merc4hire

OK guys, I need some input of whether or not you think I'll be accepted into UCI or not...
I've applied to UCI, UCB, UCLA, UCM, UCSD, UCR, and UCD, but UCI is my first choice. After crunching the numbers, I'm pretty sure that I'm going to get in, but I'd like to hear it from some other familiar with the UC system.
I'm currently and in-state senior who's looking to get into Political Science (which doesn't look like a too competetive major).

UC GPA (10th-11th, the one that UC looks at): 3.93
AP Classes taken or in progress: 5 (two for 11th, three for 12th)
note- I did take 2 Honors courses in 10th, and two in 9th, but they're not "UC approved Honors courses", whatever that means. I'm not sure if they count.)

Test Scores:
SATI:
Math-590
CR-660
Writing:500

SATII:
Math: 570
US History: 710
Lit: 640

ACT: (Better UC score than the SATI, they take the higher)
Composite Score-26

AP Tests:
US History: 4
English Language: 3

Notable Extra Curricular/Awards:
VP and Pres of Science club 3 years
2 years, 500 hours of Martial Arts
VP of Senior Class
Boy's State
Two years Student Government
One year Student Ambassadors
1st Place JPL invention challenge
Green Belt (Martial Arts)
League of Cities Student delegate

Volunteer Service Hours: +100 (Kind of scattered over many things)

College Applications essays: In my opinion pretty good, but I have one grammatical error despite the numerous checks. -_-
Wrote about martial arts, and Boy's State.

Things that might count against me:
-Have only taken two years foreign language. the second year is being taken now, in 12th. (UC requires 2, reccommends 3)
-A majority of my volunteer service is mostly in 12th, including half of my martial arts hours. (don't know if that's necessarily a bad thing)
-A-G Courses (by semester) taken over High School career only equals about 38, slightly short of the average admitted student to UCI (by the stats, it doesn't look like too big a factor in admission)
- One. Grammatical. Error. On an otherwise flawless application. -_-
(Also, I didn't have any special conditions for the 3rd prompt)

I'm interested to have some input on what UC's I can expect to get into, specifically Irvine. Any thoughts? Thanks for your time. =D

merc4hire

Oh, almost forgot. I'm Filipino, and my parents make 150,000 a year. I hope them being rich doesn't affect me too much.

collegemom16

You are fine (a match) for UCI.
UCB and UCLA are a reach.
UCSD and UCD are a slight reach.
UCR and UCM are safe matches.

merc4hire

Interesting that you would say that UCD is a slight reach along with UCSD...

Though UCD is technically ranked "higher" than UCI, the stats for the average student are actually lower. 3.91 for UCI and 3.73 for UCD. I think it goes the same for test scores. The stats are lower though it's ranked higher. I never understood that.

Peppers

^That probably has something to do with Irvine being a more popular safety school. For a while, USNews put it as #42 and Davis/SB at 48. As a result, a lot of people, particularly in SoCal, tend to put it down as a safety when they try to get into UCSD/UCLA/UCB. This is also most likely evident in the fact that Irvine's admit rate was ~70% even last year. Obviously UCI can't deny admissions to an applicant with a 4.3 and a 2300, and obviously chances are they won't be taking up that admissions offer either. In addition, their admission goes into the average "stats" you see on the official UC website. A more accurate gauge would be the incoming freshman profile of students going to UCI vs. UCD. The admissions rates of the second tier UCs are mostly the same, but since last year UCD cut its admissions to the upper 50%s, I'd be cautious about saying that they're exactly equal.

merc4hire

Ah, that makes sense. I'll have to check out my UC stat book.

UCD cut its admissions in half? I didn't know that.

Peppers

No it cut them to ~58% (Originally it was upper 60s I think). Apparently the c/o 2010 was overcrowded since they didn't anticipate as many freshman.

sports61kh

will that percentage continue to go down, or is it just a one-yr thing?
also, i think i may have asked before, but i've heard some rumors that UCs will stop counting SATIIs? if true, this wouldn't start anytime soon right, it would have to be a couple more yrs down the road?

Peppers

Just rumors, although the new format for the application was pretty surprising.
I would assume that for Davis, it probably will stabilize around there, if not rebound back eventually.

jas0n

I disagree with you being a "slight reach" for UC Davis.

Given that you've demonstrated some leadership and have taken 3 more semester of classes over 35, you received enough points after crunching numbers. Seeing that you are applying for political science, you should reach the cutoff to get into the school of letters and science.

You should be a match for UCD. If somehow the cutoff drastically changes for the school of L&S (which I HIGHLY doubt), you'll be inching into the "slight reach" zone.

Peppers

^I would be willing to say that UCD could be a high match, but that his stats aren't necessarily strong enough to lump the second tiers together as "match". Granted he is probably going to get into them all, but just by crunching the numbers and considering that we don't exactly know whether Davis is going to continue cutting its numbers or not, it would be somewhat uncertain as to whether the standards are going to be the same for this year for both schools.

merc4hire

Hm...

Interesting. I didn't know this. Do you know if UCI is cutting its numbers As well? When I visited there last time, I think they were building more dorms, which means that they're preparing for a larger student population.

sports61kh

peppers, what do u mean about the SATII's and the new app stuff?

does anyone know where to find cutoff pts for UCD/UCI? and a comprehensive review for UCI?

merc4hire

Well, there are no strict "cutoff points" for any UC system, rather it's a combination of factors, your test scores, your GPA, your EC's. All of those work together for a strong admission. If one area is lacking, another can make up for it.

If you want a comprehensive review for UCI, then I suggest either buying the "College *******" redition of UCI, or looking at this book previw with selected pages.
Uc Irvine College ******* Off The Record - Google Book Search

Do you have any questions in particular?

sports61kh

if no cutoff pt, then do all the UCs compare u against others applying for the same major or college (w/in the school)?

can u point me to where the calculations table is for the comp review? i can't seem to find it