Help me add to my college list!

College Search & Lists
1

Hi guys

I need help adding some safeties and matches to my college list.

SAT: 1300
GPA is truly my weak point(and a large one) as fresh/soph year I was horrible. Cum. is at 2.8 rn. Junior year however I ranged from a 3.16-3.33.

Also, I’ll be graduating with 30 GE units.

Plenty of existing ECs + more to come

Major: Pharma and/or finance(haven’t researched if you can minor in this)

So far I have these on my list:

UofSF
Santa Clara Uni
UofIL Champaign(lots of family alumni)
USC
CalTech
UNLV
Cal Poly
Occidental
Northwestern

2

If you are CA resident, you should apply to a lot more CSU schools(SLO is a real reach). You should skip Caltech and Northwestern, in my opinion, they will be wasting of your time and money. you do not have a safety schools in your list, so locals CSU should be your safety.

3

@artloversplus thank you for the reply. Why would they be a waste of time?



I am a CA resident but have not put an CSUs on my list mainly cause of how everyone says they are hard to transfer out of, which is what I plan on doing after finishing undergrad studies

4

Caltech and NU turn down so many 4.0 gpa and 1600 SAT applicants that why they will look at you? Your statement of getting all As in your Sr. year means nothing to adcoms.
If you want to transfer into UC, then prepare to go to CCC is the right thing, however, only 1~2% of the CCC students successfully transfer to those High level UCs.

5

I only see UNLV and maybe Univ of San Francisco being within range based on your stats. Not sure about Univ of IL.

If you plan to get an undergrad degree, then you do not transfer out of a college. You complete your BS/BA and then apply to graduate school for Pharmacy or MBA (finance). If you are leaning toward a 0-6 pharmacy program then your GPA will need to be even more competitive than the stats posted.

SLO: Reach (average GPA 4.01 weighted/ SAT 1390
Cal Tech: Super Reach (average GPA unweighted 3.9+/SAT 1500+)
USC: High Reach (average unweighted GPA 3.82/SAT 1400+)
SCU: Low Reach (average unweighted GPA 3.73/SAT 1300+)
Occidental: Low Reach (average unweighted GPA 3.71/SAT 1300+)

CSU’s are a great option and affordable so you first need to post your unweighted GPA for 9-11th cumulative and also calculate your CSU/UC GPA.
CSU/UC GPA calculator: https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/

6

@Ballestlavie, do you have a guidance counselor you can work with to pull together an appropriate list of schools to take a look at?

7

@artloversplus there’s always a couple admits that get in with some stellar essays and a compelling love for what they are going into the school for, I may just be one of them. I know that’s a little to no chance but who knows. I understand what you’re saying though.


8

@Gumbymom thanks for the reply.



Other than CSUs, what other schools are some good matches as well as safeties? Also, do you have any suggestions for 0-6 programs?

9

@Chembiodad I do but he’s not very helpful. There are only two counselors at my school and they have to cater to 400 students each. So it sort’ve leads to a lack of quality for a lot of students.



Also, my school has a tendency to push students toward the TAG program and I’m keeping that at the very last resort

10

http://www.aacp.org/resources/student/pharmacyforyou/admissions/admissionrequirements/Documents/PSAR%2017-18%20Table%201.pdf

11

@Gumbymom thank you!

12

@Ballestlavie, I hear you as our DD’s had a school population of 1700 with 425 per class and only 6 guidance counselors so parents had to become experts themselves.

13

Check out University of the Pacific for their pre-Pharm program.
They also have wonderful, hands-on business programs.

14

@hop I’ve already looked at them and really do love the program, but the location is a huge drawback for me. Thanks for the suggestion though!

15

Doesn’t OP need 60 units to apply to CSUs and UCs though?

16

@philbegas I’m coming out of high school with 30 units

17

bump

18

Oh dual enrollment.

19

Any help with finding some near safeties, safeties, and matches?



Financially, I don’t have much of a problem. I would like to be in a urban city so that I can experience life a little.

20

With your low-ish GPA I recommend looking into at least a couple CSUs for back-ups. I don’t know anything about pre-pharma, but SFSU would meet your criteria of being in a city, it’s a good school, and it has business.