I am a male international student from China, and I transferred from China to a private Catholic high school in Massachusetts in Junior year. I have a uw GPA of 88.4% (my high school does not offer a 4.0-system GPA), all of my classes since 11th grade have been acc, honors, or AP (below acc are basic courses, College Prepare). My AP was a tragedy: I obviously had no chance to take AP classes in China, and my high school did not allow us to take AP classes in the first year after transfer, so I only have AP US Gov in Senior year (I should have also taken AP Phys 1, but both courses were offered in the same time period so I had to choose one.)
Extracurricular activities are a good part of my application. I attended UCLA’s International Relations summer school with college credits and got an A-. I won a award in the John Locke essay competition (top 16.7%). I have volunteered a total of 50+ hours, including one long term volunteer at a museum. I had an experience of a financial tutoring program provided by BNY Mellon that lasted about 3 months. I have been actively participating in Model United Nations since grade 7 and have won some awards, but all in China. I also participated in some other summer school and competitions in China. I have been writing short stories/translating English stories into Chinese and publishing them on online platforms for a long time. I play rugby at school team.
I also have some miscellaneous activities: school-level debates, diversity and leadership workshop (with a certificate from a college), photography as a hobby, etc.
I have three letters of recommendation, two of which I’m sure are very good and one that’s probably not so perfect. W&M is my first choice - I interviewed during the summer, submitted my ED1 application a while ago. I think I have an above average personal statement that is closely related to my desired major.
I scored 95 on the TOEFL and 98 my-best-score. I plan to major in history and have a secondary major in anthropology/classics/international relations
I’ll keep my fingers crossed for William and Mary for you.
I’m assuming you can be full pay at these colleges. Is that accurate?
Do you want suggestions of other colleges, or just your chances on the ones listed?
I will let @Gumbymom post the %ages of accepted students at the UCs. Many of them will be reaches for you (and you likely will be paying the full $75,000 a year or so cost to attend).
I think Arizona is likely. Do you have any other sure things on your application list?
Yes, I am not seeking any financial aid, of course it would be better if I could get a scholarship, but it is not something I consider. My family can afford full tuition, at least for public universities.
Other schools I will apply to: NC State, Penn State, SUNY Buffalo, George Washington, UIUC, UMass, UPenn (Just because my PS has content about it, I feel it would be a pity not to apply hhh)
For the UCs you can compute your GPA here. This will give you a sense of where you stand in relation to UC admissions. Which campuses are you applying to?
As thumper mentioned, the UCs are quite expensive for out of state and international students - around $75,000/year. Make sure that is affordable for your parents and, even if affordable, if they agree that it is worth that price.
Did you calculate your UC GPA to get a sense for how competitive you are at those campuses? That would be a good way to get a sense of your chances. The good news with holistic admissions, your ECs and PIQs should help, too.
Do you have an idea of how your 88.4% translates to a 4.0 scale? Depending upon your schools scale, this may be anywhere from a 3.0-3.5 unweighted. Again depending upon the scale, the UC’s require a minimum Capped weighted UC GPA of 3.4 for eligibility and all the campuses you listed have average Capped weighted UC GPA’s above 4.0.
As stated by @worriedmomucb you really need to get an idea of where your GPA stands for these campuses.
Here are the 25th-75th percentile of the Capped weighted UC GPA for admitted students:
Campus
UC Capped weighted 25th-75th percentile for admitted freshman
For several of the UC campuses, the International acceptance rate is high but yield is very low since most International students cannot afford to attend.
As stated, the UC’s do a holistic application review so GPA alone will not determine your chances. Just note, that the UC’s have a mandated cap on OOS and International enrollment so it will be very competitive.
Thank you for your help! I know it will be difficult for me to get into any UC except UCR, UCM or UCSC, but I think my extracurricular activities can make up for it a little. I found a sentence on UCR’s official website: …3.4 GPA (equivalent to 85 points out of 100), so I am quite confused. If only UCR or UCM accepts me in the end, I think I will go to one of them and try to transfer to other UC. In addition, I currently maintain a 90+ UW GPA in this year, which should be higher than 4.0 after weighted; this may be helpful…?
As for the cost, at least 100k/year(4 years) total expenses (including tuition and living expenses) is acceptable to my family; higher expenses may be a little difficult, but not impossible.
Yes, I did the math. I know it would be very challenging for me to get into any of the UCs I listed above, which is why I said I would go if I was accepted. I will start discussing the cost with my parents after I get some offers, but it is affordable.
Different schools will have a different % to 4.0 GPA scale so this is something you can ask your counselor. 88% would be a B+ or A-.
Googling an 88% brings up a wide range of conversion scales but if you plan to convert, then you have to convert each grade not just the overall GPA.
Unfortunately, the UC’s do not consider Senior year grades in their application review but maintaining good grades is important to keep your acceptances since they are provisional
If a competitive university gives me an offer, my family can afford 100k/year for four years without causing financial difficulties (including tuition, living expenses, etc.); of course, if the academic strength is similar, my family and I will choose the cheaper option. This is still a huge amount of money and will bring pressure. I think this will cover most UCs? Maybe UCLA/UCI is struggling. Also many other private schools, especially in the NY area, are struggling.
What do you think about the other schools I applied to…my chances of getting in, etc. Especially William and Mary. Also, I just received offers from two of Rutgers’ regional campuses, Camden and Newark!
This is not a good plan. UCs accept VERY few transfers from other UCs. The vast majority of accepted transfer students come from California Community Colleges, not other UCs. In other words, if you attend a UC, you should plan to spend all four years there.
The Universities of California are public colleges sponsored by the state’s taxpayers. They are not “struggling”. They are crowded because they are popular.
Don’t make assumptions about the colleges and universities in the country based on where you currently attend. They’re all different.
You can’t assume that every UC is going to be the same. I’m going to quickly summarize where the schools are in California.
Davis and Merced are in the middle of farmland in Northern California. Davis has easier access to large cities. They are both agricultural schools.
UCR is in the suburbs. Some students don’t like the location because, unlike most California myths, the location is not near a beach. Getting to the beach is a pain
UCLA is in a very busy section of Los Angeles. There should be easy access to most things that you need. It’s a very large campus and it’s also extremely busy.
UCB (which you are not applying to) is in a very busy section of the Bay Area. The city has a lots of restrictions on what kinds of businesses go into the area. Lots of Mom and Pops, homeless, and “interesting” characters.
UCI tends to be a commuter campus.
You can get to the beach from there but it’s really busy.
Most of these schools require a car because the public transportation is awful.
The mistake that a lot of new students make is that getting to the campuses is easy.
California is a large state. It takes a while to get from San Diego to San Francisco. Traffic, on our freeways, is intense. Car insurance is expensive. Gas is expensive.
Maybe it doesn’t make much difference to you, but your parents will be spending a lot of money, if you reside out here for school on everything.