Type of high school (or current college for transfers): Public
Other special factors: N/A
**Cost Constraints / Budget: Household income is between 150-200k per year
**Intended Major(s): Political Science
**GPA, Rank, and Test Scores: GPA- 3.92 UW, 4.43 W, 4.21 Weighted/Capped (Top 15% of juniors at my HS)
Class Rank: N/A, but probably ELC eligible
ACT/SAT Scores: N/A (have not taken it yet but doesn’t matter for UCs)
List your HS coursework
*All courses listed will be completed by end of senior year
English: English 9 H, English 10 H, AP Lang, AP Lit
Math: * Math 1, Math 2, Math 3, AP Precalc, Financial Algebra, AP Calc (both ones)
Science: Lab Bio 1 H, Chem H, AP Bio, AP Chem
History and social studies: AP Euro, APUSH, AP Gov
Language other than English: Spanish 1/2
Other academic courses: Speech/Debate, College Apps, Patient Care 1/2,
**College Coursework: Intro to the Administration of Justice, Ethical Problems
**Awards: AP Scholar award
Extracurriculars
Summer Internship with local Congressman’s team (he is a member of the House of Representatives)
Debate Committee member
Goodwill work experience
CSF
Volunteer at my public library
TA for my AP Lang teacher (while she is teaching another class ofc)
Member and hopeful Debate Coordinator of my school’s recently founded Justice Club
Recreational piano player
Rec league basketball player (1 season only lol)
**Essays/LORs/Other: Will be pretty good, I passed all English classes with A’s and my AP Lang teacher (who is a notoriously hard grader at the school I go to) thinks positively of my essays
You have a strong record - but UC admissions can be unpredictable. Have you taken a visual or performing arts class? You will need that for UCs. Can you take another year of foreign language?
You might want to look to see recent experiences of applicants from your school here: Admissions by source school | University of California
You should also be sure to apply to additional schools - whether less-competitive UCs or others to ensure you have options.
Some admissions readers may wonder why you avoided physics and stopped Spanish at level 2 (UC requires level 2 but recommends level 3). Also, do you have a year of high school art as required by UCs (and CSUs)?
The following may be helpful (using weighted-capped HS GPA which you list as 4.21):
To be honest, on paper you are qualify for top UCs acceptance. But there are plenty of CA students with similar or better stats applying to these UCs. This year I know couple students with similar stats as yours, one got accepted to all UCs except Cal and UCLA and she committed to UCSD. Another got rejected/waitlisted by all UCs she applied and had to commit to SDSU.
I would add more UCs and top CSUs such as CPSLO or SDSU to your list just in case. Good Luck.
Yes I will be taking art next year in the fall. Overall, how competitive do you think I am. I know UC admissions is RNG hell now but an estimate would be nice
Yes, I will take VAPA next year in the fall, so I’m not worried about that. Overall, how competitive do you think I am for these schools? Rest assured, I am also applying to SDSU and some other safeties.
I think that your stats are in range for potential admission to these schools (with the possible exception that you only list 2 years of LOTE), however UC admissions are unpredictable, and all 4 campuses you listed have a low admit rate. At least from our HS, UCLA typically only takes students with the very highest stats, while UCB is very holistic and takes students with a wider range of stats if they have strong PIQs and ECs.
Since most of the UC campuses don’t notify until very late in the admission season, you’ll want to have some very likely schools on your list (because by the time you get UC decisions, it will be too late to add applications at most other schools). It’s nice to have some that notify earlier (such as OOS schools that have EA or are rolling). I am not sure about SDSU being a safety. You might want to list all your schools here to get feedback.
I will apply to UCSC as well, and CSUSM. If not accepted into any UC I’ll go to my local community college and TAG to UCI. Also, what do you think about my EC’s, I don’t think they are that good tbh. I am trying to do some last minute stuff this summer/start of senior year
For ECs, what I tell my own daughter (who is also a junior) is that at this point the most important thing is to explore her interests, so that she can be more confident about the major she’s applying for, as well as gain experiences and insights that she can write about in her PIQs. You don’t necessarily need impressive titles or awards, but I do think it matters how you describe your ECs when you actually put together your UC application, and the PIQs matter a lot, too. My son (now a college student) thought the “College Essay Guy” web site was a good free resource to help with writing the UC activities list and PIQs.
As others have said, you’re in the ballpark for all four schools. You are on the lower side for UCLA which according to it’s 2024 profile of admitted social sciences students, had a 9% admit rate with a weighted gpa range of 4.38-4.72 for the 25-75% range.
