<p>Grades: Freshman
Lit/Writing B B
Geo Enriched B B
JAVA B C
PE 9 A A
Bio B B
Chinese 2 B C
Drafting B B</p>
<p>Grades: Sophomore
World Lit B B
World History B B
Alg 2 Trig D C
Weight Training A B
Chem Honors B C
Chinese 3 C C
AVID B C</p>
<p>Between Sophomore and Junior year summer.
US History A A</p>
<p>Grades: Junior Year (second semester posted grades are prospective)
Brit Lit B B
Pre Calc Honors B B
Bio AP B B
Photo A A
Teacher Assist A A
AVID B B</p>
<p>SATs:
SAT 1
Math 670 Writing 420 Vocab 600 (retaking in January)</p>
<p>SAT 2s:
Math: Taking in May
Bio: Taking in May</p>
<p>Extra Curriculars:
Badminton second semester of Soph + Jr year.
Intro to Psych taken at local community college (Final Grade: B)
Octagon (community service club) at least 80 hours
MV Digital Animation Officer</p>
<p>Extra Info:
California resident.</p>
<p>Academic (9-12): 2.844
Total (9-12) 2.944
Academic (10-12): 2.850
All GPAs are unweighted</p>
<p>Do I have a lick of a chance of getting into a UC? I am looking to study Psych.
In addition, two questions:
Would participating in a pre-college program (taking psych classes) at UCSD help my chances of getting into a UC?
Does having a D on your transcript automatically mean that UC’s will reject your application?</p>
<p>You are eligible for A UC school. You’re SAT’s need to rise considerably, if you want to have a chance anywhere besides Merced, which takes nearly everyone.</p>
<p>Hell, I’d be glad to get into any UC, let alone one with a good Bio/Psych program with your stats. I know stats don’t mean everything, and that I might have come across as harsh, but I’d be glad to get into Merced.</p>
<p>I compute your UC GPA at 3.125 with a SAT I score of 1690–meaning that if you have at least 500s on your two SAT II scores, you are guaranteed a spot at Merced–and you have a little better than a 50-50 chance at UC Riverside as long a you don’t pick a real popular major (like business or engineering). It looks like you are into digital animation and graphic arts, so I’d apply to UC Riverside in that–then you can look at Biology down the road. Also, UC Riverside is about 42% Asian students (the largest ethnic group at the school), so if that makes a difference in how comfortable you might feel, you can consider that statistic.</p>
<p>Believe it or not, you also have an outside chance at UC Santa Cruz–but only because they’ve had extra spots available the last two years. I’d apply there as an undeclared major (easier to get in) and then transfer over to either their Biology program (which is excellent–probably the best program at the school), to the psychology program (one of the two most popular programs at the school), or to their graphic arts program–because it’s a really good program at that school (I know because I live near Santa Cruz and get all the news about their film and digital animation programs). Keep in mind that you’ll need to work harder at that school because the average student has about a 3.55 UC GPA–but you did that well in your junior year, (just not your sophomore one)–so keep up that pace and you’ll be fine.</p>
<p>you have a decent chance at getting into Riverside, Merced , or Santa Cruz. Anything else would be a reach.
A D does not mean A UC will automatically reject you. I had a D in Algebra but retook the class in summer school and got a B.
i got into Riverside, Merced, Santa Cruz, and Irvine. On another note I had a similar grades that you did. But my SAT wiriting was higher.</p>
<p>If you go to a CA public school you can actually get your GPA recalculated by retaking classes. Replace a couple during the summer and you may make say Irvine with higher SATs.</p>
<p>Sorry for DP, but I also wanted to ask one more question. I know that AVID is a UC recognized course, and I was wondering if anyone knew anything about the benefits in the application process of taking AVID.</p>
<p>There is no “vocab” section on the SAT (it’s critical reading)…</p>
<p>Even UC Riverside would be a reach, according to their common data set (only 8% had GPA betwee 2.5 and 3.0). You should shoot more for Cal States, as the UCs usually admit those with a 3.0 or higher.</p>
<p>oh right, my mistake. What would be the chances of me getting into say, Cal Poly? Also, if I retake alg2/trig during summer (the course will be alg 2) would the UCs replace my alg2trig grade with that grade when calculating my GPA?</p>
<p>Cal Poly SLO is definitely a reach for you. It’s getting to be a very difficult school to get into. It’s equivalent to a mid-tier UC (UCI, Davis, UCSB) I know a couple kids who got in with okay grades but they applied to offbeat majors and I think their GPA was higher than yours. Not sure on the replacing the grade if you take over the summer.</p>
<p>All I would say is that you should pursue the activities that you most enjoy and not pursue them in the order that you hope will impress the colleges you hope to get into. It’s not worth it. Get involved in things you enjoy, join some other clubs, or heck, even make one if there isn’t one already for a certain interest.</p>