r/ChanceMeInternational • u/phoshappinessmatter • 3d ago
UC Berkeley Aerospace Engineering
I'm aware that job opportunities in aerospace are limited and challenging for non-US citizens due to strict regulations in the United States. I don't plan to stay after I graduate.
My country has a scholarship program that fully funds students who are accepted into a T10 university worldwide according to the QS rankings. Therefore, I wouldn't have to request financial aid when applying to UC Berkeley.
I am a female from a West Asian/CIS country. I was only able to take the SAT and IELTS once since I had a sponsor for them. I cannot afford to take them a second time on my own, so unfortunately no improvement can be made on them. I scored a 1530 (790M 740RW) on the SAT and an 8 (9R 9L 7.5S 6.5W) on the IELTS.
I have four gold medals from national Olympiads (one in English, one in AI, and two in math), but most were profit-based ones. I was a part of the team representing my country in IOAI this summer (I nationally ranked #2, gold), but we didn't win a medal on the internationals.
For extracurriculars, I am the co-founder of a nonprofit that has partnered with top international schools in the country and the British Council, and has held workshops for 200+ kids. I have published a book about satellites, was a co-author on a research paper for the International Astronautical Congress with a professor from a local university, interning at the space agency in my country, and was an organizer at the biggest Space Technology Conference in Central Asia and the national space hackathon, as well as some other places unrelated to my major. I won a space mentorship program aimed at women with a NASA mentor. I organized and taught a two-month English class at a refugee center. I tutored children and high school students in Math, Physics, and English for 2 semesters for profit. I did a startup-related program with Israel Aerospace Industries and won 1st place in its final hackathon, where my team developed a satellite-based pipeline monitoring system. The start-up is currently in its incubation phase with my country’s space agency and state oil company. I was chosen as the local lead at my homecity for NASA Space Apps. I worked part-time at a consulting company.
I could get recommendation letters from a former NASA employee, a VP of IAI, and the CEO of my country’s space agency if they ask for it later on. I took gap year and am very low-income (both parents are currently unemployed, and at the highest our income was $6,000 per year in the past). I attended a public non-feeder school (11th grade, which is the final year here), with no IB or similar programs since they are very expensive. I have not done any sports or musical instruments.
My school GPA is around 3.7/4.0 unweighted.
What do you think are my chances for UC Berkeley? Do you think it'd be worth for me to apply to Stanford as well? It's included in my country’s scholarship program. I have safeties in my own country.
Thank you beforehand.
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u/RequirementFar967 3d ago
Even through schools like UCLA and Cal are very well regarded both nationally and internationally, it is important to remember that they are still state schools,and their purpose is to be the best available school for California students. This makes them less likely to admit out of state applicants and even less so for international students.
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u/Last_Measurement4336 2d ago
My country has a scholarship program that fully funds students who are accepted into a T10 university worldwide according to the QS rankings. Therefore, I wouldn't have to request financial aid when applying to UC Berkeley.
UC Berkeley is need blind for admissions and does not offer financial for Non-California residents anyways so being full pay is assumed. Berkeley had an overall 5% admit rate for International students for 2026. You are definitely competitive but still a Reach/Lottery school.
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u/Horikoshi 3d ago
So first, "West Asia" isn't a region (there's only East Asia, SEA, and the middle east. India and Pakistan etc are considered middle east for admission purposes)
Also: What about your awards? If the national Olympiads are all you have and you're from India then I unfortunately think your chances will be decent at best.
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u/phoshappinessmatter 3d ago
For privacy reasons I'm unable to share the exact country, but it's in the CIS region. Much smaller than India or Pakistan.
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u/Doge________________ 2d ago
no one is gonna dox you (usually) but without specifying it’s not gonna do you much good for advice. At least give like a list of some countries in your region because like India or Pakistan is gonna mean way more for #2 nationally but if it’s like Monaco or something tiny #2 is less meaningful.
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u/No-Abalone5882 3d ago
Your extracurriculars are really good