UC's, GPA notsogreat (upcoming junior)

What Are My Chances and Matches?
#1

<p>It's early for me to be REALLY worried about applying but I'm already feeling the pressure so if not for the sake of seeing what i'll need to do, this is to relieve myself from the stress.
I'm an asian male CA resident going into my junior year of a competitive high school, and i still havent taken all the SATs so much of this is hypothetical. I'm going to realistically predict my GPA or SAT scores, maybe downgrade them a little. Okay so here goes</p>

<p>Freshman Year:
H English - A
AP world hist - A
Physical Education - A
H Math Analysis - A
Spanish 1 - A
Art Analysis - A</p>

<p>2nd semester:
H English - A
AP world hist - A
Physical Education - A
H Math Analysis - A
French 1 (required to take SP then FR in freshman year) - A
Art Analysis - A</p>

<p>Sophomore Year: time for a slipup
1st semester:
H English - B
AP Physics C - C
AP Calc AB - B
AP Euro History - B
H Spanish 2 - B
Tennis (gym) - A</p>

<p>H English - B
AP Physics C - A
AP Calc AB - B
AP Euro History - C
H Spanish 2 - A
Tennis (gym) - B
That's all i have right now.
Junior Year - expecting a B average but I'm hoping to kick it into high gear and even out my UC GPA.</p>

<p>HYPOTHETICAL UC GPA: 3.7
Otherwise, WGPA: 3.8, for the sake of prediction</p>

<p>AP Scores so far:
World History - 4
European History - 3
Physics C: Mechanics - 4
Physics C: E&M - 1
Calculus AB - 5</p>

<p>SAT I: didnt take yet but based on my SAT prep course, I should be getting 2100+, aiming for 2200+ by October</p>

<p>SAT II:
Math IIC - 740
hoping to get 700+ on 2 more subjects (US History + chem?)</p>

<p>ECs:
Varsity Tennis: 4 years (by senior year)
Tennis Captainship, hopefully by this year
Teach tennis for money
Interact 3 Years
Interact Chairman for Running Events 1 year
Interact VP 1 year (junior. I dont know if i can make pres by senior year so assume its a no.)
Speech and Debate 4 Years
Speech and Debate Secretary (hopefully VP by senior year)
Los Angeles Public Library Youth Council 4 Years - plans events hosted by the library for kids
CSF 1 year
Key Club 1 year (but i lost interest so i dont think i'll mention this)</p>

<p>Chances for:
UCB
UCLA
UCSD
UCI
UCSB
USC - I have a legacy from my mom through here, if that helps at all
NYU
Northwestern
UMich
Rice</p>

<p>and big reaches UPenn, Brown</p>

<p>and any other suggestions for schools i could look at for admission?</p>

#2

<p>Berkeley/UCLA: big reach
UCSD: reach
UCI/UCSB: match
USC: slight reach - high match (they love legacies, supposedly)</p>

#3

<p>Actually, UC's only count your sophomore and junior grades, so all those A's in freshman year mean nothing. They also only use a max of 8 weighted semester credits and only 2 (or 4?) can be from your sophomore year -- the rest are from your junior year.. Do really well this upcoming year..</p>

<p>EDIT: If I calculated it correctly, your UC GPA is a 3.2 if they use 2 weighted credits from your sophomore year and a 3.4 if they use 4 (but I am pretty sure they use 2). Tennis doesn't count in your UC GPA. However, add that to your difficult course load and high SAT scores, I would say that as of right now you have a great chance at UCD/UCI/UCSB and possibly UCSD. Bring up your GPA this year and you'll be in good shape.</p>

#4

<p>Ratroll is exactly correct on how they do the UC GPA. Adding only 4 extra grade points this sophomore year (so we can give you 4 next year), your current UC GPA is only 3.4 </p>

<p>You will need to get a 3.6 GPA (unweighted) in your junior year to average 3.7 UC GPA overall. (I'll explain how I got this some other time--just trust me on this for now).</p>

<p>Presuming you can do this (and get a 2100 SAT I)--your odds are as follows:</p>

<p>UCB/UCLA--Reach
UCSD--Match to Slight Reach (closer to slight reach)
UCI/UCSB/UCD--Match
USC - Match to Slight Reach (closer to match because of the legacy)
NYU--Slight Reach
Northwestern--Reach
UMich--Slight Reach
Rice--Reach
UPenn--Big Reach
Brown--Big Reach</p>

<p>You really need to have at least a 3.8 to 4.0 (UW) in your junior year to have a shot at NYU and Michigan--and to firm up your chances at UCSD.</p>

<p>Best of success.</p>

<p>P.S. Not to be negative here--just a realist--if you don't get the great SAT and you don't get better grades your junior year than you did this past year, then UCSC or UCR are your matches.</p>

<p>Oh, and all of the above presumes that you live in California.</p>

#5

<p>Your really gonna need to get your GPA up if your gonna be looking at UC Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD, NYU, and Michigan. Even with a 2100, if your GPA doesnt rise up from a 3.4, they are all long shots.</p>

#6

<p>alright thanks a lot for replying. I appreciate the honesty and realistic predictions</p>

#7

<p>You would have to get As in your junior year to make up for your Sophomore grades. Make sure you study and take the SAT, ACT, and SAT subject tests in your Junior year and the the first part of your Senior year.</p>

#8