Hello, I am on my second semester of my junior year in high school. The first semester of my junior year, i got 4 C’s in Psychology, Pre-Calculus, Physics, and U.S History. I know these are very important classes, but I was wondering: If I got all A’s this semester and the 1st semester of my senior year, will I be able to get into a University? My overall weighted GPA for grades 10-12 right now is a 3.1. Do you think I could get into a university that has an 60%-80% acceptance rate? I know I won’t be able to get into any UC’s, but could I still get into a university with a high acceptance rate? Please help me!! Thank you for your time!
It depends on a lot of factors other than GPA (test scores, activities, special categories). Look at a school’s profile and find the middle 50% for test scores and GPA. If you are in the middle 50%, you have a chance.
If you want to go to a school, even if you have a low chance, you can still apply. I would only not apply when you have a chance of 5% or below (you can check this on Parchment once you get there, or you could do it now).
You do have a shot at UC Merced, UC Riverside, and UC Santa Cruz. Any other UCs will be a reach UNLESS if your personal statements and extracurricular activities make you a very unique individual. You could get into the majority of CSUs and many other colleges.
But you need to know that there is no formula to get into top colleges. No top college wants a “valedictorian” who was just a robot throughout high school because they will not socially fit and other factors.
I have much lower stats than you but I got a supplemental from UC Los Angeles and UC San Diego. You can check their admission profiles if you don’t believe me.
I second this. Look up some common data sets for the schools that you’re interested in online. If you’re within the range that they admit, then you probably have a chance of getting accepted.
You’re right that no college wants just a “robot”, but most will expect that you excel both in and out of school to begin with. The OP’s WEIGHTED 10-12 grade point average is a 3.1, meaning her unweighted and UC GPA is likely below a 3.0. In other words, she’s not elegible for admission to ANY of the UC’s as they require a minimum grade point average of 3.0 to even be considered for admission. Source: http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/counselors/q-and-a/selection/
Supplementals don’t indicate that you’re closer to acceptance that someone who didn’t receive one. If you check on the supplementals or on the UC website, it clearly shows that any applicants who indicated that they had a disability or had to go through a significant hardship during high school that impacted their grades would receive a supplement.
In order for us to “chance” you you’d have to give us your unweighted GPA and your SAT/ACT scores. For now, start looking at CSU’s and private universities. You’re not eligible for UC admission if your unweighted GPA is below a 3.0 (although they’ll still take your application), but you can still be competitive for admission to other schools if your standardized test scores are high enough and your personal statement indicates why your grades took a dip.
“The minimum required GPA is 3.0 for California residents, 3.4 for nonresidents; this is the same at each UC campus. While there are no minimum test scores required, all applicants must complete either the ACT with Writing or the SAT Reasoning exams. Applicants should keep in mind that when selecting students, competitive campuses and programs look for applicants who have excelled academically.”