Chances for a hardworking unique student at UCLA and UC BERKELEY!?

- Mom had schizophrenia which caused obviously distressing behavior at home. Kept me out of elementary school at times because of delusions, afraid "they" would kill me. I centered my personal statement on this and how I overcame the obstacle.

- Low income family, father immigrant and first generation college student. I am a major wage earner for my family. Family income less than 20k/year. Father's business went bankrupt and I had to work over 20 hours per week to help support my family. Go to school and live in a very affluent community though.

- Missed 1 month of school during freshman year due to a case of acute bronchitis. Grades dropped to a C/B average that year and I had a hard time catching up my freshman year. I could not take honors/AP classes sophomore year because of this.

- LARGE upward trend per year in grades.
GPAs 9th-2.44 10-3.5 11-3.9 unweighted 4.44 weighted
UC GPA overall weighted- 4.0.

- SAT I- 1880 (660CR, 540M, 680W)
SAT II- 800 US History, 560 Biology-E
11th grade- 3 AP courses - All A's (One 5, Two 3s)
Taking 4 AP courses and an Honors Class my senior year.
1 undergraduate course taken at UCLA- A.

- ECs
- Founder and President of a national youth political organization. It is a 527 org that is registered with the IRS and federal gov鈥檛.
- Founder, Chairman of the Board of Directors of a non-profit organization that is registered with the gov鈥檛. Have sent computers worldwide to school districts from donations that we鈥檝e received.
-Model United Nations
-Legal Aid Office volunteer, Law Firm intern
-Worked over 20 hours per week for 2.5 years helping poor immigrants
-AP Scholar, Honor Roll, few other awards.

- Major- Political Science or International Relations.

I am a California student and go to a HS that regularly sends 25-30 students to each school every year.

Since you have already applied there is no point stressing over the application now; it is in the hands of the admission officers and there isn't much you can do. So relax, take a deep breath and calm down ... seriously, breathe!

There are plenty you can do AFTER you hear the colleges' decisions. You can laugh about how ridiculous it was for you to stress over this because you got accepted at all the schools you wanted to attend. But if you don't get into the schools you want you can: 1) appeal the decision; 2) take a gap year to do something worthwhile (that will enrich your application essay) and reapply next year; 3) attend a community college and apply in two years as a transfer; or 4) attend one of your backup schools.

Until then, keep breathing ... stress isn't going to do you any good now. You can contact me if you need help with the appeal process or gap year options.

Looks good to me!

First of all, and most importantly, are you from ca? Berkeley accepts a lot of ca residents that excel in high grades so if you're from ca, i'd say, just wait for your admissions letter.

looks good...either shcool would be lucky to have you.
very few people get into both schools, though (they won't tell you directly, but the UC's do talk with one another, and they rarely let anyone into both of the top 2)...
but anyways, good luck, and if you do get into both, choose CAL!
you won't be sorry.

I think you have a pretty decent chance at both. And it is not true that it is difficult to get into both schools. i know plenty of people who have. If you get in Berkeley is probably the better choice due to its superior quality. However, do UCLA if you are interested in film studies or journalism.