California Resident 3.67 UC Capped W, 3.5 UW, 4.0 W Uncapped

Chance Me / Match Me
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Hi everyone! I’m a bit of a strange applicant who seems kind of all over the place. Please feel free to be brutally honest regarding what schools you think I could go to! (Hoping for Davis!!)

Demographics: Asian female

State/Location of residency: California Resident
Attending a competitive, notoriously difficult public High School
Planning to go pre-med!

Intended Major: Non-impacted, STS (Science, Technology, & Society) adjacent

3.67 Weighted UC GPA, 3.5 Unweighted, 4.0 UC Weighted Uncapped.

  • GPA including 12th grade around a 3.7 UW, 4.3-4.4 Weighted

SAT Scores: 1450, 1490

Notable HS coursework: AP World History, AP US History, AP Seminar, AP Psychology, AP Biology, Honors Chemistry.

Dual Enrollment CC Courses: Biological Anthropology, Introductory Chemistry, American Literature, Elementary Statistics, Political Science.

Courses planned to take in Senior Year: AP Research, AP Art History, AP Lang, AP Economics, Honors Anatomy & Physiology, Honors Korean IV.
-CC Courses planned for senior year: Introduction to Sociology, Medical Terminology, Calc I, Calc II, Elementary Physics, Environmental Science.

Awards: USABO Honorary Mention (Top 15%), BBO Bronze Medalist, AP Capstone, PVSA Silver, AP Scholar with Distinction

Extracurriculars:

  • Running a small business, earned over 1k.
  • Post meaningful art on social media (5k+followers), alongside playlists where I teach art.
  • Teach art both online and IRL.
  • Committee Lead in my schools Red Cross chapter (run events, help members of my committee)
  • Co-President of my schools Women in STEM club (aid with volunteering, host guest speakers)
  • Secretary of my schools Biology club (200+ members, made & run the website, present weekly to crowds of ~100 students)
  • Varsity Womens Tennis for 3 years
  • JV Womens Soccer for 2 years
  • JV Congressional Debate for 2 years
  • 100+ Hours volunteering for the Red Cross
  • SAT Tutor 50+ hours

Essays/LORs/Other: 7/10 estimated? Maybe a 8.5/10, my life is kinda depressing lol

Schools: Applying for all UCs, CWRU, USC, WashU, all ivies (no chance but you never know), CSULB, SDSU, SCU, USD, Cal Poly, Tulane, Purdue, USF, CSUN, SFSU, CSU East Bay, CSU Fullerton, Pomona.

If there are any additional colleges/ uni’s you think I’d thrive at, please let me know. I work hard but unfortunately I seem really dull in comparison to my school (cheating is EXTREMELY prevalent here)

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While I’m glad to see you have some targets and likelies in some of the CSUs and Merced and one or two other UCs, this kind of approach is a LOT of work. I count 16 supplemental essays required plus the UC PIQs. This is a big task and hard to see how you can do it really well, if you really want to tailor each essay to the college as you should. Rather than recommending additional colleges to apply to, I’d be trying to thin it down a little.

I didn’t see a budget. Would you need merit and/or need based aid at the out of states and privates?

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CSUN, CSUEB, and SFSU are non-impacted campuses where their few impacted majors do not appear to be in your interest area. So you should be admitted to them with a CSU-recalculated GPA (like UC weighted capped GPA) of 2.5 or higher.

CPP is impacted, and its prior year thresholds by major are shown at CPP Freshmen Student Profile: Multifactor Admission . STS had a threshold of 2950, which (based on the CPP index = GPA * 1000 + 450) was equivalent to a 2.5 CSU-recalculated GPA. Of course, thresholds can change each year.

CSULB, SDSU, and CPSLO are impacted, but do not have their prior year threshold listed on their web sites.

For UCs, Freshman admission by discipline | University of California can give you an idea of what campuses and majors are more or less likely. A 3.67 UC weighted-capped GPA is below the 25th percentile admit GPA range of all campuses except UCM (it is barely above the 25th percentile enroll GPA range of UCR). Most UCs will therefore be reaches.

Budget and financial aid situation?

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Honestly, I will be requesting financial aid due to a lot of stuff going on family. I can live at home to make costs easier. Worst comes to worst, I plan to go to a CSU and transfer aftr 1 year, as all of my gen-ed credits are completed. I know its hard to go CSU → UC, but CC is not an option for me.

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Have you and/or your parents used the net price calculator on the web site of each college of interest?

Given your list of colleges, not all of them will be within reasonable commute range.

CSUs are less well set up for preparing to transfer than community colleges. https://assist.org shows transfer credit mostly from community colleges.

