Question (chances and commuting between UCLA and UCSD)

Colleges & Universities University of California - San Diego
1

<p>Hi,</p>

<p>My number one choice for college is UCLA, but I’ve been thinking quite a bit about UCSD, and it seems like a good pick because its strong in the things I care about (Sciences, and social sciences ie psych, political (correct me if I’m wrong about any of this)), and I love the Cali/near the beach location aspect of it. The only thing I am worried about is the lack of sports on the campus (which is why I like UCLA/UCB so much). Although I’m not the type that likes or wants to get crunk every night, it would be nice to be able to make friends that are interested in sports, or are at least willing to hang out and do something like watch a movie and stuff (btw, are these types of people present at UCSD?). So my plan, since I will get rejected from UCLA is to go to UCSD, and then commute occassionally on Saturdays or something to watch UCLA sports teams play. Would this work, or is it going to be too much of a hassel? </p>

<p>Okay, now for the annoying part…what are my chances of getting in?</p>

<p>Stats:
demographics:
*I am an Asian Indian Male (most likely won’t help)
*From a competitive public high school in Oregon: Beaverton High School, which was also rated the best AP school in Oregon, so yeah, its a smart school. (being from oregon isn’t going to help either)
*student body at school = 500+</p>

<p>The Numbers/ECs
*ACT Composite 30 (8/12 on essay )</p>

<p>-English 30 (Usage/Mechanics 15 Rhetorical Skills 16)
-Science 24 (ouch…my chances)
-Reading 31 (Social Studies/Science 17 Arts/Literature 15)
-Mathematics 34
(Pre-Algebra/Elementary Algebra 18
Int.Algebra/Coord.Geometry 16 (again ouch)
Plane Geometry/Trigonometry 18)</p>

<p>*Freshman year:
Language Arts (Honors): A/A
Social Studies 9: A/A
Advanced Algebra 2: A/A
Bio/Chem/Phys 10 (Honors): A/A
SAT Math Prep: A
SAT Verbal Prep:A
Spanish 1:A/A
Team Sports:A
Health 1:A
Web Design:A
Computer Programming:A</p>

<p>*Sophomore Year:
AP Chem: B/A
Lit Comp 10 (Honors): A/A
Physics 2: A/A
Pre-Calc: A/B
Social Studies 10 :B/A (can explain this B)
Spanish 2:A/A
Symphonic Band: A/A
Team Sports: A
Health 2: A</p>

<p>*Junior Year: (Projected Grades for second semester)
Human Anatomy: A/A
IB Biology: A/A
Spanish 3: A/A
IB Calculus: A/A
IB Psychology: A/A
Team Sports: A
IB Seminar: P (pass, no credit class)
IB English: A, B (Might be able to get A, but its gonna be hard)
Study Hall: P (pass, no credit class)
IB TOK 1: B (our TOK teacher is sooo hard!!)</p>

<p>IN SUMMARY: I should finish high school with around a 3.85, or at very worst 3.8 UW for fresh-senior year.
*I know however that stanford, UCs, and Umich weight grades differently, so this number should go down slightly for these schools</p>

<p>*class rank UW right now = 38/515. Weighted = 30/515 (will go up because not many kids have taken hard classes yet)
*IB Diploma Candidate (to be)
*NHS (2 years)
*Varsity tennis 4 years (will have 4) (possibly captain next season)
*Science Team 4 years (will have 4)
*World Quest Trivia 4 years (will have 4)
*Science Club Treasurer (1 year)
*Science Club VP (2 years)
*Math Club (4 years) (VP 2 years)
*Portland Youth Philharmonic (2 years)
*Mathfest Algebra 2 1st place freshman year
*Oregon Invitational of Mathematics Tournament Participant Fresh Year
*Mathfest Participant (will have 4 years)
*6th Place at World Quest out of 32 10th grade
*Oregon Museum of Science and Industry Rising Star Program (will have 150-175 volunteer hours done)
*Mathcounts Tutor (about 50+ volunteer hours)
*Want to major in either Economics, Math, Physics, but then go on to med school.</p>

2

<p>

I dunno if you’ve ever driven on the 5 between LA and San Diego, but it is absolutely the worst drive ever (because there are always eleventy billion traffic jams), unless you’re driving in the middle of the night. My home is in northern LA county, so I have to make that trip semi-often, and I avoid that freeway at all costs - I take a convoluted route involving the 15 and 210, which is quite a bit longer, but at least doesn’t jam up as often.</p>

<p>So, you could, but I sure wouldn’t.</p>

3

<p>Being a former LA resident and having gone down to SD many times to visit relatives, it is not as close as you think. Count on at least a 2 or 2.5 hour drive from UCSD to UCLA, which is located at the northwestern end of LA County. Once you reach Orange County, it begins to get heavily congested.</p>

4

<p>It’s totally not worth the wait on the highways to head up to UCLA. UCLA is in Northern LA, so yeah, have fun being in a virtual parking lot from Orange County to like Downtown. </p>

<p>As for your chances, I would say, given a really brief calculation via the point system, that it might be a slight reach for you. You have the EC’s down, and that will contribute around 1200 points to your total, but the OOS standard is 200 points higher than the average for in state. Also, what are your SAT II scores? Your ACT score would correlate to a 1980 on the SAT, which is minimally above average for the overall pool and probably average for the OOS pool. UCSD doesn’t practice AA as far as the point system outlines, so your ethnicity will not adversely affect your admissions.</p>

5

<p>pssh. iv driven the five at 2:30. still traffic >.< take the five to the 55 to the 22. then take the 22 all the way to the 405. then take that to ucla, although it gets super clogged around LAX. you could do this drive saturday mornings i think without too much of a hassle, its just getting back that sucks.</p>

6

<p>You know, you could always watch the UCSD games. There are some people who are really into the sports here.</p>

7

<p>im really into sports here and things are really on the upswing at ucsd. we are considered a top dii sports school and now compete with many D I schools in many sports, our athletic budget just increased from 2.5 million/year to 6.5 m, we just added $500 scholarship for every varsity athlete, and this january we hired the sdsu fundraising coordinator to bring in more corporate sponsorships. not to mention our women’s basketball team is in the d II elite 8 march madness. an altnerative to driving to ucla is to drive to sdsu and watch games there. its about a 15 min drive and though they are not as good as ucla, they have a good D I sports program.</p>

8

<p>california_love8, you’re absolutely nuts</p>

<p>nate</p>

9

<p>awwwww thanks nate dogg</p>