How will my SAT score affect my college admissions given these stats?

Applying to College
1

Hi, I’m a 16 year old Junior in high school. I live east of San Diego in a small town. I’m definitely not rich, and my family barely gets by. I have 4 sisters who live in my house, along with my grandfather, and my sisters fiance.I will be the first in my family to attend university. My mom is the only person in my family with college credits, but she does not have her degree. I am super involved in school and focus all my time there. These are my extracurricular activities, exam scores, grades, classes, etc. I’m particularly worried about my sat score and how it will affect getting admitted to college. (My school doesn’t so plus/minus grades)

Courses and Grades-
9th
Theater- A
Physical Education- A
Spanish- A
Honors English- B
Honors Algebra- A
Honors Biology- A
AP Human Geography- A

10th
Honors English- A
Honors Geometry- B
Honors Chemistry- A
AP European History- A
Physical Education- A
Spanish- A
Journalism- A

11th
AP Literature- A
AP USH- A
AP Physics- A
AP Computer Science- A
Honors Algebra II- A

(I could only take five classes because my school did not offer any other advanced or useful electives)

My senior year schedule is going to include AP Psychology, AP Biology, AP Economics/AP Government, AP Spanish, AP Stats or Calc, AP English Language, and Journalism. Over the summer before senior, I’ll be taking pre calculus, and a Spanish class at a local community college.

AP Exams (so far)
AP Human Geography- 4
AP European History- 3

PSAT-
9th- 840
10th- 940
11th- 1130

SAT-
(11th) 1150

I will be taking at least two more SATs as long as my scores improve. I will also be taking SAT II Math II, SAT II USH, and SAT II Biology

Extracurricular Activities-
International Club (4 yrs)
I was the Historian, Vice- President, and will be the President next year. I also created the club website for my school.

Academic League (2 yrs)
I am on the varsity team and earned my varsity Academic League letter. I may be the co-team captain next year.

Press/ Journalism Club (3 yrs)
I was a staff writer for my first year. I am now the advertisement manager. Next year I am set to be the Editor-in-Chief.

School District Theater Group (4 yrs)
Year 1- John Smith in Pocahontas
Year 2- Charlie Brown in Snoopy
Year 3- Elementary Actors Teacher (Helped teach elementary students lines, songs, choreography, blocking, etc)
Year 4- Elementary Actors Teacher (Helped teach elementary students lines, songs, choreography, blocking, etc)

Hospital Volunteer (3 yrs)
Help nurses, doctors, staff, etc, with clerical tasks, help discharge patients, help keep charts organized and ready for charting, interact with patients, answer phone calls, etc.
Became a new volunteer trainer my first year.

That basically sums up what I do right now in high school. I also have to help pick up my sisters, help tutor them with homework, basic family things. I want to attend a good college, like a UC, What are my chances at UCLA, UCSD, or UCSB. What colleges in California or the Western USA would be good for me. Thank You!

2

UC’s calculate their UC GPA based on your grades for the a-g courses taken in 10-11th. +/- are not considered by the UC’s, only the letter grade. You get 1 extra Honors points for any UC approved Honors courses, AP/IB or DE Courses taken during this time. All UC’s will consider your capped weighted UC GPA (max. 8 semesters of these approved Honors courses) and UCLA/UCB will also consider your Uncapped Weighted UC GPA with an unlimited # of these courses in 10-11th grades.

You can use the RogerHub calculator to determine your Capped weighted and Fully weighted UC GPA:

https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/

Also check this link for your schools UC approved Honors courses since not all Honors designated courses will count for the extra points: https://hs-articulation.ucop.edu/agcourselist/#/list/search/institution
Just enter in your HS’s name for the list.

Your SAT is on the low side for the UC’s listed. For the best chances you want to be at or above the average (50th percentile) in scores.

Here the 25th-75th percentile SAT ranges for each UC:
UCB: 1280-1490

UCLA: 1280-1500
UCSD: 1250-1470
UCSB: 1290-1450
UCD: 1190-1430
UCI: 1190-1420
UCSC: 1170-1380
UCR: 1090-1310
UCM: 1020-1230

Intended major can impact your chances also, since competitive majors will require higher GPA and test scores.

Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 3.80-4.19 (capped weighted) and not major specific:
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:

UCB: 42%
UCLA: 54%
UCSD: 87%
UCSB: 85%
UCD: 91%
UCI: 94%
UCSC: 95%
UCR/UCM: 98%

I would include UCR/UCSC to your list along with some of the competitive Cal States such as SDSU, CSULB, CSU Fullerton, Cal Poly Pomona and San Jose State for some other options. What is your local Cal State? San Diego State? If so, you get priority at your local CSU but since SDSU is so competitive, I would not count on it for a safety.

I would consider UC Merced or a Cal State like San Marcos as a good safety.

Best of luck, apply widely and keep working hard.

3

@devinvolden1 : You are an amazing person. Keep up your good work. You will have many options. You should apply to more UC schools (Merced, Riverside, Davis, etc. and several Cal State schools. Look at schools in Oregon and Washington too. Think about the University of Arizona, ASU and Northern Arizona University. There are many smaller schools that would love to have a student with your success, drive and family story. UCLA would be lucky to get you, but they had 117,000 applicants this year, so that one it a tough one to get noticed. There is a place out there for you. Keep on keeping’ on. Best of luck.