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Not yet, my family is totally hands off with this stuff. I’ll have to beg them to fill fafsa etc but im not sure right now. I’m in the bay area, and my mom is willing to move near any UC or CSU, so I’ll be fine. For the transfer credits, they are all completed from DE and AP exams, so I should be fine there. Are UCSC, UCD, and UCI totally off limits? I was hoping for UCSC or UCD minimum for research opportunities.

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Can you run the NPC with someone on colleges such as St Olaf, Southwestern, or Whitman?
Or ask how much your mother plans to spend every month, out of pocket (no loans, just the amount she can set aside every month for your college)?
A college list should be guided by budget - no point in getting into a college you can’t afford.
Most scholarships come from the colleges themselves so your list needs to reflect whether you need need-based scholarships or merit aid. OOS public universities are unlikely to be affordable if you need a lot of need based aid, for instance - but some may offer enough to meet your budget (so if your parents can afford 45k and you get an automatic 15k scholarship, you can attend an OOS where the sticker price is 60k, but the 15k scholarship is of no help if your parents can afford 30k.)
Note that you yourself can “only” take 5.5k in loans freshman year.

Further caveat due to the housing situation in CA, although your mother is willing to move anywhere, some areas such as Santa Cruz might not be possible.

UCD is a reach and you increase your chances by applying as an STS major but a reach, by definition, means odds are, you won’t get in. It also doesn’t mean it’s unreachable. Just: low odds. UCD, in many other states, would be the state’s flagship.

I would include all three Cal Polys on your list (Humboldt is a safety for you and they’re really good at anything Biology/environment -related).

Don’t discount good LACs for research opportunities: Pitzer, Occidental, Scripps, LMU, would all offer research opportunities to undergraduates. They’re reaches but meet need so if you get in& your family make under 150k the scholarships should be very generous.

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You will only get financial aid if (based on information in your FAFSA / CSS), colleges determine you have financial need. It doesn’t matter what your family is willing or able to pay.

So it’s important that your parents run the NPCs and check if you qualify. Else, many of these schools may have to come off your list.

Purdue seems like the odd one out. Why Purdue? Can you afford to pay $50k a year? They won’t provide any financial aid, and merit scholarships are unlikely.

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Why is CC not an option? Not only can you guarantee transfer to certain UCs (including Davis) through that route, it is so much cheaper. If you’re planning on staying at home, the issue isn’t the residential experience. I’m trying to understand why what seems to be optimal for you in terms of cost and desired end college is “not an option”.

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Note that, if affordable, Chico and Sonoma State have a more residential experience and an honors program that would likely offer more support than typical at CSUs (+possibly some scholarships).

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This is admit rate data from the UCOP website based on the Capped weighted GPA and not major specific just as another data point.

Campus 4.00+ 3.70-3.99 3.30-3.69 3.00-3.29
Berkeley 17% 3% 1% 1%
Davis 64% 28% 9% 2%
Irvine 46% 17% 3% 0%
Los Angeles 14% 2% 1% 0%
Merced 97% 97% 96% 94%
Riverside 94% 89% 73% 32%
San Diego 43% 11% 1% 0%
Santa Barbara 57% 9% 2% 0%
Santa Cruz 92% 71% 37% 11%
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My family will not be okay with CC, and I personally don’t want to waste any time in undergrad somewhere where I can’t get good premed opportunities. I’m currently hoping for sdsu → UCD or UCSD

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Is gpa really the only factor? I thought my ec’s and courseload are a little above average.

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When, or if, you get to the point of applying to medical schools, your high school GPA will not matter. Classes that you took in high school will not matter unless you have taken some classes at a college while you were still in high school. I do see however that you have taken a number of college classes while in high school. These will be considered for medical school admissions.

I am skeptical regarding whether it is a good idea to take so many college classes while you are still in high school. You are likely to be a stronger student in two or three years than you are now. Also, university students typically take only 5 classes at once (sometimes 4), while high school students seem to take more than this. I am worried that you might be overloading yourself and pulling your GPA down, which might hurt when it comes to be time to apply to medical schools.

Once you get to university some of the premed classes are going to be tough. Grading in premed classes will in some cases be tough. Many of these classes will be tougher than your high school classes and you are going to want to maintain a medical school worthy GPA if you want to keep open the option of attending medical school. One daughter for example described organic chemistry as “the most difficult B- that I ever had in my life”. She was probably well served to have avoided taking this as a freshman in university, and instead to have waited until she was ready. Fortunately she had enough A’s in other classes to make up for her B’s in organic chemistry and to get into very good DVM programs (she graduated with her DVM just a few weeks ago).

