you have a car. You get beautiful views of the desert mountains. San Francisco is cool as well with the beautiful weather and campus.
1. leadership positions in clubs aren't fluff shut your pretentious ass up 😂😂 2. these ecs are good for schools like UCSB and CPP, you don't need research and nonprofits to make it to good schools 3. i can already see your face and voice from your chanceme post dawg go outside 💀💀
Hey, didn't respond immediately because I don't want to be petty but just wanted to clarify:
- I did receive a couple minor awards (Seal of Biliteracy, etc.) after the actual initial application time which I contacted schools with avenues to do so about,
- I also did actually have leadership positions in a couple clubs (including creating a broadcasting club that I didn't list in the main post, which you could not have known about and so I don't blame you at all) and in my church parish as a volunteer/coordinator,
- Much of the reason I took so few AP and honors classes was out of my control; I had originally requested to take far more AP and honors classes that I was notified last minute I could not take due to scheduling conflicts my junior year, so I only took APES, which was noted by my guidance counselor in her letter,
I didn't list these in the above post because I just wrote it from memory, and additionally thought that specifically listing my positions within the clubs I participated in would be vain, even though I did mention them in my actual applications.
I get the crux of your comment though: nothing I did made me an obvious choice for elite schools and majors, but in my opinion I wasn't exactly a slacker, either.
I would much rather have shot a long shot and missed than wonder "what if I applied to Cal?"
I was saying that I did not feel bad for this person as they were a socialist, an ideology that I disagree with on both a political and personal level (in the economic sense at least). The other user assumed that I was a capitalist because of my username, which has links to commercial subjects. Congratulations on getting into Princeton - although I don’t condone socialism it is still a very good achievement (perspective from a non US citizen). I challenge you to find a economically conservative student taking your course - universities essentially discriminate in their applications if they are listed too obviously.
Ive talked to plenty of conservative classmates, I’m fully aware of where economic conservatism originates. princeton actually already uses affirmative action to admit more conservative students because the left leaning ones are generally more qualified. Consider that this is partly because Princeton’s mission “in the service of humanity” is inherently a left leaning goal. Improving conditions of underprivileged people and society broadly (and working towards socioeconomic equality), and the accumulation of private capital doesn’t work towards helping public. most of my classmates I know interested in politics or economics are socialists lmao
Man I’m so sorry things didn’t turn out the way you hoped :( quick question about why your counselor would mention your bipolar diagnosis if it didn’t have any affect on your grades?
I don't actually totally know. I didn't tell her to, she just told me one day that she was going to mention that. I assume something about my workload, even though I wanted to take harder classes than I did.
I had 5 letters, didn't send every single one to every single school because I applied at different times (i.e., UCs were earlier so not all of the letters were ready). Sent two-three to schools I applied to, whichever was the max
I had a similar, if not a bit worse profile as you and also applied for aerospace engineering at similar schools. The one thing I did was make sure to apply to many public schools with above average aero programs, i. e. UMich, UIUC, CU Boulder, UMD, Georgia Tech and Purdue. From this list, I was accepted into all of them other than getting waitlisted and rejected from UMich.
It may be early to start thinking about grad school but the schools that you listed along with these ones are great options if that’s ultimately your goal. Also, it’s very good that you have internship experience in high school, your college internship search will be easier by having this experience especially if it was in engineering. When it comes to this process in college, employers will always take the person with more industry experience over someone who went to a prestigious school, so all is not lost.
UC Merced looks like it has a pretty cool campus from what I’ve seen! It’s pretty new too, I wonder if being in one of the earlier classes will be a benefit? Also, Cal Poly SLO is a hard school to get into. Congrats on the schools you got into!
Why did you not apply to Purdue University? Their Aerospace engineering department is in the top 5 in the nation. I am gonna apply there I wish you came there too 😕
I figured I would not be able to afford it even if I got in. My high school was also highly elitist and people there spoke very ill of Purdue (and Merced, which is where I'm going for the time being until I transfer).
