Demographics
- US domestic
- State/Location of residency: California
- Type of high school (or current college for transfers): Rural high school
Cost Constraints / Budget: None
Intended Major(s): Pre-Med, Biology
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
- Unweighted HS GPA: 4.0
- Weighted HS GPA: 4.4
- Class Rank: Not available
- ACT/SAT Scores: Not taken yet
List your HS coursework
*Math: AP Calculus (grade-A)
*History: AP Euro History (grade-A)
*EnglishCollege English 1A (grade- A)
- Language other than English: (including highest level completed) French 3
- Visual or performing arts: not an artist type, so hasn’t taken any arts classes yet
- Other academic courses: Forensics, Bio-Med, Bio of Human Body, Leadership, Speech and Debate
Awards
Distinguished Honor Student every semester
All Academic Team Far West Ski Racing
All Academic Team Varsity Lacrosse
Extracurriculars
-Leadership High School Senate
-Volunteer at Hospital and Humane Society
-Ski Coach
-Lifeguard (summer)
-Headwaters Research Project 2024, published in Journal of Emerging Investigators - project focused on plant based diet for generalized anxiety disorder
-U of Chicago Emerging Rural Leaders Program 2023
Schools
She is still not totally sure, as she is a first-semester junior, but she has visited or has an interest in the following in-state schools:
UCLA
Berkeley
UCSB
UCSD
Stanford
Out of state:
CU Boulder (I am an alum here)
Brown
Harvard
Columbia
But she’s very open to other options because I know most of these might be considered a reach. Her school counselor is not a huge help, and we haven’t linked up with a professional college counselor. Her teachers LOVE her, so her LORs would be great. She’s trying to be the school salutatorian. I’m not sure what other info to provide. Thanks!!
- Assured (100% chance of admission and affordability):
- Extremely Likely:
- Likely:
- Toss-up:
- Lower Probability:
- Low Probability:
She is currently taking APUSH, AP Bio, AP Chem, and AP Lang
In my opinion, this is a very top heavy list.
I would strongly suggest she start looking for colleges where she has a very strong chance of acceptance, that she likes, that you can afford. Find two of those first, then build the list up from there.
Right now…most of her colleges are in the reach category, with a couple of possible matches. No sure things that I see.
@AustenNut your thoughts?
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If she is willing to apply only to CA publics, and happy to go to one, then she really does not need to take the ACT or SAT, which will remove a TON of stress from her life, and allow her to concentrate on her grades and ECs.
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What does “none” for budget mean? Does it mean you can afford $90,000 a year or more for college…and then another possible $100,000 a year for medical school?
You don’t have to answer here…but it should be food for thought as you navigate the undergrad college search.
And if you give us a little more info…like how far from home is she willing to go, for example, folks can give you some suggestions.
I would suggest she look at Arizona and University of New Mexico…both places where she is likely to be accepted with merit aid.
Any chance she is a NMSF?
The UC’s calculate out 3 UC GPA’s (unweighted, capped weighted and uncapped weighted) using only 10-11th grades so she needs to wait until end of Junior year to determine where her GPA stands.
https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/
Most of the UC statistical data such as admit rates based on Capped weighted UC GPA will be updated sometime in Late January/February 2025 for the Fall 2024 admits.
UCLA and UC Berkeley will focus more on the Unweighted and Uncapped weighted UC GPA’s while the rest of the UC’s will use the Unweighted and Capped weighted UC GPA’s.
She has time, but it is very important to identify some Extremely Likely schools where she would be happy to attend and none of the schools on the list fit that category for the moment.
UC Capped weighted GPA 2024 AND Overall Admit rates
| Campus |
UC Capped weighted 25th-75th percentile for admitted freshman |
Overall Acceptance Rates |
| UC Berkeley |
4.15-4.29 |
11% |
| UC Davis |
4.00-4.26 |
42.1% |
| UC Irvine |
4.04-4.27 |
28.8% |
| UCLA |
4.20-4.30 |
9% |
| UC Merced |
3.41-4.04 |
91.7% |
| UC Riverside |
3.66-4.15 |
76.4% |
| UC San Diego |
4.10-4.28 |
26.8% |
| UC Santa Barbara |
4.13-4.29 |
32.9% |
| UC Santa Cruz |
3.87-4.22 |
65% |
For the UC’s, only UC Berkeley will consider LOR’s by invitation only.
She will need to take a year long Art course by end of Senior year for the UC requirements.
She is on the track so she needs to keep up the good work.
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Juniors haven’t taken the NMSQT yet.
Exactly… BUT she does need to take a year long arts course, or those UCs can come off of her list. An arts course is required for all applicants.
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Yes, this is good to hear re: (SAT and ACT), and yes, she ideally wants to be somewhat close to home.
Hi! Ha ha re: budget. We’d love for her to get financial aid, so hopefully she will. But we have a good college fund set aside for her. As of right now, she wants to ideally stay in California. The UC system is incredible, and I don’t see why we would look elsewhere, but I feel like it might be wise to apply to some out-of-state schools as well. She is interested in the East Coast, and we have family there (New York/Massachusetts.) Her original dream college was Brown (I don’t know why.) She visited Harvard (loved) and Dartmouth (did not love) the last time we were back east. Lately, however, she has been very focused on attending California schools.
