GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
UC 10th and 11th GPA:
Unweighted: 3.73
Weighted Capped: 3.94
Weighted Uncapped: 4.15
List your HS coursework
10th and 11th Total Courses: 18 courses or 36 semesters
10th and 11th AP/College/Honors Courses: 8 courses or 16 semesters
Overall 9-12th courses: 29 courses or 58 semesters
Overall 9-12th AP/College/Honors Courses: 11 courses or 22 semesters
Science: Biology, Chemistry, Oceanography, Human Heredity, Biotechnology, AP Biology, AP Chemistry, Physiology and Anatomy, Honors Physics
English: English 1/2/3, AP Lit
Math: Math 1/2/3, Precalc, AP Calc AB, AP Stats
History and social studies: AP World History, US History, AP Psychology, Gov, Econ
Language other than English: Spanish 1/2/3
Visual or performing arts: Choir 1/2/3/4
Other: Comp Sc 1, AP CSA, Oceanography, Human Heredity
Awards
Published a research paper regarding detecting a common neurological developmental disorder using machine learning in Journal of Emerging Investigators.
Presented research paper at SCCUR conference.
2 singing awards for national/international competitions.
Twice presidential service gold award winner for volunteering work.
Extracurriculars
High School sports team for 4 years and captain for 1 year.
High School Choir for 4 years.
Trained Indian classical dancer for 11 years.
Volunteering for 6 years for a non-profit to help seniors, kids, and homeless.
Social media coordinator and part of youth led advocacy group for 3 years that strives to reduce tobacco use among teens.
Volunteer at memory care senior living center for 1 year.
Your UC capped GPA is below top 6 UCs’ 25 percentile, I would consider them reach for you. I would consider UCR and UCSC target and UCM safety. Maybe look into CSUs such as CPP and SJSU. Good Luck.
Based on Freshman admission by discipline | University of California and your 3.94 weighted-capped HS GPA, UCM, UCR, and UCSC look realistic, while the other UCs are less likely (not impossible, but should be considered reaches to high reaches).
Welcome to College Confidential. I agree with the other posters that UC Merced, Riverside and Santa Cruz are your best chances for the UC’s. Definitely consider adding a couple of Cal states to the list.
Here are the most current Biological Sciences admit rates that I could find. Since UCLA and UC Berkeley focus on the Uncapped Weighted UC GPA for admissions I have included the admit range for reference. The Capped weighted admit ranges are linked by @ucbalumnus under Freshman admission by discipline under Life Sciences.
Note the Freshman admission by discipline Life Sciences will include not only Biological Sciences but also Agricultural Sciences and Natural resources. Some UC campuses actually list their Biological Science admit rates which will be different than Life Sciences admit rate listed on the link.
Campus
Biology
UC Berkeley
12.9% for College of L&S Weighted Uncapped GPA admit range for the College was 4.20-4.79
UC Davis
43% for College of Biological Sciences
UC Irvine
30.4%
UCLA
11% for College of L&S Weighted Uncapped GPA admit range for Life Sciences in L&S was 4.40-4.74.
UC Merced
93%
UC Riverside
66%
UC San Diego
Selective Major Estimated 30%
UC Santa Barbara
32% for College of L&S
UC Santa Cruz
57% BA 68% BS
Cal Poly SLO
13% SLO GPA 4.12-4.25
Cal State Long Beach
57% CSU GPA 4.03
San Diego State
33% CSU GPA 4.04
San Jose State
CSU GPA of 2.5 needed to meet impaction index
Cal Poly Pomona
CSU GPA of 3.25 needed to meet CPP index for major
Overall Campus admit rates based on the Capped weighted UC GPA range and not major specific:
Thanks for posting the GPA ranges and acceptance stats.
As an outside chance, would the following give an edge in this process for UCD, UCSB or UCI?
Total no of courses and AP courses are more than avg. for these schools. Not entirely sure, but quite a few regular/AP/college science courses have been completed
Details:
10th and 11th Total Courses: 18 courses or 36 semesters
10th and 11th AP/College/Honors Courses: 8 courses or 16 semesters
Overall 9-12th courses: 29 courses or 58 semesters
Overall 9-12th AP/College/Honors Courses: 11 courses or 22 semesters
Science: Biology, Chemistry, Oceanography, Human Heredity, Biotechnology, AP Biology, AP Chemistry, Physiology and Anatomy, Honors Physics
Also, how much does publishing an original research in a decent high school journal matter or add on?
Don’t get us wrong. You still have a chance for UCD, UCI and UCSB. Yes. Your course rigor and EC will help you. We just want to make sure you apply for other UCs too and also some target and safety CSUs. So, you will have more options by next Spring.
The UC’s do a comprehensive application review so you will be reviewed within the context of what is offered at your HS, so your HS course rigor will help your chances.
GPA alone is not the only determining factor for admission so your Research, your PIQ’s, EC’s will all contribute and these are the subjective factors which you cannot easily quantitated or determined when chancing an individual.
As long as you are happy to attend any of the UC’s including UC Merced, you will have options. If you want more options then consider some Cal states or even some of the WUE schools if you want to look OOS.
Applicants for each UC will post their admission’s decisions on the Official Class thread. Here is a link for UCLA’s discussion thread from last year. You will have to scroll through all the discussions to see the applicant profiles.