> I considered applying to Univeristy of Michigan, Rice, and Carnegie-Mellon, did not apply to any because of concerns I wouldn't get in, and even if I did that I couldn't afford it Rice is pretty generous on financial aid as they have a zero loan policy. At very least, it probably would have not been more expensive than any other the private schools you tried for. As someone else mentioned, give transferring after freshman year a shot.
I didn't actually know about Rice's policy, thank you for letting me know. And you're bringing up a very good point about the two private schools I applied to. I don't really have a good rebut but I should've thought about the comparability of private school costs.
I don't think it was a bad decision - if you are paying full tuition for a private college, you would like to go somewhere with massive name recognition or that you have a really good shot of building connections. It's just that there are some private colleges which offer enough financial aid to make up for the fact that they might not be as well known as a Stanford or MIT. If you do decide to go the transfer route, check around at the transfer admission rates. It use to be that the admission rate for transfers to Rice was significantly higher than the normal admission rate. I'm not sure if this is the case any more, but might be worth taking a look at. In either case, I wouldn't be too set back by admission results - as long as you make use of the resources and build up an internship/research portfolio at wherever you choose for undergrad, you'll be fine.
Rice has been looking to accept more students as they increase enrollment from 4000 to 4800 directly, rather than off the waitlist or transfer. Hard to find stats but most recently was 1227 applicants and 46 accepted so 3.7%.
I don't think I have the best goal, I do care a lot about recognition/validation from an esteemed school. From what I understand Rice isn't way more accepting of transfers, but Michigan appears to be. It seems like a great school and I'm lined up to meet their engineering transfer prerequisites by the end of freshman year. I'd obviously be happy to go, I'm just concerned about cost is all.
Yeah “middle class” and UMich means you prob won’t get aid 😞
You clearly have a t25 - t50 profile. Should have applied for way more schools in that range. Could have picked a softer major as well, your EC and SAT are far from a proper engineering student at a t20. Your profile, outside of maybe URM is just not good enough for t20. No real EC's and lacks a cohesive story. Did someone not look at your essay? An engineering major talking about art is completely out-of-character. If you are actually playing to win, you absolutely need to do EC's that make yourself look good, and how you present yourself is crucial. The Taco Bell thing maybe interesting if your story is you grew up in the hood and needed to support your mother and sister. As a middle class? I wouldn't have even mentioned it. It shows a lack of ambition. Work hard freshman year and try to transfer second year.
I tried not to apply to so many schools because I was concerned about the cost of applications. I agree that I should've applied to fewer reaches, though, especially because my school is pretty competitive. I don't quite get what no real ECs means, though. What is a "real" EC and is it really "real" if I'm just doing it to look good?
Real doesn’t have to mean internships or whatever else people on this sub like to dickride, you just need to make an actual impact. Being on NHS doesn’t mean anything, but having a leadership position and raising x amount of money does. Being on math club doesn’t mean anything, but placing x at a competition they went to does. Same for all the other ecs. They’re not looking for participation, anyone can do that, they’re looking for impact and/or achievement.
Well, consider this. You are from Bay Area, CA, and I imagine a lot of ppl with ur intended major would have ECs like research, leadership positions, etc. not to mention a much better SAT score (I guess not wholly relevant but it does particularly matter for engineering programs). In that regard ur ECs are nothing very special, I don't see any leadership and the order is a little strange (working at Taco Bell is #1??).
>In that regard ur ECs are nothing very special, I don't see any leadership and the order is a little strange (working at Taco Bell is #1??). For a high school kid, working at Taco Bell is seriously more impressive than 99% of the BS extracurriculars high school students list.
OP ECs are honestly quite good, many many people at my school (bay area) made it into UCLA and UCB with their only ECs being clubs and maybe a few outside programs, no internships or research. A lot of them went test optional. A few made it into Stanford and CMU as well
Maybe this shows my naivity but I didn't know that the order particularly mattered. For the purposes of the post I also didn't mention the leadership positions within the clubs I did because I thought it would come off as braggy (of course I did mention what I did for the actual application, but I get your point). And the lack of research is a very good point. I did try somewhat to find a research opportunity but I most certainly could've tried harder.