All four schools look at AP scores so that may be a factor as well.
I know you attend a public CA HS and are in the top 15% of your class. You can see how your school generally does at the UCs based on historical data to see how you might fare based on one of the links posted above. In many ways, you are competing with kids at your school and schools very similar to yours rather than everyone in the state. The vast majority of kids applying to (and getting rejected) from these schools have a weighted gpa above 4.
I think your ECs are in range as well. For holistic admissions, it’s not really about tallying up a list of activities rather than explaining their impact to your life and future plans. Your PIQs will matter tremendously.
As others have said, I’ve seen kids get into and rejected from all 4 schools with stats like yours. I’d say you’re probably more competitive for UCI and UCSD based purely on gpa. Outside of a handful of schools, it seems like UCLA admits around the top 10% for most public high schools including ones that are uber competitive. Berkeley isn’t far off from UCLA but I have seen a couple of instances where a student got rejected or WL from every UC except Merced, Riverside and Berkeley. We regularly see kids admitted to UCLA/Berkeley who are denied or WL at UCI and UCSD.
As others have said, expand your range of schools as CA has a lot of great options. If you look at career outcomes at the UCs, they really aren’t that different. Every year on these pages we see posts about how crazy competitive UC admissions are and people can’t understand how many strong candidates get rejected or WL. That’s because there are a lot of really strong candidates like yourself.
Honestly, the CC route is actually a great choice. It frankly makes more sense in many ways and if you have a lot of AP credits can transfer in after your freshman year. I’ve seen 3-4 kids transfer to UCLA, Berkeley and UCSD after one year at a CC.
Is your high school typically a “feeder” school for top UCs? How many kids get in every year? Your stats are great and definitely put you in a great position, but a lot depends on what type of class the school is trying to build.
Also—UC PIQs are NOT traditional essays. Check out the College Admissions Podcast w/ John Durante. He interviews UC admissions officers in a few episodes and the feedback about what they’re looking for is really enlightening. Check them out!! Also—no LORs for UC.
Lots of ppl from my school get in, some even LA and Berkeley, and there was a kid this year on my debate team who got into Yale (and last year a guy got into Princeton)
I ask because the high school my daughter graduated from typically has 20/30+ kids who get into UCLA & Cal every year. She has a GPA similar to yours, but has more focused, community-service oriented ECs and dual enrollment CC classes in her major—Architecture. Got into Cal (and just finished her first year). She did not get into UCLA—it was the only school she wasn’t accepted at—and they don’t even offer admittance to any freshmen as Arch majors.
Congratulations on having a competitive academic record. As stated, you need to apply widely but are definitely in the running for the UC’s listed.
Here is some admit rates and GPA data for the UC’s and some CSU’s as a prospective Political Science major. This data is from 2024 Freshman admits.
Type of high school (or current college for transfers): Public
Other special factors: N/A
**Cost Constraints / Budget: Household income is between 150-200k per year
**Intended Major(s): Political Science
**GPA, Rank, and Test Scores: GPA- 3.92 UW, 4.43 W, 4.21 Weighted/Capped (Top 15% of juniors at my HS)
Class Rank: N/A
ACT/SAT Scores: N/A (have not taken it yet)
List your HS coursework
*All courses listed will be completed by end of senior year
English: English 9 H, English 10 H, AP Lang, AP Lit
Math: * Math 1, Math 2, Math 3, AP Precalc, Financial Algebra, AP Calc (both ones)
Science: Lab Bio 1 H, Chem H, AP Bio, AP Chem
History and social studies: AP Euro, APUSH, AP Gov
Language other than English: Spanish 1/2
Other academic courses: Speech/Debate, College Apps, Patient Care 1/2,
**College Coursework: Intro to the Administration of Justice, Ethical Problems
**Awards: AP Scholar award
Extracurriculars
Summer Internship with local Congressman’s team (he is a member of the House of Representatives) (11th grade)
Debate Committee member/Varsity Debate team member (9-12, varsity from 10th grade on, debate committee formed just this year)
Goodwill work experience (11-12)
CSF (9-12)
Volunteer at my public library (10-12)
TA for my AP Lang teacher (while she is teaching another class ofc) (11)
Member and hopeful Debate Coordinator of my school’s recently founded Justice Club (11)
Recreational piano player (4-11)
Rec league basketball player (1 season only lol) (10)
**Essays/LORs/Other: Will be pretty good, I passed all English classes with A’s and my AP Lang teacher (who is a notoriously hard grader at the school I go to) thinks positively of my essays