u/mysticstormsupahead

Demographics: south asian female, CA, large competitive public school, middle class

Hooks: none

Intended Major: data science (statistics as my alternate / second choice)

GPA and Rank:
- freshman to junior yr: 3.81 uw / 4.22 w

- uc gpa (soph to junior yr): 3.84 uw / 4.16 w capped / 4.42 w uncapped

- ELC (top 9%)

Coursework (senior yr is italicized): 7 APs (calc bc, psych, stats, macro, micro, lit, cs), 4 honors (english 2h + 3h, chem h, precalc h), 5-6 college classes (python programming, linalg, intro to ai, programming in c, diffeq, multivar)

Awards

1. data sci competition semifinalist + team leader (top 4% of 700+ teams intl)
2. front page local newspaper (300K daily circulation) cover + interview (a few quotes) on political outreach work
3. state award for civic engagement
4. commended scholar
5. ap scholar

ECs:

1. data sci club president - organized workshops, organzied and raised money for data competition involving hundreds of students across the bay area.
2. semifinalist + team leader in the comp i mentioned above - it was abt hockey analytics which i already was rly passionate abt. i created and taught my team members to create power rankings, calculated matchup probabilities, visualized line disparity, and created a slidedeck explaining our process for a panel of experts.
3. data consultant for local campaign - analyzed voter files, predicted turnout, optimized canvassing. it was so much work and the data was super messy and we had pretty much no budget but it was a rly great experience imo i grew my skillset a lot. i also had to find a lot of (ethically dubious) workarounds.
4. ai researcher @ berkeley. this is very new, so i'm trying to make sure it's not just larp and actually contribute to the project.
5. officer of other stem club - more of the same, organized workshop for 150 elementary aged children, led meetings.
6. literary journal reader - this is pretty random, but i was a poetry reader for a prestigious journal and read and reviewed poems over a six month period.
7. independent math tutor from home - basically js taught a kid who was struggling with math and helped him pass his iready test
8. part time tutoring job - nothing crazy here except my boss.
9. tutoring volunteering - got like 30 hrs, pretty typical.
10. misc projects - nhl prediction model, write ups analyzing civic engagement and political knowledge rates, app with a mental health angle.
11. yoga - taking a yoga class 5 days a wk, 1 hr a day, for 5 yrs

i'd love to get an idea of my chances!

Demographics: south asian female, CA, large semi-competitive public school, middle-middle class

Hooks: none

Intended Major: data science (statistics as my alternate / second choice)

GPA and Rank:
- freshman to junior yr: 3.81 uw / 4.22 w

- uc gpa (soph to junior yr): 3.84 uw / 4.16 w capped / 4.44 w uncapped

- likely ELC (top 9%)

- notes: my school caps the # of weighted classes u can take at 4 a year in soph and junior yr, and 1 during freshman yr. in my first semester of calc bc sophomore year yr i got a C, and second semester i got a B. i got a 5 on the ap exam - how much do UCs care about the exam? junior year, i got all As, so upward trend.

Coursework (senior yr is italicized): 7 APs (calc bc, psych, stats, macro, micro, lit, cs), 4 honors (english 2h + 3h, chem h, precalc h), 5-6 college classes (python programming, linalg, intro to ai, programming in c, diffeq, multivar)

Awards

1. data sci competition semifinalist + team leader (top 4% of 700+ teams intl)
2. front page local newspaper (300K daily circulation) cover + interview (a few quotes) on political outreach work
3. commended scholar
4. ap scholar

ECs:

1. data sci club president - organized workshops, organzied and raised money (1.5k) for data competition involving 50 students across the bay area.
2. semifinalist + team leader in the comp i mentioned above - it was abt hockey analytics which i already was rly passionate abt, so it was sooo much fun. i created and taught my team members to create power rankings, calculated matchup probabilities, visualized line disparity, and created a slidedeck explaining our process for a panel of experts.
3. data consultant for local campaign - analyzed voter files, predicted turnout, optimized canvassing. it was so much work and the data was super messy and we had pretty much no budget but it was a rly great experience imo i grew my skillset a lot. i also had to find a lot of (ethically dubious) workarounds.
4. ai researcher @ berkeley. this is very new, so i'm trying to make sure it's not just larp. hopefully i can contribute something to the project.
5. wolfram student ambassador. again, very new, and lwk idk what it's all about.
6. officer of other stem club - more of the same, organized workshop for 150 elementary aged children, led meetings.
7. literary journal reader - this is pretty random, but i was a poetry reader for a prestigious journal and read and reviewed 250 - 300 poems over a six month period.
8. independent math olympiad tutor from home - basically js taught two kids strats to solve math olympiad problems and made a bag 🤑🤑🤑
9. part time tutoring job - nothing crazy here except my boss.
10. tutoring volunteering - got like 30 hrs, pretty typical.
11. misc projects - nhl prediction model, write ups analyzing civic engagement and political knowledge rates, app with a mental health angle.
12. yoga - taking a yoga class 5 days a wk 1 hr a day for 5 yrs

PIQs: likely writing about my love for hockey analytics to emphasize intellectual curiosity, stereotypical western perception of yoga vs my experience, data science club to exemplify my leadership and connection with community, and my work in politics to show my entrepreneurial spirit.

i know my gpa is on the lower end for ucsd data science, but it's my dream school. could someone give a rough estimate of my odds, in addition to the other ucs?

Demographics: south asian female, CA, large semi-competitive public school, middle-middle class

Hooks: none

Intended Major: data science (statistics as my alternate / second choice)

GPA and Rank:
- freshman to junior yr: 3.81 uw / 4.22 w

- uc gpa (soph to junior yr): 3.84 uw / 4.16 w capped / 4.44 w uncapped

- school doesn't rank, but i am probably ELC (top 9%)

- notes: my school caps the # of weighted classes u can take at 4 a year in soph and junior yr, and 1 during freshman yr, so i guess thats something to keep in mind. another thing is that in my first semester of calc bc sophomore year yr i got a C, and second semester i got a B. i'd say that's the biggest red flag in my app. i was going through some mental health stuff and i was planning to allude to that in a piq. also i got a 5 on the ap exam, so idk how bad the grade looks with all that additional context? someone lmk

Coursework (senior yr is italicized**):**  7 APs (calc bc, psych, stats, macro, micro, lit, cs), 4 honors (english 2h + 3h, chem h, precalc h), 5-6 college classes (python programming, linalg, intro to ai, programming in c, diffeq, multivar)

Awards

1. data sci competition semifinalist + team leader (top 4% of 700+ teams intl)
2. front page local newspaper (300K daily circulation) cover + interview (a few quotes) on political outreach work
3. commended scholar
4. ap scholar

ECs:

1. data sci club president - organized workshops, organzied and raised money for data competition involving students across the bay area.
2. semifinalist + team leader in the comp i mentioned above - it was abt hockey analytics which i already was rly passionate abt, so it was sooo much fun. i created and taught my team members to create power rankings, calculated matchup probabilities, visualized line disparity, and created a slidedeck explaining our process for a panel of experts.
3. data consultant for local campaign - analyzed voter files, predicted turnout, optimized canvassing. it was so much work and the data was super messy and we had pretty much no budget but it was a rly great experience imo i grew my skillset a lot. i also had to find a lot of (ethically dubious) workarounds
4. officer of other stem club - more of the same, organized workshop for 150 elementary aged children, led meetings.
5. literary journal reader - this is pretty random, but i was a poetry reader for a prestigious journal and read and reviewed 250 - 300 poems over a six month period.
6. independent math olympiad tutor from home - basically js taught two kids strats to solve math olympiad problems and made a bag 🤑🤑🤑
7. part time tutoring job - nothing crazy here except my boss.
8. tutoring volunteering - got like 30 hrs, pretty typical.
9. misc projects - nhl prediction model, write ups analyzing civic engagement and political knowledge rates, app with a mental health angle.
10. yoga - took a class 5 days a wk, 1 hr a day for 4 yrs

PIQs: likely writing about my love for hockey analytics to emphasize intellectual curiosity, stereotypical western perception of yoga vs my experience, data science club to exemplify my leadership and connection with community, and my work in politics to show my entrepreneurial spirit.