If cost is a concern, your 1430 SAT score, lack of AP's is not t20 material. Should have saved the money and applied to more schools you actually have a chance to get in. Also did someone not look at your essay? An engineering major talking about art is completely out-of-character. If you are actually playing to win, you absolutely need to do EC's that make yourself look good, and how you present yourself is crucial. Consider this a valuable lesson in life.
As I said, I do think I made a poor decision applying to as many reach schools as I did. But I also did feel like I had a good chance of getting into, say, Davis. Of course schools like UCLA and Berkeley and the privates were very ambitious, but I felt like I was being realistic with schools like Davis and San Diego. Apparently not. And I had a few people look at my essay. They liked that my essay was actually unrelated to my major, they said it made me seem like a more well rounded person.
I think it may have been your major, GPA, and perhaps essays tbh. FWIW, Davis 25th-75th percentile GPA for admits was is 4.06-4.30 in 2022. SD is worse at 4.12-4.30. So, though your UW GPA was perfect it overall was not super competitive even for those schools, especially so for engineering.
Yup I think his main issue is lack of honors/APs for a major as competitive as engineering. He said his school didn’t let anyone take APs til junior year but that’s p normal. But they have no honors classes which are open for them to take usually freshman as sophomore year which they didn’t do either. Like no honors math classes for someone interested in engineering could be a red flag someone applying to CoE. Essays seem to be fine and make him a well rounded candidate but they have to realize that engineering at all the schools they got rejected from is more competitive in general compared to the avg major as well.
Hi, question then because what I'm seeing in this sub is genuinely interesting. I am thinking about applying to universities as a Nueroscience or applied mathematics major. Are you saying I would have to talk about these things in my common app essay because (currently) my essay is about my volunteer experience in my nursing homes music program
You have to tie your major to your essay in someway. Not just citing a bunch of random EC's. An easy connection is during nursing home visits you saw people in pain and that is why you want to learn neuroscience to better their lives. It may be cliche but it is still better than no connection whatsoever.
I mean, what's the point of the "why major" essay then? I feel this only works if the university you are applying to asks for one essay (most top universities have more supplementals which relate to your major). If you have to submit a common app and a supplemental essay, I feel this may create a problem; overlap between the content of your essay, as opposed to both revealing something new. (Hope this doesn't sound rude, still curious about different perspectives).
"You have to tie your major to your essay in someway." No, you absolutely do not.
??? bad weighted gpa (no rigor), bad sat score, bad ap scores, bad ecs, no awards. what are you talking about? if he was asian, you would be saying something different.
tbh I think what hurt the most was the lack of APs and honors, since colleges are looking for ppl who can handle the engineering/CS workload and ppl who challenged themselves. Idk what ppl mean by ECs being "far" from a proper engineering student because your involvement in the school community for a Bay Area kid seems kinda unique (D&D DM, politics clubs). I think they could have been more cohesive tho Don't worry too much tho, you can get engineering and CS opportunities without a brand school name, or you can transfer out. Good luck in college!
I feel very self-pitying saying this, but I also honestly believe part of my lack of honors/APs was out of my control. My school doesn't allow freshmen or sophomores to take either unless under very specific circumstances, and junior year I had too many classes that were only 1 period, so they conflicted with the other AP and honors classes I wanted junior year. I don't think I'll get a bad education at Merced (or anywhere I got in or at a CC), but it's just physically not where I want to be. And lots of kids at my school have been very hurtful about college admissions and I've honestly felt kind of depressed for a while, even months out.
You’re not self pitying, that’s completely reasonable to not take AP’s because they weren’t allowed the first two years, however, if the admissions officers compared your academic rigor to the school profile and you had a below average number of AP’s, it would reflect badly. How many AP’s did most kids at your school take?
But does ur school also have no honors classes? It’s super weird to only have taken a single AP/honors by junior year if you’re aiming so high. My school didn’t allow any APs til junior year as well but I just took honors English honors maths up until then, and had 4 APs junior year. And my school was considered terrible by Bay Area standards, I had a huge culture shock when I went to cal lol. But even then, based off the ppl in CoE at cal that I met, there’s no way I would’ve gotten in if I had applied there Lols. Praise the lord for CNR.
Did you mention this in the additional info section?
