Chance a mid GPA, weird story, decent everything else [Math/Physics/Engineering; 3.62 UW GPA (3.77/4.08/4.38 for UC), 1550 'superscore' SAT, CA resident]

Chance Me / Match Me
1

Demographics

  • US domestic citizen but I technically have dual citizenship lol
  • State/Location of residency: CA
  • Type of high school (or current college for transfers): Public, large, competitive. I’ve transferred like 3x from school A to B to C and back to A (don’t ask). My other school I have a transcript from was nontraditional and ■■■■■■ ■■■■■
  • Other special factors: Don’t think so

Cost Constraints / Budget
Household income is 7figs or close lol so uh none?

Intended Major(s) - Physics, math, other STEM (varies by school, will indicate below)

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.62; 3.77 UC
  • Weighted HS GPA: 3.95, +1 for AP/honors/DE; 4.08 UC Capped, 4.38 UC Uncapped
  • College GPA: None but across every dual enrollment course I’ve taken I have a 3.83 lol
  • Class Rank: Nonranking school
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 1550 superscore (780M/770RW), 1530 single sitting (780M/750RW)

List your HS coursework

(Indicate advanced level, such as AP, IB, AICE, A-level, or college, courses as well as specifics in each subject)

  • English: English 9, English 10 (no other option for underclassman English here lol), AP Lang, English 12 subject class (specific to my HS)
  • Math: Honors precalc I got a C in and dropped to regular… Calc AB (10), AP Stats (11), Calc 2 from CC (11), Multivariable and Linear Algebra from UC extension program (12)
  • Science: Reg bio (9), reg chem (10), Honors Physics (11), AP Bio online (11), AP Chem online (12), AP Physics C: Mechanics (12), AP E&M online (12). I can’t stack sciences at my school and it doesn’t have E&M so it is what it is.
  • History and social studies: World geo (9), regular WH (10) but then they messed up my transcript at my old school so I took a semester of AP World online lol (11), regular USH (11), regular gov and econ (12), CC macroecon (11) (this doesn’t count towards my high school’s econ requirement)
  • Language other than English: Spanish 1-3 (middle school-10th grade), AP Chinese exam only
  • Visual or performing arts: 1 semester vocal ensemble I dropped due to extenuating circumstances. Digital illustration at CC (11). Music at CC (11).
  • Other academic courses: APCSA (11), biotech dual credit program thing (12), Health (9, I got a D in this that I remedied for a really dumb reason but anyway my school doesn’t replace the grade ■■■■■)

Awards (These are bad too oops)

  1. National merit commended (1460 PSAT - 750M 710RW)
  2. First place state art award themed around Chinese culture, $150 prize
  3. Immerse Education Essay Competition Runner Up for Physics Topic - 30% Merit Scholarship
  4. Top 20% tutoring hours/learners impacted/sessions hosted on Schoolhouse.world
  5. Debate speaker placement/ranking

Extracurriculars
Kind of vague sorry

  1. ⁠Mid selective/not that prestigious research program, in a lab related to biophysics and comp neuro, did some lit reviews and mathematical work, wrote code for some simulations, presented at some small events and working on an actual manuscript in collaboration with a university right now (11, 12)

  2. ⁠Tutor on Schoolhouse in SAT, calc, stats, physics, bio with pretty good impact; private tutor to a couple 10th graders in advanced calc and stats topics (11, 12)

  3. ⁠Social media stuff, ok reach (500k+ views on one, like 2-3k likes on the other), related to both STEM and art stuff, also made content on speech and debate (9, 10, 11, 12)

  4. ⁠Another kind of fake research thing related to computational physics and ANN architectures, presented at [random UC summer program symposium], worked on manuscript mentored by Vandy PhD student (lit review and computational experiments), am about to submit to ArXiV and try to get peer reviewed in a random HS journal (11, 12)

  5. ⁠Community service 400+ hours, led a cool event for cancer fundraising (9, 10, 11, 12)