Demographics: south asian female, CA, large semi-competitive public school, middle-middle class

Hooks: none

Intended Major: data science (statistics as my alternate / second choice)

SAT: 1520 (770 math / 750 english)

GPA and Rank:
- freshman to junior yr: 3.81 uw / 4.22 w

- uc gpa (soph to junior yr): 3.84 uw / 4.16 w capped / 4.44 w uncapped

- notes: my school caps the # of weighted classes u can take at 4 a year in soph and junior yr, and 1 during freshman yr, so i guess thats something to keep in mind. another thing is that in my first semester of calc bc sophomore year yr i got a C, and second semester i got a B. i'd say that's the biggest red flag in my app. i was going through some mental health stuff and i was planning to allude to that in a piq. also i got a 5 on the ap exam, so idk how bad the grade looks with all that additional context? someone lmk

Coursework (senior yr is italicized**):**  7 APs (calc bc, psych, stats, macro, micro, lit, cs), 4 honors (english 2h + 3h, chem h, precalc h), 5-6 college classes (python programming, linalg, intro to ai, programming in c, diffeq, multivar)

Applying to:

1. all ucs: merced, riverside, santa cruz, davis, santa barbarba, irvine, san diego, la, berk (we go way back)
2. some csus: cal poly slo, long beach, pomona, sjsu
3. california privates: santa clara university, usc, stanford
4. u maryland
5. northeastern
6. umich
7. ut austin
8. duke
9. rice
10. georgia tech
11. virginia tech
12. purdue
13. uiuc
14. upenn
15. uw madison
16. nyu
17. unc chapel hill
18. uw seattle

Awards

1. huge data sci competition semifinalist + team leader (top 4% of 700+ teams intl)
2. front page local newspaper (300K daily circulation) cover + interview (a few quotes) on political outreach work
3. commended scholar
4. ap scholar

ECS:

1. data sci club president - organized workshops, organzied and raised money for data competition involving students across the bay area.
2. semifinalist + team leader in the comp i mentioned above - it was abt hockey analytics which i already was rly passionate abt, so it was sooo much fun. i created and taught my team members to create power rankings, calculated matchup probabilities, visualized line disparity, and created a slidedeck explaining our process for a panel of experts.
3. data consultant for local campaign - analyzed voter files, predicted turnout, optimized canvassing. it was so much work and the data was super messy and we had pretty much no budget but it was a rly great experience imo i grew my skillset a lot. i also had to find a lot of (ethically dubious) workarounds
4. officer of other stem club - more of the same, organized workshop for 150 elementary aged children, led meetings.
5. literary journal reader - this is pretty random, but i was a poetry reader for a prestigious journal and read and reviewed 250 - 300 poems over a six month period.
6. independent math olympiad tutor from home - basically js taught two kids strats to solve math olympiad problems and made a bag🤑🤑🤑
7. part time tutoring job - nothing crazy here except my boss.
8. tutoring volunteering - got like 30 hrs, pretty typical.
9. misc projects - nhl prediction model, write ups analyzing civic engagement and political knowledge rates, app with a mental health angle.

recs from my club advisor who was also my freshman math teacher (6/10), my english teacher from junior yr (8/10), counselor (prob a template), MAYBE a letter from the politician i consulted? (should i ask him? someone lmk. we werent close as much of the work was async but i stayed on top of stuff and was proactive)

i've come across a few posts of people stating the topic of their personal statement, a lot of which are really quirky, niche, random interests or ideas. if you're someone who wrote on something like that, how did u execute it? i'm not sure how much of the essay should be about u vs about the niche, specific thing. if you use that thing as a vehicle for depicting yourself, do you connect it to your major / future passions? or do you just leave it mostly at describing the thing you like?

