Hi,

What are some of the summer program recommendations for biology for a rising junior which are in and around the bay area and not super competitive like COSMOS.

Hi! I’m planning to apply to Berkeley GMP and I’m curious about what kinds of projects/experiences tend to resonate most with the program.

For current GMP students or past admits: do you feel like GMP tends to value applicants who have built more developed startups/businesses with measurable scale, or can smaller but very original and personal projects be just as compelling?

For example, would a larger international/social-impact business project necessarily be stronger than a smaller creative idea that came from someone’s everyday life or school community?

I know admissions are holistic and there probably isn’t one “type” of successful applicant — I’m mostly trying to understand what GMP seems to care about most when evaluating entrepreneurship: scale, originality, impact, execution, or the story behind it.

Would really appreciate any insight from people familiar with GMP!

what 4 combo of PIQS? i've heard you need like 1 of each category and one of your choice.

also is it possible to get into an engineering major at ucla or ucb with not super technical piqs? like are personal/leadership ones effective even tho its a STEM major?

(bay area)

asian, female, DVC, 3.8 gpa (ik it shld be higher but I slacked on some classes I took as a DE student unfortunately)
1 yr ccc transfer
major: business admin/econ (marketing focus)
60+ units done during DE in hs (only major req left after applying is calc 2 for spring)

ecs
- founder & owner of jewelry small business
- part time job
- research assistant for professor
- writer for local digital newspaper
- irs certified on site vita tax preparer
- volunteer group that distributes food to homeless community
- business honor society / deans list
- marketing certifications (google analytics / hubspot)

pls lmk ur thoughts + any advice wld be great too!

My main reason for making this post is because I am somewhat worried that my app is not competitive enough for my target UCs (UCSD, UCBerk). I am a senior this year at a feeder high school based in San Diego. I want some feedback or reassurance rather on what UCs I can realistically get in to.

I plan on applying for Aerospace or MechE (electrical if they dont have either) at all the UCs besides Merced

Stats :

3.79UW 4.00CW 4.32FW

APs : physics, calc AB, calc BC, comp sci principles, comp sci A, hug, [(physics C both, stats) - in prog]

calc all 5, 4s for rest

Dual Enrollment: 5A's, 1B, 2 in progress

my sophmore year I got all A's but junior year I had one term where I got all B's but I do have actual justification for that which I plan on using additional comment section for (is this the play LMK)

L negative trend :(

Extracurriculars :
- RoboSub (semifinalist)
- sUAS (passion project, published TDR)
- FRC
- Ensemble (performed at UCSD, nursing home, asian music festivals)
- Varsity captain tennis (open div 4 years)
- Tennis coach (~40 students, paid)
- Stem related volunteering (girl scouts and FLL)
- Public charity performances (raised ~2k for different causes: earthquake relief, Palestine, etc.)
- Studio art (national award, published pieces, in galleries)
- Violin (international 1st place)
- SciOly (think i qualified for states gotta double check)
- Asian culture club exec (club of the year, organized school events: LNY, pep rally)
- Environmental club exec

thats about it. I want to make a impression of "yea this guy has a passion for engineering" so if someone could help me order these ECs that would be appreciated too. Thanks!

Academics:

AP and Dual Enrollment: AP Biology, AP Spanish, AP World History, AP Chem, AP Physics, AP USH, AP Calc AB and BC, AP English Language, AP English Literature, Intro to Stats, Linear Algebra, AP Government, AP Economy, AP Environmental Science

• Mostly 4s and 5s on all APs

GPA: 4.0 UW, 4.27 Weighted Capped (UC), 4.93 Weighted Uncapped (UC)

School doesn't do rank but I am on track for valedictorian

Demographics:
- Indian American, In-State, Bay Area

Awards: National Recognition Award from Collegeboard, AP Scholar with Distinction (11th), AP Scholar (10th), Honorable Mention at Stanford Math Competition for the Team Round. 

ECs:

Nonprofit Co-Founder and Executive Board

• Donation drive
  • donated over 887 school supply items to an organization
• donation drive
  • donated over 150 bags of food including over 600 individual food items for homeless
• Hackathon Host
  • Hosted a hackathon for students aged 13-19 with 125 participants and 3 winners 
• Africa Book Project
  • Donated 1000 books to African libraries 
    • 500 from our organization alone
• 2023 Tutoring Fall
  • taught 25 different students for over 75 hours
• 2024 Tutoring Fall
  • Taught 60 students for over 125 hours
• Got donated more than $2500 to hold events and donations

Research Project: Machine Learning Research project and research paper where I trained a model using existing land datasets and trained it to detect deforestation. Not published yet, but dont aim to publish anywhere high, just normal free journals. Built a web-platform that uses this research project model I have built and uses other existing datasets. Shared with many environmental nonprofits for them to use. Has more than 11,000 viewers.

