Chance me/Match me [CA resident, 3.5 GPA, 1450 SAT, biology or psychology]

Guidelines

  • Please check back to answer questions.
  • Please do not share identifying information.
  • Please do not include your race.

Demographics

  • US citizen (US citizen or permanent resident) or international student
  • State/Location of residency:CA
  • Type of high school (or current college for transfers):High competetive HS
  • Other special factors: (first generation to college, legacy, recruitable athlete, etc.)

Cost Constraints / Budget
(High school students: please get a budget from your parents and use the Net Price Calculators on the web sites of colleges of interest.)

Intended Major(s) Biology, Psychology

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA:3.5 (calculate it yourself if your high school does not calculate it)
  • Weighted HS GPA: 3.85 (must specify weighting system; note that weighted GPA from the high school is usually not informative, unless aligned with the recalculation used by a college of interest, such as CA, FL, SC public universities)
  • College GPA: (for transfer applicants)
  • Class Rank:
  • ACT/SAT Scores:1450

List your HS coursework

(Indicate advanced level, such as AP, IB, AICE, A-level, or college, courses as well as specifics in each subject)

  • English:
  • Math: (including highest level course(s) completed)
  • Science: (including which ones, such as biology, chemistry, physics)
  • History and social studies:
  • Language other than English: (including highest level completed)
  • Visual or performing arts:
  • Other academic courses:

College Coursework (Transfer Applicants)
(Include college courses taken while in high school if not included above.)

  • General education course work:
  • Major preparation course work:

Awards AP Honor

Extracurriculars Paid internship
(Include leadership, summer activities, competitions, volunteering, and work experience)

Essays/LORs/Other
(Optionally, guess how strong these are and include any other relevant information or circumstances.)

Schools

UC santa cruz

uc riverside

university of washington

sjsu

sdsu

csu fullerton

Oregon state university

(List of colleges by your initial chance estimate; designate if applying ED/EA/RD; if unsure, leave them unclassified)

If a scholarship is necessary for affordability, indicate that you are aiming for a scholarship and use the scholarship chance to estimate it into the appropriate group below; also, for colleges that admit by major or division, consider that in chance estimate.

  • Assured (100% chance of admission and affordability):
  • Extremely Likely:
  • Likely:
  • Toss-up:
  • Lower Probability:
  • Low Probability:

Not a lot to work with here. You have a gpa and test.

Please fill out all questions asked - from citizenship to courses taken and budget.

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You skipped a lot of important parts of the chance me template. If you fill those in, you will get better responses.

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@testuser23

You left MOST of the chance me/match me template…blank. If you complete the questions, you will get much better responses.

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In addition to filling out the template, since you are looking at CA public universities, it’s also helpful if you calculate the three UC GPAs (unweighted, weighted capped, and weighted uncapped, for grades 10-11).

Here’s the calculator: GPA Calculator for the University of California – RogerHub

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The biggest unknown here is financial. What’s your budget, and do you qualify for financial aid?

UW-Seattle will cost more than $60K/year even with the maximum OOS merit scholarship. They don’t consider SAT in most cases, so getting in at all may be difficult, and if you do get in, you’d likely have to pay the full OOS cost (>67K/year) or close to it. Is that budget manageable? Oregon State offers WUE reciprocity, but only to the top 30% of geographically-qualified applicants - unclear whether you would make that cut or whether your merit award would be smaller.

You don’t have any private colleges/universities on your list, but as an example of a college that meets need and could be a good fit for your stats, Occidental College in LA has a Cognitive Science major that combines biology and psychology in a way you might like. Their Net Price Calculator, available here, would give you an idea of how much Oxy would cost for your family. This could be a good test case; if Oxy would be affordable, there are more schools in that category that could work as well. (UCSC also has a CogSci major, which might be a good one to apply to for that campus.)

For a California-adjacent school that would be guaranteed to give you the WUE rate, you might want to look at UNR. In particular, their Neuroscience major is offered jointly by the bio and psych departments. Bachelor's Degree in Neuroscience | Degrees & Programs | University of Nevada, Reno

Another major you might want to think about, that has elements of both life sciences and psychology, is public health. UNR offers this also. Bachelor's Degree in Public Health | University of Nevada, Reno

A “hidden gem” major at SJSU (which, because a lot of people overlook it, is also one of the easier majors to get into) is the Packaging major. Despite the unsexy name, it’s a very interesting program that includes elements of bio/chem (esp. for the food safety aspects of packaging) and psychology (esp. advertising and ergonomics), plus aspects of design and business. It’s a project-based program, and unlike a major like neuroscience, which tends to require grad school for career opportunities, it has terrific employment prospects right out of undergrad. Watch the video on the linked page to see if it might appeal to you.

Hope you’ll provide more info so that folks can help you more.

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Besides the UC GPA’s, can you calculate out your CSU GPA using the linked calculator?

Are you in the local service area for any of the Cal states on your list?

Below are the 2024 Freshman admit rates and UC/CSU GPA information for both Biology and Psychology

Campus Biology Psychology
UC Riverside 66% Capped weighted UC GPA 3.76-4.07 63.5% Capped weighted UC GPA 3.70-4.12
UC Santa Cruz 69% Capped weighted UC GPA 3.90-4.23 57% Capped weighted UC GPA 3.81-4.20
CSU Fullerton 94% for College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics Campus average CSU GPA 3.68 87% for College of Humanities and Social Sciences Campus average CSU GPA 3.68
San Jose State 2.5 CSU GPA to meet minimum impaction index threshold without other factors 3.15 CSU GPA to meet minimum impaction index threshold without other factors
San Diego State 33% Average Campus CSU GPA 4.06 27% Average Campus CSU GPA 4.06

Good luck.

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