i'm just sorta confused on how to go about this because i wrote my uc piqs, which were quite straightforward and formulaic in the sense that i'd be discussing an activity and directly stating how it grew x trait or changed me in y way, so the switch to writing more poetic and quirky common app essays is a little rough.

i'm stealing that other girl's strat

Demographics: south asian female, CA, large semi-competitive public school, middle-middle class

Hooks: woman in stem bro i guess

Intended Major: data science (public policy as my alternate / second choice)

SAT: 1520 (770 math / 750 english)

GPA and Rank:
- freshman to junior yr: 3.81 uw / 4.22 w

- uc gpa (soph to junior yr): 3.84 uw / 4.16 w capped / 4.44 w uncapped

- notes: my school caps the # of weighted classes u can take at 4 a year in soph and junior yr, and 1 during freshman yr, so i guess thats something to keep in mind. another thing is that in my first semester of calc bc sophomore year yr i got a C, and second semester i got a B. i'd say that's the biggest red flag in my app. i was going through some mental health stuff and i was planning to allude to that in a piq. also i got a 5 on the ap exam, so idk how bad the grade looks with all that additional context? someone lmk

Coursework (senior yr is italicized**):**  7 APs (calc bc, psych, stats, macro, micro, lit, cs), 4 honors (english 2h + 3h, chem h, precalc h), 5-6 college classes (python programming, linalg, intro to ai, programming in c, discrete math, multivar)

Applying to:

1. all ucs: merced, riverside, santa cruz, davis, santa barbarba, irvine, san diego, la, berk (we go way back)
2. some csus: cal poly slo, long beach, pomona, sjsu
3. california privates: santa clara university, usc, claremont mckenna
4. u maryland
5. umass amherst
6. rutgers
7. wpi
8. case western
9. georgia tech
10. virginia tech
11. purdue
12. uiuc
13. upenn
14. uw madison
15. nyu
16. georgetown
17. uw seattle

Awards

1. huge data sci competition semifinalist + team leader (top 4% of 700+ teams intl)
2. front page local newspaper (300K daily circulation) feature + interview (a few quotes) on political outreach work
3. commended scholar for psat (most likely)
4. ap scholar

ECS:

1. data sci club president - organized workshops, data competitions involving students across the bay area.
2. semifinalist + team leader in the comp i mentioned above - it was abt hockey analytics which i already was rly passionate abt, so it was sooo much fun. i created and taught my team members to create power rankings, calculated matchup probabilities, visualized line disparity, and created a slidedeck explaining our process for a panel of experts.
3. data consultant for local campaign - analyzed voter files, predicted turnout, optimized canvassing. it was so much work and the data was super messy and we had pretty much no budget but it was a rly great experience imo i grew my skillset a lot.
4. officer of other stem club - more of the same, organized workshop for 150 elementary aged children, led meetings.
5. literary journal reader - this is pretty random, but i was a poetry reader for a prestigious journal and read and reviewed 250 - 300 poems over a six month period.
6. independent math olympiad tutor from home - basically js taught two kids strats to solve math olympiad problems 🤑🤑🤑🤑🤑 this is where ur 50 dollars is coming from
7. part time tutoring job - nothing crazy here except my boss.
8. tutoring volunteering - got like 30 hrs, pretty typical.
9. misc projects - nhl prediction model, write ups analyzing civic engagement and political knowledge rates, app with a mental health angle.

recs from my club advisor who was also my freshman math teacher (6/10), my english teacher from junior yr (8/10), counselor (prob a template)

Demographics: south asian female, CA, large semi-competitive public school, middle-middle class

Hooks: woman in stem bro i guess

Intended Major: data science (public policy as my alternate / second choice)

SAT: 1520 (770 math / 750 english)

