so trying to figure out a plan of action in my current situation: low uw gpa (3.65-3.8 uw range), good grades every other semester, perfect test scores, great ec’s and reasonable accomplishments, great essays, and teacher recs that are likely to be very good (English and calc teachers) as well as other great recs from research mentors. Every long time member on this site seems to emphasize that uw gpa is king and it happens to be my weakest thing. I’m trying to figure out ways compensate for this weakness and still be in the running. I know those schools are reaches for everyone, but I at least want to make it past the first round and get me a second read.
Plan of action:
- Get off of this website.
- Get high A’s for your second semester in all of your classes to make up for the crappy first semester.
- Get 5’s on any of your AP exams to prove that your bad semester was a fluke.
- Know that this will still not guarantee you admission into one or any of these schools.
- Compile a list of colleges including safeties and matches that you would love to attend. Be realistic. It is true, your GPA matters. I suggest checking out WPI.
- With emphasis, get off of this website. The replies that you are writing are more like essays. You can be spending your time learning Spanish so you can improve your grade! Don’t say that your grade in Spanish doesn’t matter because it has nothing with what you want to study. Most people aren’t going to study their foreign language in college (as a major), but I bet the vast majority of people applying to top schools have A’s in their foreign language classes.
@sciencenerd definitely shooting for 90+ in each class this semester so I’ll get a 4.0 on my report card. AP exams are hard, but I’m trying.
definitely will try to study Spanish better. I have a 64 right now cuz of the awful test grade and I want to get it to a 90.
I think I’m gonna apply to 25 schools. Probably gonna start in august to ensure my essays are amazing cuz I think that might be the make or break for me. I’m thinking 15 reaches, 8 matches, and 2 safeties (bottom UC’s which have >60% acceptance rate). I want to apply to so many reaches so i have a decent shot of at least getting into 2 or 3 of them. I don’t want to completely put them aside, so i’m working on making up for this blip semester in every other area. i know it will be hard, especially since my ethnicity will hurt me, but i think there’s a chance. Wpi looks like a nice match, but very expensive. Unless I get into one of my reaches, I need to go to a uc.
UCs are excellent schools! Please keep that in mind when you are making these kinds of posts.
@7eeer33 I know and would be so stoked if I could go to UCB, UCLA, or even UCSD. Just saying that I feel that if I can’t get into one of those top privates, I see no other options except UC’s. They’re extremely affordable and probability some of the finest educational institutions in the world.
I’ve always thought that UC admissions are pretty predictable and algorithmic but I’m not sure. But I do know that UC’s prioritize gpa over all else, but I’m not exactly sure what percentage of the decision they consist of. i know people who’ve gotten into eecs at Berkeley and rejected at every private. They had pretty much perfect numbers but no extracurriculars. What baffles me is that EECS has a 6% acceptance rate and mit has an 8%, yet cal is supposedly easier to get into. Are these numbers skewed at all? And do they even care about extracurriculars? Will mine help me or will the effect be negligible? I mean I have a lot of programming experience. But I feel like everyone applying will have a lot. Also, does interning in the EECS department increase my chances? I’ve heard it helps immensely, but I can’t say for sure.
UC GPA of ~3.8 is pretty low for them. For top UCs, the admission averages are 4.1+
Data for capped weighted UC GPA. 2017 data not yet available.
Freshman admit rates (2016) for UC GPA of 3.80-4.19:
UCB: 14%
UCLA: 14%
UCSD: 44%
UCSB: 54%
UCD: 58%
UCI: 65%
UCSC: 85%
UCR: 94%
UCM: 96%
Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 4.20 or above (2016):
UCB: 42%
UCLA: 54%
UCSD: 87%
UCSB: 85%
UCD: 91%
UCI: 94%
UCSC: 95%
UCR/UCM: 98%
@billcsho that’s unweighted. Weighted and capped is ~4.0-4.1, but that’s because there’s an 8 honors course limit and I decided to take all those online cc courses. Uncapped is ~4.5.
So pretty much I’m hoping that my ec’s and test scores will make up for a somewhat lacking gpa. Will they help for UCB or UCLA or is the gpa just too low?
When people talk about UC GPA, it is weighted with their formula, or it is not called UC GPA.
@“Prestigious Nerd” Congrats on starting off the second semester with great grades.
