<p>Hello, I am curious about opinions of the forums of my situation. I am currently 17 and on my way to be a senior in high school; applying to colleges soon. Unfortunately, I had a disastrous sophomore year consisting of many issues (family issues, personal) and I received a .83 GPA for my first semester and a 1.6 GPA second semester.</p>
<p>I fixed up my act and in my junior year, I earned a 2.8 first semester and a 3.3 second semester. My improvement has been progressive and I have even entered into AP classes for my senior year. I have read that admission officers take much more than GPA into account such as SAT etc. Here is my info for that stuff:</p>
<p>SAT Reasoning: 1810
SAT Subject US History: 720</p>
<p>I will also be taking the SAT Subject test for Literature.</p>
<p>I also have three college recommendations to be made from my junior year teachers who have gladly accept my proposals. My English, US History, club advisor (Liberty In North Korea).</p>
<p>Hoping to apply for UC’s, I have already begun writing up essays on the topic of my improvements. I will also be applying to Cal Sates.</p>
<p>Basically, my questions are: what are my options? do I stand a chance with UC’s, let alone Cal States?</p>
<p>But, there are always exceptions and admissions officers will listen to what you have to say. Just be sure to keep a rigorous schedule during your senior year, and try to improve your test scores. (SAT/SATII) Be sure to describe the issues you had in your essay. (AND how you overcame them and how you have grown from that)</p>
<p>good luck</p>
<p>the CSU’s: probably, i think ur eligible. eligible = in</p>
<p>i think that a strong first semester in your senior year will go a long way in getting into CSUs. i would also recommend taking the sats again. you can’t change what happened as an underclassman, but that doesnt mean that youre hopeless. an upward trend and good sat scores (your sat II indicates you can boost your sat I score 100+) makes you a competitive applicant</p>
<p>i believe UCs have a requirement of a minimum 3.0 unweighted GPA throughout ur HS career… so you can pretty much count the UCs out… </p>
<p>CSUs are pretty easy to get into so u probably have a shot their but if i were to tell u ur best course of action i would say you should go to a CC then transfer after however much time ur supposed to spend… ur upward trend will help u and if i were u i would apply to a lot of private colleges because they are more likely to listen to your story than UCs or w/e publics u apply to</p>
<p>Retake your SATs, trying to atleast score above 2000+, then maybe your drastic improvement may change the officials mind. Just make sure you try your best man. Don’t forget to earn only straight A’s,</p>
<p>The site, [Uchance.com</a> - Calculate your percent chance of acceptance at dozens of colleges and universities in the U.S.](<a href=“http://www.uchance.com%5DUchance.com”>http://www.uchance.com), will give you your percent chance of getting into the UC’s if you enter in your SAT and GPA. Try retaking the SAT’s this fall and get the best possible grades first semester and you’ll have a chance at some of the UC’s.</p>
<p>Take a community college class or a summer school class at a UC this summer, get an A, and then include that on your application for your UC gpa… that will help raise your overall gpa in time for applications. The UC application has a special circumstances section on it so you do not have to use your essay/personal statement (s) to talk about the reason for your poor grades if you wish to highlight something more positive there. I think any increase in your SAT’s will be good, but I do not think you necessarily need to hit 2000- even 1900 would be a great score for many Cal State schools. You will not likely be getting into the top UC’s, but you probably have a chance at the lower UC’s and some of the Cal State’s. With any luck, you will get a supplemental application from the UC’s that have them and that will allow you to submit a letter of recommendation and your first semester senior grades. And, you just never know until you apply! Good luck.</p>
<p>I don’t know, but on the UC website it says that there are “admissions by exception.” Here is the quote from the website.</p>
<p>"If you don’t meet the regular admission requirements, you may be eligible for Admission by Exception. You will have to demonstrate your ability and potential to succeed at the University.</p>
<p>Request for consideration for Admissions by Exception should be discussed in the personal statement portion of your application for admission."</p>
<p>I know that UC Berkeley or UCLA is implausible, but I am looking to apply to UCR, UCD, UCM, and possibly UCI. As for Cal States- San Bernardino, Los Angeles, Fullerton, and San Luis Obispo.</p>
<p>I’d really be happy to get into any of them, really.</p>
<p>It may be a bit hard, but with the right explanations of your circumstances and improvement of GPA, and maybe additional courses online/community college, with good SAT scores, etc, etc…</p>
<p>Like I said: try to put your circumstance in a explanatory manner either through your essay/counselor in a way that shows you have gone through hardship and yet overcame it (shown through improvement of grades).</p>
<p><em>EDIT</em> <em>YOU CAN PROBABLY SKIP MOST OF THIS IF YOU READ BARTLEBY’S POST</em></p>
<p>a .83 GPA… if u had 6 classes would be 5 Ds and 1 F… difficult to attain it is considered legendary to some… but it is possible… seriously though…</p>
<p>i could understand situations where this is possible… your parents had a nasty divorce, you got into the wrong crowd, you’ve started to fix yourself up now and were able to get that 2.8 and that 3.3… </p>
<p>the thing is the only way for a UC to even consider you is if you put up something like a 2000 on your SATs keep that 720 in US and then pull a 740 on your Literature test the “lower UCs” will actually probably accept you… eligibility if you dont make the GPA cut off is here:</p>
<p>that is purely off of standardized tests if you wanted to gain admission… my SAT scores alone wouldnt gain me entrance into a UC even though my SAT is my selling point to most colleges (poor SAT scores for CC standards)</p>
<p>but to gain acceptance you really make them think it is not your fault while humbly accepting all fault</p>