UC Chances?

Colleges & Universities University of California - Los Angeles
1

<p>Hey guys! I was wondering if I would be able to get into UCLA, UC Berkeley, or just UCs in general.
I have GPA of 4.3 weighted and 3.8 unweighted. </p>

<p>Sophomore:
AP World, H English, H Alg 2, H Chem, Spanish 2, Tennis
1st semester: B+ in English
2nd semester: all A’s</p>

<p>Junior:
AP Bio, AP Art History, Spanish 3, AP Eng Comp, APUSH, H Pre-Calc
1st semester: all A’s
2nd semester: all B+'s except APUSH (they were all 89% ■■■)</p>

<p>Senior:
AP Chem, AP Computer Science, AP English Lit, AP Econ, AP Calc BC</p>

<p>Needless to say, second semester of junior year pretty much fked me over in terms of my grades. SAT score of 1760 and just took one yesterday and expecting–hopefully–to get higher score. Haven’t taken the ACT yet. For extracurricular activities I am in key club (treasurer jr year and vice president this year), tennis, volunteer at local hospital, volunteer at library, piano, and was in marching band freshman and sophomore year. I have around 300 hours of community service. Got 3’s and 4’s on my AP exams. And if it makes any difference, I came from Thailand in 6th grade.</p>

<p>As for major, I can’t quite decide yet. I want to be a doctor, so the most logical choices would be either bio or chem. However, I do find AP Computer Science to be quite interesting and might major in computer science instead since it doesn’t matter what you major in for medical school.</p>

<p>So what do you guys think?</p>

2

<p>Engineering won’t afford you room to take the necessary bio and chem classes you need for the mcats so it really does matter what you major in from a time perspective.</p>

3

<p>Your chances are not great and not just those two top UCs. Perhaps it’s best to set your sight lower.</p>

4

<p>You should calculate your UC GPA and see where it is relative to each of the UCs acceptance data… They don’t count pluses or minus. With that many Bs in that one semester, I don’t believe it is as high as you have there, still pretty good, but not a 3.8/4.3. Google calculating UC GPA, there are a lot of links. You have to verify your honor/AP are recognized by UCs as well.</p>

<p>Regardless of GPA, you need a better SAT score, but even as is, I wouldn’t discount all the UCs, but UCLA, UCB and UCSD are extremely competitive. Good luck!</p>

5

<p>Don’t listen to people who tell you that your chances are not great. Anything is possible, I believe you can make it if you prove yourself in your personal essays. Also, UC’s use your soph/junior year GPA.</p>

6

<p>Don’t listen to high school kids who believe your essays will save you. It’s usually tie the whole application together. Check last year admit stats and you’ll find out. Kids with high stats have much better admit rates regardless of the essays.</p>

7

<p>Here are the Freshman 2014 Stats for UCLA. UCB’s are comparable if not higher. You can see for yourself if you are competitive. SAT is low, so consider retesting and calculate your UC GPA</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/prospect/Adm_fr/Frosh_Prof14.htm”>http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/prospect/Adm_fr/Frosh_Prof14.htm&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“GPA Calculator for the University of California – RogerHub”>http://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>You should consider UCSC/UCR and maybe UCI unless you retake the SAT or try the ACT.</p>

8

<p>Be aware, UCLA will weigh your GPA using the following criteria for each applicant: </p>

<p>a) How does your GPA compare to other students at your own high school who applied to UCLA. </p>

<p>b) How do you rank compared to other students at your own high school who applied to a UC campus.</p>

<p>c) How does your GPA compare to the entire pool of applicants who applied to UCLA during this application period.</p>

9

<p>So your unweighted UC GPA is a 3.73, granted you do have a pretty rigorous schedule. </p>

<p>But your SAT is WAY too low to be competitive for all UCs besides for UCSC, UCR, UCM and maybe UCI. </p>

<p>If you improve your SAT, UCB, UCLA will still be reaches (you need an UW of at least 3.75+ and 2050+ to be competitive at all at these schools), but if you can improve you SAT to 2050 you’ll be competitive at UCSD, UCSB, UCD, UCR, UCSC, UCI and UCM. </p>

<p>Also ECs and essays are a ~20-35% factor so UCB and UCLA won’t be totally out of reach if your ECs and essays are solid. </p>

<p>But remember SAT SAT SAT. </p>

<p>Good Luck!</p>