I entered Cal in 1998 with a GPA of 4.3, marching band, two varsity sports and three years on student council. I was at the top of my graduating class of 150-180 people (I came from a po-dunk high school in the middle of rural California). I took AP Lit (4), AP US History (4), AP Bio (5), AP Macroecon (2 – only had three weeks to learn the material and prepare for that test!), AP US Gov’t (3). I had an old SAT score of 1350 (660 Verbal, 690 Math), SAT 2 Bio 710, SAT 2 Writing 660. And an ACT score of 31 for good measure. btw, my class was the very first admitted post-Prop 209, meaning there was no more affirmative action as part of admissions criteria.

I took any and all honors classes my school offered. I took 3 years of Spanish (the 4th would have been a waste of my time). Band was good because it shows musical talent and it counts as an extra curricular. I also took drama class and did some playwrighting (I figured out quickly that I’m a lousy actor). My school didn’t offer calculus, but if it did, I’d have done it.

I took a lot of extra summer school classes. Summer before my senior year, I took classes at UCSB as part of a summer program for high schoolers. I got a B+ in microeconomics and an A in college writing. Those credits do transfer to Cal (and any other UC).

And lastly, I didn’t apply as an intended impacted major. When I applied, I said Integrative Biology, not MCB, and certainly not EECS or CS.

I think my experience is pretty par for the course as far as admissions goes. I knew a lot of people whose schools were way better equipped than mine, so they had incoming GPAs around 4.5, 4.6 and a litany of AP courses. I also knew people who appealed their rejections and were admitted.

The person commenting above is slightly wrong. UC Berkeley does not ask for any letters of recommendation, so don’t worry about that. You should plan to have a weighted GPA of about 4.3 and SAT score of about 2000. These numbers will give you an edge over other applicants. Make sure that at least a few of your extracurriculars have you in a leadership position.

As for AP classes, take as many as you feel you can. They improve your GPA and look good on college apps. Also, to prepare for college, i suggest you take AP classes in the subjects you are looking to study. for example, if you are pre-medicine, taking AP chemistry, biology, and physics, will help you a lot when you come to Berkeley. (You dont have to take all of them)

Of course you need to get good grades, good SATs, have activities — that is so for every college.

But the key to getting into Berkeley is environmental activism. If you apply to the college of Natural Resources, or the college of Environmental design, you will probably get in with a 3.6 GPA, moderate test scores and a few activities.

I actually do care greatly about the environment, and I wrote an essay that reflected my interest and concern. I got into the hardest major available at Berkeley because I wrote about the environment.

Here are my statistics:

Major I applied to: Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

HS GPA: ~ 4.4

SAT’s: 1990

SAT subject Bio: 700

SAT subject US History: 670

Activities: many related to the environment (coastal cleanup, creek cleanup, recycling programs, environmental club, water testing, etc.)

This is the key to Berkeley that no one has seemed to figure out. Berkeley administration is trying to create a wave of environmentalists, so they will take an environmentalist with okay grades over a non-environmentalist with excellent grades.

I suggest being honest in your application, but if you do have any remote interest in environmentalism, write about it in your application! If you plan to study the environment in the college of Natural Resources, or the College of Environmental Design, even better!

Good luck!

I took a lot of AP classes in high school during my junior and senior years. Participated in extra curricular activities. Participated in volunteering in community services (shows that you are well-rounded and can retain high GPA) Retained high GPA and studied very hard for SATs. You should also get recommendations from your AP classes teachers, counselors that knew you well. Reserch on how you can write a hella impressive letter of intent. Good luck! 😀