Hello,
I am currently on here to ask expert opinions on what colleges I should apply for and if I might need to ask for letter of recommendations later on this year.
Here is my profile:
Senior graduating class of 2016
-Current GPA: 4.24, might go to around 4.17
-SAT score: 2050
-Will take the ACT and my average so far has been a 30, but might fluctuate.
-Notable SAT subject tests: Math 2-750 Bio- 670 (will retake)
-Interested in the engineering department, specifically computer science, mechanical, or structural engineering.
-I have some experience with comp sci internships with a nonprofit needing help with the website.
-President of SAT prep/tutoring club
-4 year member of local orchestra (violin)
-4 year member of Education in Action Club- tutoring K-8 in local library
-Notable AP Scores- Calc AB,BC-5 Physics M-4 Bio-4 APEC-4 Chinese-4 APUSH-3
-I intend to take intro to comp sci (have gone over basics in C programming already), Physics e/m, and stats this year.
College preferences:
-Currently residing in California, would like to stay on the west coast, but open to others and would prefer publics.
-Interested colleges: UC Berkely, SD, LA, Irvine, Davis, Santa Barbara, Riverside. CalPoly SLO. USC maybe.
University of Washington, University of Texas-Austin??
What I am currently worried about is the picking and admission process. As far as I know there is UC Apps and Common Apps, but some schools are done separate on their own websites. And what should I be doing with Letter of Recommendations.
Thanks so much!
Is there someone at your high school who has the position/role of “college counselor”? Make an appointment and bring these questions with you.
That is definitely something that I will probably do, but I would also like to hear opinions from a forum that has an infinite amount of different types of ideas and knowledge. I just felt that this is another good tool.
Talk to your parents about what they will contribute, and run the net price calculator found on the web site of each college that interests you.
No UCSC among the UCs?
@bennyl98, the “picking” is the most important thing you need to do at this point. It’s important that you not only pick engineering schools you’re interested in, but also a range of schools to make sure you’ll have options come April. That means taking into account (1) how selective the school is and (2) how competitive an applicant you are.
You might find this link helpful with regard to getting the picking right:
https://www.college-kickstart.com/blog/item/rightsizing-a-college-list
By the way, I’m not sure if your stated GPA is the UC GPA or the GPA calculated by your school. If the latter, make sure you convert it to the former; it’ll help you gauge your competitiveness at the UC campuses, just look up their freshman admission profiles at the UCOP site.
Good luck.
There are different gpa values to consider. One is just your UW gpa on a 4 point scale–if there is no scale then there is no way to interpret gpa. That is the basic unit. Then you have UC weighted capped, and weighted uncapped.
If you are looking outside CA at public schools, all of a sudden you are paying OOS tuition supplement. So while you will pay 14k tutition for a UC, for UW you would be paying 34k for just tuition and fee at UW (istate student pay 12). You won’t get aid at many places OOS, not UW or Austin, so that is something to consider. What is your budget and what is your EFC?
It does look like my weighted GPA is the 4.24 and the unweighted is 3.90. Are my colleges a realistic view? For now I am not really considering Texas and USC anymore due to the expenses. Washington would be a financial reach as well.
You have excellent grades and a strong SAT. You would be in the running for a merit scholarship at Washington, which have been as much as $7,500 to $9,000 per year in recent years. As an OOS US resident, you are automatically considered for the merit scholarship by applying for admission.
You seem to have a lot of UCs on the list, have you ever considered a CSU as a safety?
I have heard good things about the engineering department at Cal Poly SLO and it would be a CSU. That seems to be the only one I am considering. Would that be a decent safety?
Cal Poly SLO Engineering is not a safety. I think UCSC, UC Merced and UC Riverside are all good safeties for the OP. I think his 3.9 GPA and 2000+ SAT score means that he doesn’t really need to consider CSU’s like CSUF or CSULA as safety options.
Can you specify what you mean by it not being a safety (do you mean that it isn’t a safe safety or that I can aim higher) and what OP means? How does the ELC program play into my need to find a safety outside of the UCs, since I don’t know if I am chosen until after I apply.
OP-means the Original Poster—you
Safety: Your stats are above the 75th percentile (you can find this by googling it) and the school is not very selective at around a 40% admit rate and higher. Also, you must be able to afford a safety school.
Another version of a safety could be a college where you are guaranteed admission with certain stats.
Should the ELC program play into my desicions for safeties?
If your are ELC eligible, then UCM mostly likely can be your safety and there really is no reason to spend the application fee to apply. UCM will contact you by email in the off chance you are shutout of all the other UC’s in which you applied. UCM would only be a safety if you really want to attend and can afford it.
It seems like I am at the 75th percentile for mostly UCR, UCDavis, UCSB, maybe even Irvine. So my targets are UCSD and UCLA. My reach would be UC Berkely. Correct me if I’m wrong. This seems like a decent plan. Should I think about more targets or am I at the right spot since I know I should have 6-8 picks
I would say UCR is your Safety, UCI/UCSB/UCD are probably matches. UCSD would be a High Match and UCLA would be a High Match/Low Reach along with UCB. Although you are at the average or above in stats at many of the schools, Engineering is always more competitive than the average. Many like UCLA/UCB/SLO have 10% or less acceptance rates for many of the Engineering majors.
Oh i see, so the major whether it’s impacted or not will definetly be something that I need to consider as it does affect the accpetance rates.
UCSD admits into the University first, then the major, so you could get admitted to UCSD but not into your major. You would then have 2 chances to try to change majors at UCSD if impacted such as Engineering. For UCSB, if you do not include an alternate major and you are not accepted into your 1st choice, you are placed in Undeclared.
Each UC will accept you into your major differently. Some into the University, some into the specific school and some directly into the major. You need to check out each school of interest in how they determine their admissions.