Most students who start university thinking “premed” end up doing something else. Some forms of “something else” are medical-related, some are not. There are lots and lots of options, some of which might be hard to be aware of while you are still in high school. This is fine. There is lots of time to figure this out.

This uptrend in both grades and course rigor is likely to help you be better prepared for the tough premed classes.

You are planning to apply to a lot of universities. This means that there will be a lot of essays to write and applications to fill out. This will take away from the time and energy that you have to do well in the college classes that you are planning to take during your senior year of high school. I do not think that overloading yourself in this manner is the right way to maintain good grades in tough classes.

At least in my opinion UCLA, UCB, WUSTL, and the eight Ivy League universities represent 11 university applications that are very unlikely with a 3.5 unweighted GPA. I would think of these as largely a waste of time and effort.

I think that you need to pace yourself more. You are taking on more work than seems either necessary or desirable.

Why not go to a CSU and plan to stay there for a full 4 years?

The “prestige” of your undergraduate university is not a major factor in medical school admissions. As long as you do not intend to go into management consulting or investment banking it is not a major factor in much else either. There are a lot of very good universities in the US. If you look at the students in very good medical schools, or in other medical-related graduate programs, or in other very different graduate programs (such as mathematics, which is what I studied), they come from a huge range of undergraduate schools. One doctor I know said that other students in their program came from “all over the place”.

Doing very well in tough premed classes is however a major factor in medical school admissions. To do well in tough premed classes you want to pace yourself and take classes when you are ready.

And medical school is expensive. You will want to attend an affordable university for your bachelor’s degree. This again makes your in-state CSUs look like good choices. UC Merced and UC Riverside may also be good options if you can get accepted.

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No GPA is only one of 13 factors but it is very Important. The UC’s use a Comprehensive/Holistic application review so all parts of the application are considered but your GPA still needs to be in the general admission range for better chances. The CSU’s admit mainly on Stats with CSU capped weighted GPA being the most important factor.

Read this article on how UC’s evaluate Freshman applicants. I am not saying that UCSD, UCD or even SDSU are not possible but I am just listing statistical data to help you access your chances and what schools may be more realistic than others.

Schools do take your academic record into context based on your HS so this link can show you the average admitted UC capped weighted GPA for your HS and UC Campus.

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Choice of major may increase or decrease this slightly. PIQs will also play a role, as is your rank (ie., how you compare to others in your school) and your school’s record.
CSUs are basically GPA ×rigor.
ELC will guarantee a UC (Merced) and you have priority at your local CSU.

There is no CSU->UC “tag”.
CaCC-> UC transfers will have priority.

If you want research opportunities as a freshman, target universities where undergraduate research is a given (mostly Liberal Arts Colleges where faculty are on 3-3 or 3-2 appointments.) These schools’process may also be to your advantage.
Because they’re smaller and have solid resources, they are more personalized, they will have time to dig into the transcript to note rigor, ECs will matter, they will take into account your 12th grade grades … Which very large universities try to do but can’t to the same extent.
Scripps would be a reach, Whitman a target thanks to rigor and ECs. Run thr NPC though, to see if they’d be affordable.

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Since I have a daughter who just graduated with a DVM, one thing comes to mind specifically with regard to UC Davis. UC Davis is the #1 top ranked DVM program in the world. The DVM program there really is superb. This will pull in many very, very strong pre-vet students to the undergraduate program at UCD.

The required undergraduate pre-vet classes are the same as the required undergraduate premed classes. My daughter for example knew a lot of premed students who she originally met in her premed/pre-vet classes.

Given how strong UC Davis is for veterinary medicine, I would expect the premed classes at UCD to be full of a very large number of very strong pre-vet students. Competing with these students will not be easy, regardless of whether we are talking about competing with them for undergraduate admissions to UCD or competing with them for good grades in the required premed/pre-vet classes. You will not need to compete with them for medical shadowing opportunities because they will be looking for shadowing opportunities with horses and cows and dogs and cats and a wide range of other animals. If you attend UCD you would however need to compete with them for grades in the tough premed classes.

Again I am not convinced that attending UCD for a bachelor’s degree is the best way to maintain a medical-school-worthy undergraduate GPA.

There is one more thing that might be worth mentioning: Getting an MD, or a DO, or a DVM is a very long path. This is a marathon. The determination and dedication to stick with this is just as important as the ability to pull off A’s in tough premed classes. It sounds like you might have the level of determination and drive that is needed.

The trick her is to pace yourself and to keep your eye on the prize. The prize is NOT attending a famous university for your bachelor’s degree. Rather, assuming that you stick with the intention of becoming a doctor, the prize is completing your MD or DO and getting into a good residency. You can do this from UC Merced, UC Riverside, UC Santa Cruz, or one of the CSUs, but you need to pace yourself and keep the budget in mind.

