For UCs, you can compare your 4.03 weighted-capped GPA to the ranges for various campuses and general types of majors at Freshman admission by discipline | University of California (best viewed on a computer, not mobile phone).
4.03 is below the 25th percentile of admit GPA for all major groups at UCB and UCLA. Your non-reach UCs would be UCSC, UCR, and UCM.
Sorry, forgot to mention in the thing. My grades dropped specifically the semester after she was diagnosed (the last semester before senior year). It was not a chronic thing where I was a caretaker for multiple years. My sophomore year gpa was a 3.95, and I only had 1 B in junior year until then.
Your GPA is a 3.87.
You donât know why it dropped.
You can note that you take care of her in your ECs - but do not surmise why your grades dropped (and they didnât really). You have no idea.
You donât want to be seen as an excuse maker. You can ask a counselor to mention but you should not.
You didnât note any budget concerns - are there any?
Alright, thank you for the advice. And no budget concerns.
Seriously - look at Babson - that could be a home run for you.
Good luck
Is there a reason you created a second Chance Me rather than adding onto your thread from last month?
I did not know you could add to threads, pretty new to this. I can delete this, or the old thread, if you prefer?
I just had to update my EC list and stuff because I wasnât even close to being done with the common app before.
Also I realized senior year 4.0 helped my gpa quite a bit
Maybe a moderator can merge them.
Done
Wait, I donât understand. Are you on a gap year then? You canât include your full senior grades: the academic year just started.
You canât possibly include your grades for spring semester unless youâve already graduated? The colleges and universities wonât see those grades until they have been confirmed by the transcripts.
no I mean first quarter grades, and second quarter grades for regular decision schools (projected grades)
I would be careful about how you label or âembellishâ your ECâs.
When you say âresearcher at UCSDâ, it will be questioned by the schools that look at the ECs. I noticed it immediately and had to comment.
I conducted research and was very close to completing my PhD, but I spent so much time on research (2 years of full time writing -12-14 hours per day), that I was flat broke, and decided to work in the field. (Do you even know what a researcher has to go through to conduct research? Fill out forms, get approvals, get funding, get permission to conduct the research, begin the research, write? ) Working was a good decision for me. As a high school student, when would you find the time?
Iâm local and have several neighbors who are Professors/Researchers at UCSD. They have PhDâs and MDs. Their research is funded by the NIH or by state or government grants. You are âassistingâ a PhD candidate who doesnât have his/her PhD yet and who needs to present it.
My eldest daughter assisted a med school professor (neighbor) in her cancer research, onsite, at UCSD (by putting blood pressure cuffs on mice- as part of her high school biotech class internship). My daughter was 18, so she was allowed in the labs, but she couldnât give them the number of hours they wanted her for because she attended high school.
Youâll be âcalledâ on it by admission staff who will wonder what else has been âexaggeratedâ in your application.
Also, If you are helping to care for a family member who is ill, it is expected. You are going to do that because you love your family.
You canât say that your grades dropped because of it. As mentioned previously by @tsbna44 it be seen as an excuse. I experienced the following:
At the high school, on my daughterâs tennis team, we had a student immigrant from China her name was Lin. At the beginning of the quarter she was a really strong athlete. Towards the end of the quarter, I noticed her weight loss, her hunger, when we provided snacks and I tried talking to her. I gave her name to our care coordinators on staff at our high school.
She collapsed on the courts. When she was taken to the hospital the school tried to contact her parents and couldnât reach anyone. They had officers go to her house and found her 13 year-old brother and her dad who apparently had a stroke at the beginning of the quarter. Both Lin and her brother thought he was just really sick. Lin had a part-time job, was going to classes, and was on the tennis team. She was using her funds, from her part-time job to provide meals for her father and her brother, and paid the water bill. Electricity had been shut off. The mortgage payments were delayed.
Her grades, and her brotherâs grades, however, were perfect.
She was caring for her father and a brother by herself. (Once the care coordinators got involved, everyone had a chance to help out her family. All of the yearly volunteer chore lists were full within a day. A benefactor paid off the mortgage, and set up automatic payments for utilities and taxes.)
My lengthy point is that these schools are looking for students who still manage to maintain their grades despite lifeâs challenges.
Remember, these schools expect you to be forthright on your applications. (Yale just removed a student because of a questionable admissions application.)
Good Luck. You will land well with at least a few choices on your list. The only suggestion I have is if you are in a time-crunch then you should de-prioritize UW and UT, Austin as they have very low OOS admission rates.
Ah sorry I did not say âresearcherâ on my ec list just typed this stuff out fast, I said research with a PHD candidate from UCSD as my mentor, unpublished (might be sent out to journals after I already graduate though), and he has published stuff before
and by research I mean independent research and made a tool without any peer reviewing, I did not know âresearcherâ was a title which held such meaning, didnât mean to offend your knowledge/work.