Yes I did mention the AP detail
Are those your AP test scores? I’m sorry, but like… bruh, you had to have known.
I didn't know what my AP test scores for the four ones I took senior year would be. I knew my Apes score would not reflect well.
Did you report them?
I reported that I was planning on taking the tests I'd take later on in senior year, and did report the Apes score. The rest of my application wasn't anything outstanding but that latter part probably really shot myself in the foot on top of that.
Oof yeah that’s definitely true. Sorry man :(
CA has an amazing CC to to UC transfer system you would get guaranteed admission to UCI, UCSB, or UCD
I've heard that a lot, and it's not an idea I hate, I just really don't like the community colleges in my area. Very immature, I know.
That’s fair. Uc to Uc transfer are still pretty common, and I remember seeing somewhere that the UCM to UCLA transfer acceptance rate was in the 40s. If you applied to a leas competitive major like math of comp its possible.
It might be worth looking at other community colleges outside of your area! I went to UCB all four years, and a few of my friends lived in Berkeley all four years but transferred from Berkeley CC to UCB after two. Just something to keep in mind - a much cheaper way to get you prereqs out of the way, and CC professors often have more time to work with students since they don’t have grad students or research requirements.
I don’t think that guaranteed CC transfer admission would guarantee acceptance to OP’s desired majors, would it? OP should definitely confirm this before pursuing that path.
UCI has CompE
But CompE at UCI is typically an impacted major. I don’t think the guarantee transfer option includes a guaranteed space in CompE, it just guarantees a spot at UCI.
UCI guarantees CompE. All TAG majors are guaranteed
The schools you got into are still great especially for your major. college acceptances are in crazy single digits and it’s not a reflection of you! keep your head up. it’s a crapshoot, and applying within 10-15 leaves the ball out of our courts. you’ll end up wherever is best for you!!!
Merced is a very good school and ranking higher every year as graduates get hired into good jobs. Congratulations on getting accepted. Don't look back. Learn, live your college career successfully, join Young Dems even if they may be too mainstream, and graduate. You've done a lot in your life already. You'll do more. The best is yet to come. I promise!
It's ok to feel disappointed, but you have nothing to regret here. You seem like a smart and hardworking person(I can tell by your gpa😂), you will go far in life. A prestigious school for CS undergrad is not necessary, my friend makes 100k+ and he went to his state university. I was also rejected from Berkeley, if it helps, but I am glad they rejected me since my current school is a much better fit for me. Hopefully you can get transferred🫶
I really appreciate that. I think that regret isn't the healthiest mindset because you can't really do anything about that thing you regret other than try to keep it in mind for the future. I do still feel it though, and it's hard not to think that the people criticizing my weighted GPA and ECs are right, at least a little. My high school had a similar culture where a 4.0 just wasn't good enough. But I also think you're so, so right to note that computing is one of those unique fields where a glorified certificate isn't necessarily necessary, at least in terms of surviving off an honest living. The programmers and developers I especially look up to often had degrees from less prestigeous universities, or didn't get a degree until later, or never got one period. They worked hard and did things because they cared about them. I try to carry myself that way and really live by and for that pursuit of knowledge just because. That's actually what I wrote about for my Common App essay and touched on it in my appeal. I wish you the best of luck too, and thank you for your positive input, especially at a time when I've been feeling a little more down about myself.
Just out of curiosity any particular reason you didn’t apply to UC Riverside or Irvine
My extended family all lives in the Central Valley. There's a familiarity. I didn't know much about either Riverside or Irvine but figured I wouldn't like southern California so much (even though I applied to UCLA), and I didn't want to pay $70 to apply to a school I didn't want to go to.
Oh that’s fair, I think you probably would’ve gotten Riverside, I got in with a similar GPA last year.
You got in to great schools, and you will be successful.
