US Citizen, residing in California, currently going to public high school
No real budget constrain
Looking to Major in Management Information Science/Information Science/Business Analytics
GPA: 3.43 (weighted)/4.0
SAT: 1270
AP: AP CS Principles, AP Lang, AP USH
In 12th: AP ES, AP Gov, AP MicroEconomics, AP Stats
Math: Calculus
Science: Chemistry, Biology
World Lang: Spanish 1-3
Extracurricular:
Instructor in MMA school, earning second degree blackbelt
VP of Finance in my school’s DECA club
Debate Club
Soccer (recreational) all throughout my life
Colleges applying to:
EA: University of Oregon, University of Arizona, ASU, Texas A&M, UTD, IUB, Uof Colorado, UMass, Purdue
CSUs: Mostly interested in SJSU, CalPoly Pomona, Long Beach
UCs: Reverside, Irvine
Is your listed 3.43 Weighted GPA, your UC and CSU capped weighted GPA?
UC GPA calculator which calculates out 3 UC GPA’s (unweighted, capped weighted and uncapped weighted) is linked below. UC Riverside and Irvine will focus on the UC UW and Capped weighted.
I will list some admission statistics so you can determine where you stand.
UC Riverside:
The Capped weighted UC GPA admit range for 2024 Freshman overall was 3.66-4.15. Using the Capped Weighted UC GPA, the overall campus admit rate for applicants with a 3.30-3.69 was 55%.
For Business admin and Business related majors the admitted GPA range was 3.68-4.13 with a 72% admit rate.
UC Irvine:
The Capped weighted UC admit range for 2024 Freshman was 4.04-4.27. Using the Capped weighted UC GPA, the overall campus admit rate with a 3.30-3.69 was 1%
For Business administration/Business Information Management majors, the admitted GPA range was 4.11-4.25 with a 13% admit rate.
SJSU admits based on an impaction index and for all the Business major/concentrations with the exception of Finance, your CSU GPA will make you competitive.
For Cal Poly Pomona, they use a CPP index and for Business majors and CIS, you need a minimum CSU GPA of 2.5 to be competitive with exception of accounting.
For CSULB, the average admitted CSU GPA for Business Administration was 3.98 and for Information systems was 4.00. The College of Business had a 35% overall admit rate.
UofA and ASU both have auto admit into the universities at a 3.0 GPA. There may be further requirements for a particular major or hurdles to pass after freshman year for some majors. (You have a range of potential majors listed so not sure which to check for)
CU Boulder - overall admit rate is high but Leeds School of Business is significantly more competitive - for 2024 admitted students, the middle 50 wgpa is 4.0-4.36 and SAT 1360-1450, so it’s probably a reach for your stats.
Edit: can you confirm you only have 2 sciences? Colleges generally want to see 3.
Your list is a bit aggressive IMHO - outside the CA schools.
Arizona is the top school on your list for MIS, one of the leaders in the country (#2. Ahead of MIT per US News), but need to apply after there and doing work. ASU is fine too. Not sure if direct admit. Check into that.
I don’t see a path to Texas A&M. You can get into IU but not Kelley. If you went you could try to transfer.
I don’t see CU or Purdue happening but they are reasonable reaches. CU is possible for exploratory.
Arkansas Walton is strong in the major and should be safety but check for direct admit.
Of course some CSUs will work.
Don’t forget you have WUE discounts at many easier to get into west area schools including flagships.
My primary choice is MIS. If the school doesn’t offer MIS, then Information Science is my choice in that school. I am also keeping Business Analytics as backup option.
SJSU calculates an impaction index of GPA * 800 which is 3.37 * 800 = 2696 for you. You get +200 if you will graduate from a high school in Santa Clara County, and there are also some smaller bonus points listed at Impaction | Admissions .
Last year (for those applying to enter fall 2024), SJSU’s threshold for business - MIS was 2200; other business majors’ thresholds ranged from 2000 to 2800. Because the thresholds are competitively determined, they can change year to year. See Freshmen Impaction Results | Admissions .
CPP calculates its index of GPA * 1000 + 450 which is 3.37 * 1000 + 450 = 3820 for you. There are various bonus points, but the point values are not listed (see “MFA Model” at Freshman Student Profile ). Last year’s thresholds for CPP business majors were 2950 except for 3300 for accounting (see the same web page). Because the thresholds are competitively determined, they can change year to year.
If you are sure about MIS being the desired major, then Arizona-Eller should be near the top of the pile as they are highly ranked. Be advised you start as business admission major and you only pick your major after sophomore year and there are some secondary admission requirements.
It is just the criteria that us news weighs higher like smaller class sizes and faculty research. As far as MIS goes, cannot think of a strong reason to prefer arizona over sjsu. Overall college experience very different at the two schools.
You can look at career outcomes. It’s a good major.
But direct admit does matter if you have concerns of getting in. Arizona will cost more too.
ASU is strong too. Check to see if direct admit if I’m reading right.
They have academic requirements but otherwise are direct admit.
With MIS you’ll likely be fine wherever you go. Salaries will differ by employer and location. So Arizona won’t necessarily have higher #s unless they place in the Bay Area / Seattle etc.
But ask each school if interest for an MIS placement report.