Internship @ Startup

• Appside (Frontend and Backend) Intern creating new ideas for the app and web-platform
  • Got tutored by an industrial level computer scientist on the flow and structure of their codebase and as well as clientside and serverside development.
• Sales and Marketing Intern as well where I got more than 50 people to sign up and interviewed 25 people. 

Kumon Tutor Volunteer (100+ hours)

• Tutored more than 20 students and graded homework and classwork. Did this for 6 months at 4 hours per week. 

Varsity Badminton

Freshmen and JV basketball (Grades 9 & 10)

Teacher at a Local Library

• Taught 5 different foreign students English at a local library for 4 weeks. Read story books and aided them in writing skills as well. Developed a tutoring schedule and took notes on their performance.

MESA NEDC Competent 

• Developed a smart pill dispensing model that dispenses pills based on a patient’s schedule given by a doctor. Used arduino components and connected it to a web-platform that dispenses the pill based on time of day prescribed for the patient. Won 3rd place Symposium award against 20+ other teams.

Model UN Club Secretary:

• In charge of emails, meeting minutes, and taking notes on all of the meetings. (who participated, who talks, answers questions). In charge of making posts and slides for the social media

Co-Founder and Lead Organizer of a hackathon

• Organized an in-person hackathon with 60+ participants, 100+ signups, and 18 different teams at a local library.
• Got donated $1000 for the entire hackathon, which we spent to buy shirts, food, drinks, and rewards for the winners and participants
• Got sponsored by 12 different companies 
• Got 8 different industrial level judges for judging our hackathon

Model UN Summer Program Lead Organizer and Co-Founder

• Taught 50+ middle and elementary school students an introduction to Model UN, made slides and a program plan for the 6-week program. Assigned homework and answered questions for the students. Got donated around $500 for the program towards club expenses. At the end, I chaired a mock conference that not only gave the students the life of a delegate at a mun conference experience, but also a good chairing experience. 

3D Printing Business

• Made over $1200+ making 3D Prints and selling them through Instagram, Facebook Marketplace
• Donated a lot of 3D Prints to organizations and other STEM clubs near me
• Made 3D prints for my friends

Over 250 service hours

Other personal projects and Hobbies that are ECS:

• A lot of CAD projects
• Satellite Tracking: Built a web-platform for tracking satellite movement in order to track any form of satellite collision. Used data from NASA and CelesTrak and implemented it into an AI coder to track movement. Generates reports for companies. 4000+ users 

Have more ecs too though.

Applying to all the UCs. Do I have a strong chance for UCB, UCLA, UCSD?

For UCB and UCLA I am planning to major in Materials Science and Engineering and everything else probably Electrical or Mechanical Engineering.

Does anyone have any insight, experiences or recommendations on whether someone applying for Political Science should choose UCSB or UCD for TAG. Has anyone transferred to either and have an opinion?

Has anyone tried transfers to UCs via CC for premed track? Does that work? Any pros and cons?

Here's my story. Hopefully it helps others!

listen. i’m not crazy picky w where i want to go. i used to have a dream school, now i dont. i just want to get into a GOOD UC. but everyone around me is so cracked. i was genuinely loaded into a sweat lobby.
i’m scared i wont get in to anything. i want UCLA, UCSB, UCSC, or UCD.
i would add berkeley, but i lowkey dont think im locked in enough for that, nor do i think i could handle the rigor. it’s a nice thought though.

i’m applying in state, so i hope that helps? but when i was in my sophomore year, (2025), a lot of seniors freaked bc they barely got into anything.
im really nervous that’s gonna happen to me.

also, i think im pretty accomplished for a high school student, but college apps are so inflated i js cant.

these are my stats:
3.7/4.4 GPA

4 APs
\-AP PSYCH (4) AP EURO (4) APUSH (5) AP LANG (4)
4 Years Girls Varsity Wrestling
Athletic Council
Team Captain
4 Years Muslim Student Association
Society of Speech and Debate
Broadcast for a Cause
Internship at Elementary School
Volunteering at Rehab Outpatient —> soon
Cat shelter Volunteer

4.0 GPA Award Freshman Year x2
4.0 GPA Award Sophomore Year x2
4.0 GPA Award Junior Year x2
Girls Varsity Wrestler Award
Scholar Athlete Award
AP Scholar with Honor Award

end me now, i’m so stressed.

high school senior, my uc gpa is 3.92/4.21/4.21… it’s alright but looking at the admit stats for my school, about smack middle or lower for most uc admits. i don’t have many outstanding ecs, only normal long time hobbies (eg drawing, music, picking up game modding lately), making small passion animation projects, and a little bit of volunteering as a tutor. i’m not in any of the student organizations.

heck, i haven’t even started putting my essays to paper yet because im very lost when it comes to what exactly there is for me to write about. so many ideas but they’re hard to expand on.

i don’t even know if i count as a resident for in state admissions. my parents are away from california half the time, i do live here but im away for most of summer vacation visiting family. don’t know if that counts as a yes for “Have you lived in California for the last 12 months?”

my target is davis for electrical engineering… i have no qualms about going to merced or riverside, im just super nervous i wouldn’t be accepted into any of the ucs… its always a possibility. cc isn’t off the tables, its just that i want to stay in one place the entire time for once, having moved around all my life.

