Hi! I hope someone can help me with a few questions I have about UCLA. I’m really curious about my chances of gaining acceptance for the fall of 2016. First, I’ll tell a little bit about myself. I am a current junior in high school, and my cumulative weighted GPA is a 4.33. My school is one of the most prestigious in the state, so I assume that will help my application in some way. I hope to continue the upward trend for the remainder of this year and into next year. I just took my SATs for the first time – didn’t do as well as I hoped – 1310/1600, 1900/2400. I am really involved in my school’s extracurriculars. I am a part of the Science Olympiad, Academic Bowl, and Spanish Club. I am also a part of a nationally-ranked “TEAMS” (Tests of Engineering Aptitude, Mathematics, and Science) team (3rd & 9th in nation). I am a member of my school’s chapter of the National Honor Society. I recently won an art award from the Scholastic Art and Writing Competition. It earned significant recognition - 2 Gold Keys, 2 American Vision Awards, an article in Scholastic’s magazine, etc. I have also taken 5 APs/7 honors courses up to this point, and am scheduled for 5 more APs for next year (senior year). I also won the National Spanish Exam’s Junior Travel Award, an award in which recipients travel to a Spanish-speaking country for 1 week, all expenses paid. I was one of 24 in the nation. Also, I am a two-sport varsity athlete: football and basketball. I volunteer at three organizations in my free time. I think that covers most of it. I am seeking any insight from current/past students, or simply anyone who has some sort of knowledge of the admissions criteria. Any tips? How do I stand based on my current grades/scores/extracurriculars? I am a resident of Delaware.
Can your family afford close to $55K/year for UCLA? As an OOS applicant, you will get little to no financial aid and minimal merit aid if you qualify (usually top 1% of applicants). You are on the right track but impossible to tell until you finish Junior year. UCLA only uses 10-11th grades for the UC a-g courses to calculate your GPA. Your SAT will need to be close to 2100+ for a good chance, so you would need to retake.
Here is the UC GPA calculator and a link to the UC a-g course requirements. Make sure you meet all the requirements or your application will no be considered. Good Luck and come back at the end of Junior year for a chancing. For the UC GPA calculator, only AP/IB courses count for the 8 semesters of Honors points for OOS applicants. UCLA will also used a fully weighted GPA along with capped weighted GPA.
@jvcc923 My understanding is you’re a rising senior, correct? Your SAT score is low, have you considered the ACT? You may find you will perform better; I know many students who have. If you can afford some quality test prep for even just a few sessions it can help you a great deal on the test taking strategy regardless of which test you choose. What field of study will you apply for? Are you trying to squeeze in through a tiny door such as engineering? Nursing?
Congratulations on all of your additional accomplishments, that is quite a list! Focus now on test prep and you can push your score up where you will be more competitive; I believe you can do it.
Hello, I’m a current incoming freshman at UCLA and so I know a lot about how stressful your senior experience can
be! It’s important for you to know that nothing guarantees admission to UCLA, high test scores are a positive, but they won’t give you an easy road to acceptance. It seems like you are definitely on the right track to become a well-qualified candidate, but you need to take the ACT! If you feel that your SAT is low (especially as an OOS), you should try the ACT as you might find it easier as I did. Your extracurriculars are spot on and you seem very involved! UCLA looks for well-rounded students so that’s a definite plus for you! To be honest, I wouldn’t really bring up where you went to school, I don’t think it will help/hurt you, it just isn’t relevant for acceptance. I graduated from a high school in the Central Valley in one of the poorest counties in California, and did not bring it up in the application. You don’t want to seem like you deserve acceptance based on where you went to school. In your case, you don’t want seem elitist and deserving of acceptance because you went to a well-ranked high school. I don’t think that will go over well in a public school setting, maybe private schools though! The UC system wants to accept a wide range of students from all walks of life, so maybe talk more about yourself than the highly-ranked high school you went to! If you plan to major into the College of Letters and Sciences, then your major is NOT impacted and will not influence your acceptance/rejection decision. If you plan to apply as a nursing, engineering, or architecture major then don’t even waste your time applying to UCLA, you won’t even get waitlisted. Also, you should really consider applying to in-state schools as well. You might realize that the cost of an OOS is really too much. As a California resident, the UC system is more affordable and caters towards students across the state before any OOS students. I’m not saying you shouldn’t apply to OOS schools, just make sure you have a wide range of options to pick from. Hope this helps and good luck!