No one has a crystal ball to provide you with the reassurances you are looking for. I do think that the C, especially in physics, is going to hurt you at all the highly selective schools on your list. I personally know of one student who had a significant hook in addition to very high test scores whose application didn’t make it through the admission pre-read because of one C on his transcript. (I am not going to list the school, but the school is on your list.)
I am not saying that you don’t have a chance at the highly selective schools on your list, because I have no idea. However, your odds are extremely low. Make sure your list also includes some match schools where you would be happy to attend.
Focus on enjoying your last 18 months of high school. Do your best and try to stop worrying about admission results that are beyond your control.
GPA is probably the most heavily weighted factor in UC admissions.
Many of the “UC disappointment” stories in April are from applicants with higher test scores but lower GPAs than the profiles of their target UCs.
Of course, applying for more selective majors makes your chances even less for the more selective UCs.
@shuttlebus should I retake the class at the community college to prove I mastered the subject?
I know the second round is highly unpredictable, but would you say I can at least make it past the first round, which 50-60% of applicants do, with my stats? Or will I appear unable to thrive at these colleges because of these grades?
@ucbalumnus what gpa would you say is necessary to be competitive for engineering at ucb and ucla? I assume my weighted is fine, but it’s my unweighted that I’m a little iffy about. Also, do they look at the transcript and the individual grades to check for academic preparation like the privates, or will they just discard my app immediately because of the low uw gpa? That way, I’ll appear as a normally straight A student who fell down in the middle of high school and got back up. I kind of want to use the whole falling down and getting back up story in my additional info essays. I’ll acknowledge the problem and give myself some blame for it and demonstrate how it’s not representative of me. And even though gpa is the most important thing, can a lower one be compensated for in other area for UC’s?
@“Prestigious Nerd” Where did you get the stat that 50-60% of applicants with your gpa make it past the first round?
I didn’t realize colleges released that sort of information, and even if they do, what difference does it make? At the end of the day, all that matters is whether or not you were offered admission.
These colleges have more qualified applicants than seats. Many students are rejected with stats much higher than yours. I do think a C in physics will raise a red flag about whether you can handle the courses at the schools on your list. I am not saying not to apply, but I am suggesting that you also apply to schools that are good matches for you where you have great odds of being admitted.
@“Prestigious Nerd” Just to be clear because I keep seeing ranges, what is your current actual UW GPA from grade 9 to the present? And do you know what decile you fall within your high school class? (Have you seen your school profile?)
It may be hard to wait, but don’t count your GPA chickens until they’re hatched.
You will be competing against numerous applicants with 4.0 unweighted GPA in hard courses (probably 4.3-4.4 weighted capped, probably 4.6+ weighted uncapped).
@shuttlebus I’ve looked online and many graduates from these colleges who are also interviewers have posted these statistics on quora. One in particular is Tom Stagliano, who seems to be the go to guy for MIT.
Will they see the overall semester as a fluke if I do better the next the next two and score 800s on my subject tests and 5’s on my AP exams? Also, do you think I’ll need my counselor to provide an explanation? However, I’m taking college level math courses (e.g linear algebra, discrete math, planning on doing multivariable calc, differential equations, and analysis this summer) online through online community colleges, so will this prove academic prowess? I have about a 95 in the ones I’m taking so far and should get A’s.
@evergreen5 my current uw gpa from 9th grade to this point is a 3.73. Excluding 9th grade, it’s a 3.63. my school doesn’t rank, but based on what I’ve seen in the past, I’d assume I’m at the bottom end of the first decile (maybe top 7-10%).
@“Prestigious Nerd” As others have already said, no one can give you definitive answers to your questions. Try to focus on your classes this semester and stop worrying about college admissions. There are a lot of great colleges out there that will be happy to admit you.
99% of college graduates never went to an elite tech university and they get high paying jobs just the same. Computer degrees are very employable. Stop obsessing over it. School brand name is the most useless, overrated thing in the tech world, especially with a bachelors degree. If high school seniors knew what professionals know about college brand name, MIT would be a forgotten liberal arts college. Get the best grades you can and just get into a school you like. It’s not where, but HOW you go to school, and it starts with attitude.
Do you guys think it’s necessary for me to retake the course? There might be a way to retake it over the summer and the new grade replaced in my gpa, but it’s a long process and I’m very busy over the summer. I know that I can get an a this semester and an 800 and a 5, but a c is still a c. This grade is probably the worst part of my application and I want to do whatever I can to remediate it.