  6. ⁠Imagine the most larp high schooler web project, that but related to some of the fields of interest shown in my other ECs. Basically some resource/tool for research and academics? Mid impact (11, 12)

  7. ⁠Survey and empirics based research on academic performance metrics and STEM education nationally for a web blog. Also working on some other STEM based content for the page as part of this youth program (12)

  8. ⁠Wrote a bunch of articles related to physics, AI, biochem, neuro, math/stats, etc for student newsletters and blogs. Also wrote creative long form content. Mid reach lol like 2-3k (10, 11, 12)

  9. ⁠Freelance art selling, ~$50 a month on and off, also make free stuff for the community (9, 10, 11, 12)

Essays/LORs/Other
Since I’ve transferred so much I can’t imagine LORs will be all that strong since I don’t know anyone too well… physics teacher + AP Lang teacher + research PI from activity #1. My essay is kind of eh, I feel like I come off as tryhardy in it and I don’t like it that much, but I think it’s ok (got some feedback on it).

Schools
(List of colleges by your initial chance estimate; designate if applying ED/EA/RD; if unsure, leave them unclassified)

If a scholarship is necessary for affordability, indicate that you are aiming for a scholarship and use the scholarship chance to estimate it into the appropriate group below; also, for colleges that admit by major or division, consider that in chance estimate.

I based these in part off of high school specific history, so that’s why some of these designations are weird. Yeah holy shotgun ik

  • Assured (100% chance of admission and affordability): Probably UC Merced and Community College
  • Extremely Likely:
    • UC Riverside - Electrical Engineering
    • UC Santa Cruz - Physics
  • Likely:
    • Stony Brook EA - Physics
    • RPI EA - Physics
    • Virginia Tech EA - Physics
    • CSULB - Physics
  • Toss-up:
    • Brandeis EA - Physics
    • Purdue EA - Physics
    • Northeastern EA - Physics
    • Boston U - Physics
    • UC Davis - Applied Mathematics (alt: Mathematical and Scientific Computation)
    • U of Rochester - Physics
    • Case Western EA - Physics
    • SJSU - Electrical Engineering (depends on selection index cutoff that year I think; alt Physics)
    • Cal Poly Pomona - Electrical Engineering (likewise)
    • SDSU - Physics
  • Lower Probability (yeah some of these seem like they’d be easier than BU or NEU, but scattergrams show lower acceptance for my GPA range):
    • UMD EA - Physics
    • UIUC EA - Physics (alt: Nuclear Engineering)
    • NYU - Mathematics in CAS (I want to ED but my parents won’t let me lol, might be just Low in RD. Ranked a bunch of alts lol)
    • UCI - Mathematics (alt: Physics)
    • UCSB - Physics
    • UW Seattle - Physics
    • UW Madison EA - Physics
    • Cal Poly SLO - Physics
  • Low Probability:
    • USC EA - Biophysics (alt: Applied and Computational Mathematics)
    • UT Austin - Physics
    • UNC Chapel Hill EA - Physics
    • UCSD - Applied Mathematics (alt: Mathematical Biology)
    • UCLA - Mathematics/Applied Science (honestly might belong in It’s Over)
    • UC Berkeley - Applied Mathematics (alt: Physics)
    • Emory (main or Oxford) - Physics (alt: Biophysics)
  • It’s Over:
    • UCSB - CCS Physics lol
    • Harvey Mudd - Physics
    • UChicago (ED1) - Physics (alt: Computational Neuroscience, Cognitive Science)
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Forgot to mention some extenuating circumstances, but I don’t want to divulge in detail so whatever

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You currently have a list of 35+ target schools. Do you plan to apply to all of them?

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The requirement for F ((VPA) is one year within the same discipline. I don’t know if your community college credits will count as a full year of the same discipline for the UCs. You may want to ask.

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Have you provided grades from all your schools or is that GPA from just one high school? Colleges will see all your grades:

If you got a C in pre calc, why are you taking multi variable in HS? You’ve likely hurt yourself learning wise over stepping - because math builds.

