<p>I’m a sophomore in one of the top 100 high schools in the nation with:</p>
<p>SO FAR</p>
<p>4.0 unweighted GPA
4.33 UC GPA </p>
<p>A 2000 average practice SAT score (WILL IMPROVE hopefully).</p>
<p>9 years of piano; passed advanced level</p>
<p>Officer in Red Cross club</p>
<p>roughly 50 hours of community service; will do more</p>
<p>played a year of badminton; will continue for the next 3 years</p>
<p>What are my chances and how(where) should I improve?</p>
<p>Oh yeah I’m in-state btw.</p>
<p>your chances are so-so and there’s a lot to be discovered junior year</p>
<p>if you want a 100% chance into any UC, all you really have to do is attend Black MOSP for a summer and you’re set!
[Mathematical</a> Olympiad Program - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematical_Olympiad_Program]Mathematical”>Mathematical Olympiad Program - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>^ Don’t be conceited and push people down!</p>
<p>oh sorry black keys (and cool weather), i didn’t mean to come across that way…
my idea was to introduce him to the acme of contest math so he would study for the amc-aime-usamo series and develop his mathy skills (pardon my username) cause his application seems rather sparse</p>
<p>iHateMath - Thanks for clarification. And I agree with you that BlackKeys may want to look into some academic EC besides keeping the grades.</p>
<p>Academic ECs?</p>
<p>Can you list some examples?
Sorry for my ignorance.</p>
<p>Google can become your best friend: the amc-aime-usamo series</p>
<p>Academic ECs: </p>
<p>The following competitions can be sponsored and ordered by your school. If your school does not have resource, your may look into other schools, colleges in your area to participate.</p>
<p>Physics Olympiads: [Program</a> and History - U.S. Physics Team 2010 - AAPT.org](<a href=“http://www.aapt.org/physicsteam/program.cfm]Program”>Program and History - U.S. Physics Team 2010 - AAPT.org)</p>
<p>Chemistry Olympiads: [Chemistry</a> Olympiad Competition for High School Students](<a href=“American Chemical Society”>American Chemical Society)</p>
<p>Biology Olympiads: [USA</a> Biology Olympiad (USABO) | Center for Excellence in Education](<a href=“http://www.cee.org/programs/usabo]USA”>http://www.cee.org/programs/usabo)</p>
<p>Science Olympiads: [Home</a> Page | Science Olympiad](<a href=“http://www.soinc.org/]Home”>http://www.soinc.org/)</p>
<p>Math Competition: [MAA</a> American Mathematics Competitions - AMC](<a href=“American Mathematics Competitions | Mathematical Association of America”>http://amc.maa.org/)</p>
<p>Also, there are other local competitions in your city, state. Which city/region (north cal, south cal,…) do you live in?</p>
<p>You don’t have to win top place to get into the UCs and other selective colleges.</p>
<p>Okay… you do not need to win or have a top finish in an academic olympiad to have a good shot at UCs. They help and basically guarentee acceptance, but are not necessary (and hard to achieve to say the least). Academic “ECs” like those are for people considering upper-tier Ivy League schools.</p>
<p>The UC system accepts most people who show academic merit. For all UCs, an in-state student with a 4.5 GPA and 2250 SAT is almost guarenteed acceptance, given that the essays and ECs are at least decent. ECs only play a role when you’re on the borderline for their academic standards. UCs require that you submit all SAT Is and SAT IIs are now optional. UCs also have a different way of calculating GPA. They count A-s as As, B+s and B- as Bs and so on and so forth. They also limit the semesters of honors/AP courses that count as 5.0 grade points to 8 total. (Basically after you complete 4 AP classes, the rest count as only 4.0 if you get an A/A- in it.) Furthermore, the UC system only recognizes Jr. year level or higher APs/honors as 5.0 grade point courses and these may vary from school to school. You can look up your school’s legit 5.0 grade point courses here:
<a href=“A-G Policy Resource Guide”>A-G Policy Resource Guide;
<p>As for your ECs, piano stands out well. I think the threshold for community service is 200 hours and you’ll get max brownie points. Combine these two and they’re more than enough.</p>
<p>Also, I recommend doing real ECs instead of… math olympiads or whatnot. I don’t think they’re really considered ECs and it only seems that academically-centered people consider it an EC to cover up for complete lack of real ECs. Legit ECs could include: loads of community service, founding your own business, military/patriotic service, nationally ranked athlete, Eagle Scout, helping kids in Africa, etc. and etc. and people applying to Ivy Leagues usually have at least one of those. </p>
<p>I went on Naviance and looked up my school’s acceptance scattergrams and here’s the list of avg. minimum GPA + SAT needed to get in: (Do realize the these vary from school to school due to class rank and other factors)</p>
<p>Cal - 4.3 GPA, 2112 SAT
Davis - 4.11 GPA, 2032 SAT
Irvine - 4.03 GPA, 1961 SAT
LA - 4.27 GPA, 2112 SAT
SD - 4.28 GPA, 2106 SAT
SB - 4.08 GPA, 1992 SAT
SC - 3.74 GPA, 1854 SAT
There isn’t enough info for Merced and Riverside since almost everyone who applied got in.</p>
<p>I’d say you have a strong chance at all UCs. Max out your GPA + SAT and hope you make ELC.</p>
<p>You’re looking good for all UCs except Cal, UCLA, and UCSD. For these schools, it will take more than great grades and test scores. The weakest part of your app by far are your ECs. Join more clubs and try to get leadership positions in them at the very least. Enter competitions. Win them. Pursue your academic passions through ECs.</p>