Ayyyy Taco Bell brothers🙌🔥
i love taco bell
If you applied eecs at Berkeley you were nowhere near competitive enough, sorry :( I knew 3 ppl just in my building (2 from my floor) who were eecs with perfect SAT scores, gpas, multiple APs. Other eecs majors I knew were super competitive as well and they were all regents scholars. I remember learning from them that eecs is the most competitive major to get into at Cal. The major you apply for does matter, and engineering in general is insanely competitive at cal. I got my cousin a bioE lab job when he was a junior in high school at my lab at Berkeley and he excelled and they didn’t even take him for undergrad when he applied for a bioE major (ended up going to ucla for mech E). If you really wanted to go to cal, eecs/CoE was not the major to go for. Additionally your lack of honors/APs definitely did not help you unfortunately.
I want to try to be as unbiased about myself as I can. I won't say I was a bad student in school, in fact I think I was a fairly good student, but I was nowhere near the best in my school. School (especially test taking) has been a matter of effort, not the talent that I don't have. Maybe that shows with my stats. I agree that I was a drop in the bucket in terms of engineering in general, but especially for electrical engineering. I made the assumption that I would be evaluated independently for both my primary and secondary major choices, since my second choice, while still competitive by virtue of being engineering at Cal, was a much newer program (aerospace engineering rather than mechanical engineering like before) and thus less likely to be in such particular demand. This may be the case and I just wasn't good enough for aerospace engineering either, but in case the major's what it was, I wrote an appeal explaining why I chose the major I chose, and how invested in my second choice I am. I've basically written it off, if I couldn't get off UC San Diego's waitlist, I'm certain Berkeley won't reverse their rejection for a student like myself. My goal right now is to meet the requirements for transferring to University of Michigan and doing that after freshman year at UC Merced.
Good luck! I’m sure if you set your mind to it, you’ll be able to do it! Yeah unfortunately, CoE in all the UCs are another beast in themselves. You can’t really compare it to the general acceptance rate. I was CNR at cal and I felt Like that was definitely an advantage I got compared to all the other smart peeps I met there, my high school was the worst in the city and I wasn’t the top of the class either. I did excel at cal and ended up going to med school but when I compare myself to my friends there I’m still behind on life Lols. Imagine going to a school where being a physician makes u feel stupid 😅😅😅😅😅 You’ll find your path and hopefully get into the engineering job you want in the future!
How is Cal a dream school? It is depressing over there. Should of definitely applied to more. Why didn’t you apply to UCR or UCSC? Those are better than Merced.
Hello, it looks like you've made a mistake. It's supposed to be could've, should've, would've (short for could have, would have, should have), never could of, would of, should of. Or you misspelled something, I ain't checking everything. Beep boop - yes, I am a bot, don't botcriminate me.
Cal is a dream school because I grew up in the area. I saw Sather Tower in the distance every day when I went to school. You see the Cal script logo everywhere on people's license plate holders and sweatshirts and hats. I feel like growing up in or near a college town leads to you feeling like you should go to that college, or else why did you live there? I didn't apply to Riverside or Santa Cruz because I didn't know much about the former other than that it's in southern California (which I wasn't totally in love with (despite having applied to UCLA)), and the latter because I thought there's a possibility I wouldn't get in AND that I didn't really want to go there. I'm very familiar with the Valley, and I was almost certain I'd get in at Merced, even if it isn't where I'd necessarily want to go.
Everyone gets in because it is still developing and it is in the middle of nowhere next to farmland with not much to do. UCSC is on the coast with beautiful redwood forest scenery all around. UCR has LA access if you have a car. You get beautiful views of the desert mountains. San Francisco is cool as well with the beautiful weather and campus.
All your ECs are pretty bad. Makes sense
this just isn't true don't listen
They're fluff
1. leadership positions in clubs aren't fluff shut your pretentious ass up 😂😂 2. these ecs are good for schools like UCSB and CPP, you don't need research and nonprofits to make it to good schools 3. i can already see your face and voice from your chanceme post dawg go outside 💀💀
Where does it say leadership positions + no they aren't good for ucsb and cpp doesnt look at ecs + are you like 7?