Why would you apply for EE at UCR if you want to be Physics or math?

I’m not ready to say UCSC is extremely likely - mainly because I’m not sure you’ve given a full pic. LBSU too so i’ll leave those off.

I agree RPI is likely. I think Va Tech and Stony Brook are targets but not likely.

I think Brandeis is a target but your being full pay will help. So I can see them going for the full pay student.

Purdue is also a target because it’s non engineering.

I think BU and NE are unlikely while UR and CWRU will like your money but on the merits, I don’t think you get in. I see Rochester as more likely. Make sure you demonstrate interest here.

UMD is “possible” but I don’t think the rest (non UCs) will happen. UW won’t see your score (most likely). I think the rest of your list is a no although Emory has gone back to need aware, so you never know.

Given your desire for physics, and you have large publics, why not just apply to renowned U of Arizona and save yourself a lot of work? And you have RPI - which is a solid choice.

Good luck

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A >=3 semester unit or >=4 quarter unit transferable college course in visual or performing arts fulfills that requirement, according to Subject requirement (A-G) | UC Admissions

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How did math after the C in precalculus go? Seems like you may have been over-accelerated in math.

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Here you can compare your 4.08 weighted capped GPA for UC with the 25th-75th percentile ranges for admits and enrollees at various UC campuses in the various broad discipline areas (e.g. physics sciences / math or engineering) and check the admit rates :

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They’re all on one transcript

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B in 2nd semester, As in Calc AB, B and A in AP stats, A in calc 2

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EE is because my parents are pushing me to apply to engineering as “safeties”

Like I said my designations are weird because my high school has a strange dynamic with admissions. Most people who applied to VT/Brandeis/SBU last year got in.

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Also the C in precalc was because of unusual circumstances around the class, I don’t want to get into it (opsec)

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Also sorry it’s not letting me see your message as I type the reply so I’m responding to each point one by one - there are many people at my high school with lower GPAs than me who have gotten into BU and NEU (both have like 25-35% acceptance ■■■■■), and the bands for my specific GPA show a higher acceptance rate than they do at UMD and UIUC etc.

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I don’t think those are accurate because in-state competitive NorCal nonfeeder high school is very different dynamics than the aggregate

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Understanding precalculus concepts well is a very important prerequisite for studying advanced physics theory & applications. How is AP Physics C going?

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It’s going fine, like a 94% on my quarter prog report, I think I perform pretty well on the tests relative to my classmates. I don’t think I didn’t understand precalc - I actually got like a 90% on my final in that semester, I just did super badly on some quizzes and homework. It’s extremely common at my school to get Cs in that class and I know some people did 2 semesters in a row if they didn’t drop; it still obviously cooks their college apps though.

I’m not really here to debate whether I understand rational functions or the law of cosines though, because that’s not what the AO is going to bother inspecting either. Sorry if I seem overly defensive

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I don’t understand this - engineering being - easier. You are going to college. Not them. And there’s zillions of colleges that would take you and zillions frankly more reputed for Physics than those on your list (IMHO).

BU and Northeastern admit to alternate campuses/programs so that might be what people are getting into.

Anyway, you seem confident in your list - so best of luck to you.

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Sorry, I meant at* safeties, I think I can’t edit posts on here

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I completely understand. The reason why I ask is because “C” grades are always viewed as questionable by admissions, especially for a interested math/physics/engineering major & especially in precalculus. If there are extenuating circumstances to discuss, you’ll need to have your guidance counselor explain this in the recommendation. The good thing is that if you are an a “A” level is AP Physics & can score a possible “4” or “5” on the exam, you may show that your knowledge of precalculus is much higher than a “C”. Grades from 11th & 12th will carry more weight than grades from 9th & 10th. This will be especially important for schools like UChicago & Harvey Mudd that you are currently targeting.

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I know BU/NEU have alternate programs, but at least for NEU you can go to the Boston campus after a semester or year (and it’s guaranteed lol). For BU I think it’s just the spring start no?