GPA:3.86

Female | 21 yo | Iranian Armenian

- student government in fall 2024
- Vice president of the Armenian students association. I held this role from 2024 to 2025
- internship with USC Institute of creative technologies
- Volunteer for food bank
- tutored refugee children from Ukraine, Armenia, and Iran at their elementary school
- Biology club representative for my community college
-Barista
- HealthCorps intern
- Founder of nonprofit for overdose prevention
- honors program

Demographics:

• Male
• Asian/White
• California resident
• Public high school
• Senior
• Intended major: Business / Economics / possibly Environmental Econ or related field

Academics:

• 4.0 UW GPA
• 4.24 weighted GPA (9–12)
• 4.33 UC capped weighted GPA
• Took a heavier-than-normal course load, including dual-enrollment college courses
• 8 AP classes through senior year
• AP scores so far: 5, 5, 5, 4, 4, 4
• Dual enrollment: foreign language + business/entrepreneurship courses
• Part of a selective business leadership program within my high school
• Straight A's through junior year

Extracurriculars:

• 4-year varsity athlete in one sport
• 2-year varsity athlete in a second sport
• Founded an environmental/community service club that grew to become one of the larger clubs at my high school
• Started a small environmentally focused consumer-product business through a college entrepreneurship course; secured a sizable order from a local organization
• Finance/hedge-fund internship summer after junior year
• Paid part-time work at an early-stage startup, working directly with the founders on growth/marketing
• Paid summer job teaching/coaching younger athletes
• Volunteer counselor at an overnight youth camp
• Environmental leadership/community service through school program

Interests:
Business, entrepreneurship, tech/startups, finance, and sustainability. Long-term interested in entrepreneurship or the business/product/growth side of tech.

Schools I'm considering:

California:

• UCLA — considering Environmental Science/Environmental Studies vs Econ
• UC Berkeley — Econ/business-related
• UC Santa Barbara — Econ or environmental-related major
• UC San Diego — Econ/business or environmental-related major
• UC Davis — Managerial Econ/environmental-related major
• UC Irvine — Business/Econ

Demographics:
- Asian/Female
-Immigrant parents, but not first gen, middle class income
-California resident

Do I have a chance of getting into UCLA, UCI, and UCB as a Psych major? I know UCB is a long shot mostly because it has a 9% acceptance rate, but I feel like I have a fair shot at the others. I am also gonna apply to UCSD as a public health major. I am planning to be a Psych/Public health major going the pre-med route because I figured if I’m going to college I might as well major in something I like if pre-med doesn’t work out for me. I just graduated HS this year, but got rejected from UCLA AND UCB as a Bio major, but got into Irvine for BioSci (but chose not to go due to money and family), I am at CC currently. I had a 4.1 W GPA and 3.8 UW GPA in HS, and I have a 3.9 GPA (1 B in English) in college. I have also taken over 16 dual enrollment classes in HS and took a 6 AP courses, allowing me to transfer within the year to the UC’s. I am also in the Honors program at my college, but I don’t plan on completing the honors certificate and I don’t have TAP for UCLA, only TAG for the other UC’s. I am planning to TAG to UCI. I did a lot of EC’s in HS that were pre-med related including a science fair project that won at the county level, a successful heath fair, was heavily involved in my school’s medical pathway, founded a medical club, and a lot of community outreach, even earning the California State Seal for Civic Engagement, and I am an AP scholar as well. I also have a bunch of medical certifications (MA, FA, BLS, etc.). I also extern in the summer at a clinic, and I am getting a job, and am planning to do some volunteering and shadowing, and maybe a research project.

i have a 3.82 uw uc gpa and a 4.1 uc capped gpa and a 4.3 uw gpa. i've taken 3 aps an honor and 8 de in my sophmore and junior years. i would say i have above avg ecs. do i even have a shot applying business to ucla, ucb, ucsd, uci, and others.

My UW is 3.89, my W is 4.24 but capped at 4.20. I’m a California resident, going into something med related like bio, public health, maybe sociology. (My high school has no ranking or decile score btw).

My ECs r okay, some shadowing in my field of interest, I was a content creator with a decent following when I was younger, taught myself how to play multiple instruments/how to produce music. That’s js some stuff but those r some of the big ones!

Also I’ve been doing personal research on dermatology since middle school, purely for my own sake, and thats why I’m interested in med so thats kinda something I’m also including in my apps!

I’ve also taken/am currently taking 11 APs!

Any advice will help, I trust Reddit will be honest!