Yes, yes, she will be taking arts. It’s also required for her to graduate from her high school. She has recorded music and writes music so I’m thinking that will be her arts focus. There are some music classes she can take at her high school.
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I’m unsure what you mean by uncapped and capped and unweighted. I’m afraid I gave you the wrong info on her GPA. She has received straight A’s all through high school so far. She has taken three weighted classes (two AP classes and 1 college level English weighted class) and received A’s in those classes. So, I’m trying to determine what her unweighted GPA would be in this case.
I think her unweighted is 4.19 and weighted is 4.4
Totally agree! But the UC’s are also extremely competitive, which is why she may need to apply to them widely, not just the top UC’s. I think her rural status may help.
The rogershub calculator will give you all of her UC GPA’s but you’ll need her junior year grades for it to be accurate.
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No, this is what the calculator just showed:
Unweighted GPA: 4.00
Weighted GPA: 4.19
Weighted and Capped GPA: 4.19
Congrats!
Weighted= Uncapped weighted so unlimited # of Honors points for eligible courses taken 10-11th grades. Maximum GPA of 5.0
Capped weighted is a maximum of 8 semester of Honors points 10-11th grades. Maximum GPA of 4.4.
UC approved HS Honors, AP or UC transferable CC courses can get the Honors points.
Since she is a Junior her full UC GPA’s will not be known until the end of the year.
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You are fortunate to have a wealth of wonderful public universities in CA. I just think the CA publics on her current list cannot be counted on for admission…she should look at the many other options as well, and come up with a couple that are more realistic for admission.
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I will also list some major specific admit data for the UC’s and some of the top Cal States below. As the 2024 data becomes available, I will update the information.
Admit data does reflect the competitiveness of the applicant pool especially if the campuses admit by major which some do not.
| Campus |
Biology |
| UC Berkeley |
12.9% for College of L&S |
| UC Davis |
41% for College of Biological Sciences |
| UC Irvine |
30.4% |
| UCLA |
11% for College of L&S |
| UC Merced |
93% |
| UC Riverside |
66% |
| UC San Diego |
Estimated <20% Selective major |
| UC Santa Barbara |
32% for College of L&S |
| UC Santa Cruz |
57% BA 68% BS |
| Cal Poly SLO |
13% Impacted |
| Cal State Long Beach |
57% Impacted |
| San Diego State |
33% Impacted |
| San Jose State |
56% Impacted |
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The F requirement for the UC system is very strict. Visual and performing arts requirements means that she needs a graded year-long course in the same discipline.
My children completed their requirement by taking AP Art History and they also took orchestra.
If she’s going to take music it needs to be a class that continues for the year.
I didn’t see whether or not she had a math course listed for this year?
At our high school the visual and performing arts classes filled up fast. The popular sections were the first to go.
From the UC website:
Honors-level VPA courses will be demonstrably more challenging than non-honors courses, and will fulfill the following criteria:
- General A-G honors-level course criteria.
- Will have as a prerequisite at least one year of college-preparatory work in the discipline or comparable (alternative) experience that includes the California Arts Standards for Public Schools, Kindergarten Through Grade Twelve (Arts Standards).
- Or, the course may be open to students who have not completed the prerequisite college-preparatory work but whose preparation in the art form is at a high artistic level and who can demonstrate comprehensive knowledge in all five component strands of the art form.
- Alternative entrance into the honors-level course shall be by audition/demonstration and a standards-based content exam (oral, written, or portfolio/performance).
- Require in-depth written assignments that demonstrate student knowledge across the component strands and related arts standards.
- Include a variety of individual assessments with a comprehensive final examination in the form of a recital, production, analytical/historical paper or exhibition, and that will include a written component (in the case of a recital, exhibition or production) and post-performance presentation as the culmination of their “capstone project,” as well as other assessment tools appropriate to the five strands of the art form, and representative of high levels of analysis and self-evaluation.
- Dance - Capstone projects:
- Will include a written analytical or historical research document that may be presented to peers in either a classroom or public forum.
- May include, but are not limited to, sophisticated choreography, advanced written and oral research and analysis, advanced kinesthetic mastery, and historical and/or performance knowledge of many genres of dance.
- Music - Capstone projects will:
- Include, but are not limited to, solo and/or small ensemble performance, score analysis, musical composition and/or arranging, critical analysis of individual performances by others, and critical self-analysis through portfolio development.
- Given that some musical traditions do not support solo and/or small ensemble performance, an alternative capstone would be a more in-depth paper and presentation detailing elements of their specific cultural tradition.
- Include a classroom or public presentation of a document related to the project, with content either analytical and/or historical in nature and demonstrating the student’s engagement with music they are creating and/or performing.
- Theater - Capstone projects will:
- Require students to demonstrate artistic leadership. Collaborative skills continue to be essential in students’ work, but the honors distinction is that the individual is responsible for organizing others to complete a theatrical performance project (e.g., by serving as producer of the project or chief of a major area of production).
- Include a post-performance analysis.
- Visual arts - Capstone projects:
- May include, but are not limited to, compiling a body of work at the mastery level in a particular arts medium (e.g., produce an artist website, produce a film salon, curate a gallery exhibition), or written research and analysis of a particular genre, style, or historical period.
- Will include critical self-analysis through portfolio development, solo exhibition of original work and post-exhibition classroom or public presentation about the exhibition experience, or a presentation of the research and analysis project.
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