GPA and Rank:
- freshman to junior yr: 3.81 uw / 4.22 w

- uc gpa (soph to junior yr): 3.84 uw / 4.16 w capped / 4.44 w uncapped

- notes: my school caps the # of weighted classes u can take at 4 a year in soph and junior yr, and 1 during freshman yr, so i guess thats something to keep in mind. another thing is that in my first semester of calc bc sophomore year yr i got a C, and second semester i got a B. i'd say that's the biggest red flag in my app. i was going through some mental health stuff and i was planning to allude to that in a piq. also i got a 5 on the ap exam, so idk how bad the grade looks with all that additional context? someone lmk

Coursework (senior yr is italicized**):**  7 APs (calc bc, psych, stats, macro, micro, lit, cs), 4 honors (english 2h + 3h, chem h, precalc h), 5-6 college classes (python programming, linalg, intro to ai, programming in c, discrete math, multivar)

Applying to:

1. all ucs: merced, riverside, santa cruz, davis, santa barbarba, irvine, san diego, la, berk (we go way back)
2. some csus: cal poly slo, long beach, pomona, sjsu
3. california privates: santa clara university, usc, claremont mckenna
4. u maryland
5. umass amherst
6. rutgers
7. wpi
8. case western
9. georgia tech
10. virginia tech
11. purdue
12. uiuc
13. upenn
14. uw madison
15. nyu
16. georgetown
17. uw seattle

Awards

1. huge data sci competition semifinalist + team leader (top 4% of 700+ teams intl)
2. front page local newspaper (300K daily circulation) feature + interview (a few quotes) on political outreach work
3. commended scholar for psat (most likely)
4. ap scholar

ECS:

1. data sci club president - organized workshops, data competitions involving students across the bay area.
2. semifinalist + team leader in the comp i mentioned above - it was abt hockey analytics which i already was rly passionate abt, so it was sooo much fun. i created and taught my team members to create power rankings, calculated matchup probabilities, visualized line disparity, and created a slidedeck explaining our process for a panel of experts.
3. data consultant for local campaign - analyzed voter files, predicted turnout, optimized canvassing. it was so much work and the data was super messy and we had pretty much no budget but it was a rly great experience imo i grew my skillset a lot.
4. officer of other stem club - more of the same, organized workshop for 150 elementary aged children, led meetings.
5. literary journal reader - this is pretty random, but i was a poetry reader for a prestigious journal and read and reviewed 250 - 300 poems over a six month period.
6. independent math olympiad tutor from home - basically js taught two kids strats to solve math olympiad problems 🤑🤑🤑🤑🤑
7. part time tutoring job - nothing crazy here except my boss.
8. tutoring volunteering - got like 30 hrs, pretty typical.
9. misc projects - nhl prediction model, write ups analyzing civic engagement and political knowledge rates, app with a mental health angle.

recs from my club advisor who was also my freshman math teacher (6/10), my english teacher from junior yr (8/10), counselor (prob a template)

am i moving delusional bcs i'm feining for ucsd but ik my gpa too low for data science so my alternate major's some like polisci / data analytics major and i'm lwk praying they give me that shit

the title. i'm a rising senior and i'm tryna go into data science. can someone take a look at my current app and give me some insight into what i could do over the summer to aid my app?

stats

gpa: 3.81UW/4.22W

SAT: 1520: 770M / 750RW

ecs

1. president of my school's data science club

2. major data competition semifinalist + leader of my team

3. data consultancy for local politician

4. front page feature in a pretty large newspaper for political outreach work

5. science club officer

6. independent math olympiad tutor

7. worked at tutoring center for a year

8. volunteered as a tutor

that's pretty much it for ECs; i feel like i'm kinda lacking on this front and i'd definitely appreciate some insight here! i'm taking classes this summer but i still have a lot of time to kill. a few ideas i had were doing a data vis cert (to learn, not for prestige) and running a sports analytics page for my team (for fun, again - not for prestige).

if anyone has any ideas i'd love to hear in the comments or via pm!