-Live in California, 16 years old
-First Gen Student, Income Under 40K
-UC and CSU GPA: 3.17 W
-Intend to Apply Undecided
-Have taken 6/7 APs offered at school (Was going to take 7 but It conflicted with my schedule)
-Have taken every honors class offered
-Skipped a Grade as a Small Child
Extracurriculars
-I have been a part of my school’s contemporary music program for 3 years, I have performed in 6 shows for the school and community
-I have played piano for 14 years, guitar for 2 years and sing recreationally and for shows.
-Staff Writer for my school’s publication, started this year
-Attended/competed at the National High School Journalism Convention
-Attended/Competed at a student journalism conference for California student, won an award in Photography
-Helped organize a student led protest against teachers being forced out/displaced
-Have competed in 1 piano competition/recital
-Leadership position in one club
Extenuating Circumstances
-My mother has bipolar disorder and I was forced out of her care due to neglect in 9th grade, was moved to foster care with my other family.
-Father was abusive
-Was hospitalized at a psychiatric institution for 3 weeks in 10th grade
Grades
My 9th grade marks were in the toilet, I failed a lot of my classes although I did good in the easy ones
My 10th grade marks were all over there places, had A in some classes (such as APWH) and an F in others. They were very inconsistent.
My 11th grade marks were good, I had all As and Bs except for two Cs the whole year.
I would like to see if any typically “lower tiered UCs” are in reach and any of the CSUs. My dream school as of right now is UCSC. Thank you for your feedback!
D or F grades disqualify those courses from meeting a-g requirements. Will you meet the a-g requirements despite that?
If so, then a non-impacted CSU should admit you if you apply for a non-impacted major. Most CSUs are not impacted; see the following:
Impacted CSUs or impacted majors do vary significantly in competitiveness for admission.
A CSU will likely be very inexpensive after in-state financial aid of you can reasonably commute from home, but may be more difficult to afford if you need to live on or near campus away from home. UC cost after financial aid for low income students tends to be intermediate between the CSU commuter and CSU resident.
Yes, you can apply to an impacted CSU campus or major, but admission will not be assured, since the threshold for admission will be determined competitively.
Which CSU campuses are within reasonable commuting range, and which other CSU campuses may be of interest? Remember, most CSU campuses are non-impacted, and most majors at those campuses are non-impacted, but that does not help you if (for example) you live in San Luis Obispo and want to study computer science, or if you want to study nursing anywhere.
For UCs, all of them have 25th percentile GPA higher than your 3.17; Merced is the one that is higher by the smallest amount, according to Freshman admission by discipline | University of California . Merced, Riverside, and Santa Cruz do have relatively high admission rates, and obviously 25% of admits were admitted with GPA below the 25th percentile.
Right now, I would like to go somewhere further that’s not a place I commute to. I’m interred in Fullerton, Long Beach, and San Diego. Northridge would be my safety I guess. For UCs, Im really interested in Santa Cruz, but Riverside would be alright too. What do you think my chances are? I’m applying undecided for every school.
You have been through a lot, and you have done so well. I’m super impressed with what you have been able to achieve. I hope you feel proud of all you have accomplished!
I don’t think UCSC is impossible, especially considering the UC’s use a holistic admissions process. You’ll want to really focus on you PIQ’s. Do you not have a specific major you are interested in?
I’m not sure it is necessarily accessible to you, only that it’s not impossible. UCSC is one of the more accessible UC’s in terms of selectivity (above Riverside and Merced), and frankly, your story is compelling. I also think you have much better chances at UCM or UCR, or if you had a specific goal/major in mind that you could speak to.
Being 1st gen will be a massive help to you in UC admissions, and if you use the PIQs and Add’l Info sections (as @lkg4answers pointed out) to show them your strengths and what you can bring to UCSC, I think that you have a decent shot.
But you’ll want to make sure not to dwell on your past as a reason for not achieving - I know that seems counterintuitive, but there’s a fine line between talking about where you’ve come from and blaming failure on it. You’ll need to show how you’ve grown because of it and what you hope to accomplish in the future. Remember to keep it positive.
There is a PIQ quite specific to that - how you’ve overcome a challenge. That would be a good place to explain your background and how very far you’ve come. They want to know about these kinds of challenges - that’s why there’s a PIQ specifically about it.