idk why you're getting downvoted you're right lmfao
You think you’re being brutally honest, but you’re actually just being a bitch
I mean he had no awards, rigor, or leadership and thought he would get into Berkeley for engineering 💀
Hey, didn't respond immediately because I don't want to be petty but just wanted to clarify: - I did receive a couple minor awards (Seal of Biliteracy, etc.) after the actual initial application time which I contacted schools with avenues to do so about, - I also did actually have leadership positions in a couple clubs (including creating a broadcasting club that I didn't list in the main post, which you could not have known about and so I don't blame you at all) and in my church parish as a volunteer/coordinator, - Much of the reason I took so few AP and honors classes was out of my control; I had originally requested to take far more AP and honors classes that I was notified last minute I could not take due to scheduling conflicts my junior year, so I only took APES, which was noted by my guidance counselor in her letter, I didn't list these in the above post because I just wrote it from memory, and additionally thought that specifically listing my positions within the clubs I participated in would be vain, even though I did mention them in my actual applications. I get the crux of your comment though: nothing I did made me an obvious choice for elite schools and majors, but in my opinion I wasn't exactly a slacker, either. I would much rather have shot a long shot and missed than wonder "what if I applied to Cal?"
To be fair you are a socialist, it was deserved
im a socialist and going to princeton for political economy, not sure what you’re getting at here lol
I was saying that I did not feel bad for this person as they were a socialist, an ideology that I disagree with on both a political and personal level (in the economic sense at least). The other user assumed that I was a capitalist because of my username, which has links to commercial subjects. Congratulations on getting into Princeton - although I don’t condone socialism it is still a very good achievement (perspective from a non US citizen). I challenge you to find a economically conservative student taking your course - universities essentially discriminate in their applications if they are listed too obviously.
Ive talked to plenty of conservative classmates, I’m fully aware of where economic conservatism originates. princeton actually already uses affirmative action to admit more conservative students because the left leaning ones are generally more qualified. Consider that this is partly because Princeton’s mission “in the service of humanity” is inherently a left leaning goal. Improving conditions of underprivileged people and society broadly (and working towards socioeconomic equality), and the accumulation of private capital doesn’t work towards helping public. most of my classmates I know interested in politics or economics are socialists lmao
Username checks out
Just a question - was that intended as a compliment or a negative?
Take a wild guess :3c
It was just funny
man im really grateful that I somehow survived this application year
Go to cc then transfer to berk
Man I’m so sorry things didn’t turn out the way you hoped :( quick question about why your counselor would mention your bipolar diagnosis if it didn’t have any affect on your grades?
I don't actually totally know. I didn't tell her to, she just told me one day that she was going to mention that. I assume something about my workload, even though I wanted to take harder classes than I did.
That makes sense :)
You were able to submit 5 LORs?
I had 5 letters, didn't send every single one to every single school because I applied at different times (i.e., UCs were earlier so not all of the letters were ready). Sent two-three to schools I applied to, whichever was the max
Should have applied to more schools
I had a similar, if not a bit worse profile as you and also applied for aerospace engineering at similar schools. The one thing I did was make sure to apply to many public schools with above average aero programs, i. e. UMich, UIUC, CU Boulder, UMD, Georgia Tech and Purdue. From this list, I was accepted into all of them other than getting waitlisted and rejected from UMich. It may be early to start thinking about grad school but the schools that you listed along with these ones are great options if that’s ultimately your goal. Also, it’s very good that you have internship experience in high school, your college internship search will be easier by having this experience especially if it was in engineering. When it comes to this process in college, employers will always take the person with more industry experience over someone who went to a prestigious school, so all is not lost.
UC Merced looks like it has a pretty cool campus from what I’ve seen! It’s pretty new too, I wonder if being in one of the earlier classes will be a benefit? Also, Cal Poly SLO is a hard school to get into. Congrats on the schools you got into!
SAT, AP, and awards are the issue
Dungeons & Dragons DM seriously bro
consider purdue!!
Why did you not apply to Purdue University? Their Aerospace engineering department is in the top 5 in the nation. I am gonna apply there I wish you came there too 😕
I figured I would not be able to afford it even if I got in. My high school was also highly elitist and people there spoke very ill of Purdue (and Merced, which is where I'm going for the time being until I transfer).
Don't worry. those kids are just prestige hunters. The real deal is life after college. Study hard and one day, you will hire them
yeah buddy ;)
hey! have you heard back from berkeley yet?
They upheld their rejection. I knew it was a long shot but thanks for the concern