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Some thoughts:
-If finances are an issue, hard to see why your family can’t see the value of a year of almost free college
-What “premed” opportunities are you talking about here? You were only planning on spending a year at a CSU according to an earlier post. Why do you think you could not get say volunteering opportunities etc near where you would be studying if you were in CC?
-You already know it’s far less likely to end up at a UC from a CSU than a CC (hoping doesn’t change that.) So will you be happier graduating from SDSU (or whichever CSU you end up at) than from UCD or another UC that you can TAG into?

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Welcome to CC! You’ve taken a rigorous courseload, have a strong SAT, and some interesting ECs (I particularly like how you teach art to different playlists). I think you’ve prepared yourself to do well at any college in the country.

You may want to have a conversation with your family to see if they feel comfortable sharing the info that is required for Net Price Calculators (perhaps starting with the one for Santa Clara or USD). Once you have the information, then you can complete the NPCs at any school you want and they won’t need to do anything (until it’s time to submit the FAFSA & CSS).

Is this moving the entire household or her setting up a second residence so you can stay with her? If the latter, it is highly unlikely to be financially advantageous, and if the former, many areas near the universities will have very high costs of living.

Others have already given good feedback about the California publics and the value of community college in California, so I won’t delve further into that topic.

Tulane is a school where demonstrated interest is really important. They want kids who are really excited about Tulane and feel that it’s a good fit for them. If you’re interested in an acceptance, you’ll need to convey that through your interactions and application materials.

If you’re interested in Pomona, have you thought about any of the other Claremont colleges (Scripps, Pitzer, Claremont McKenna)?

Does your school have Naviance or Scoir? Looking to see how students with similar stats from your school have done at places like USC and WashU may help to determine how big of a reach they will be.

Additionally, since you attend “a competitive, notoriously difficult” school, you definitely want to reach out to the guidance counselor. They may have additional context on any Scoir/Naviance data (like knowing whether a student was hooked by applying ED, a recruited athlete, a legacy, etc) as well as knowing where other students in your class are planning to apply.

You don’t share what your approximate class rank is, but you didn’t mention ELC, so I’ll assume you’re not in the top 9%. If the top 9% of your class is all applying to the same school, not only will most of them not get in (the schools with low admit rates don’t want too many people from the same school), but a school is even less likely to take a candidate who wasn’t in the top 9% when they already have 9% of your high school to choose from. But if you apply to a school that is not as popular with students at your school, then your odds improve because there’s less competiton from your school. Because not only are you competing against people from across the country, but you’re first competing against the people from your graduating class at your high school.

I don’t think you seem dull at all! Grades and “achievements” are not what makes someone interesting to me, and most people would be proud to have your grades and achievements anyway.

Can you let us know more about what it is you want from your college experience? I wasn’t able to get a great picture in my mind. Some questions that might help prod your thinking include:

  • What size school do you prefer?
  • What size classes do you prefer?
  • Are there regions you prefer (or prefer to avoid)?
  • How do you feel about Greek life (fraternities/sororities)?
  • How do you feel about significant enthusiasm for intercollegiate sports?
  • What kind of vibe are you looking for?
  • What kind of students are you hoping to find?
  • Are there any interests (besides research and pre-med) that you’re hoping to pursue in college?
  • Are there any other factors (like politics or religion) that will play a role in your decision-making?

Knowing more about your preferences (and a budget) will help posters to provide suggestions that are more likely to be a fit.

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Hello,
I seriously appreciate this response ! This was so helpful.
To clear some things up, regarding “I am skeptical regarding whether it is a good idea to take so many college classes while you are still in high school,” I’m not too worried because 90% of them are online, and very easy A’s. I am doing this because in case I do struggle in undergrad with my heavier premed courses, I have more buffer for my gpa.
“Also, university students typically take only 5 classes at once (sometimes 4)”: A major reason for the vast majority of my AP and DE courses is that I will have 100% of my gen ed credits completed, in case I plan to transfer from a CSU → UC. I actually will have enough credits to skip 2 years of college, but I plan to go for the full 4 years with a much lighter courseload so I can not only focus on premed classes but also have more time for ec’s. I am 100% sure about the premed track, I do not mind taking different paths than other trad premed students but I know I’ll be a doctor one day. As for the overload with the majority of the applications, I will definitley narrow it down.
As for “Why not go to a CSU and plan to stay there for a full 4 years?”, this is something I am considering. However, I really don’t want to be put at a disadvantage with less opportunities. Most UC students are much more likely to get opportunities volunteering or doing higher funded research because they have medical schools. I’m really hoping to go to a top tier med school. I don’t mind the struggle much!

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