It’s my senior year in high school and I am currently taking 3 AP Courses this year. (AP Biology, AP Physics, and AP Calculus BC). Last year, I took Chemistry Honors, AP Calc AB, and English Honors. I have dedicated so much of my time so I can successfully be accepted to one of my dream schools as an undergraduate, which is either UCLA, or USC. I’ve been doing water polo ever since my freshmen year and have volunteered more than 100 hours for hospitals and fund raising programs hosted by my water polo team. I have also participated in clubs such as CSF for 4 semesters (You’re awarded a metal for volunteering for 4 semesters). I haven’t taken the ACT or SAT yet, so I’m preparing now so I can take it next month. What minimum score do you think that I will need to be suggested/qualified by UCLA? I have put in so much effort and hard work into my schoolwork, but I don’t know if I am qualified. Any opinions on whether if I will be accepted or not?
The higher the better. 2200+ will be ideal. Can’t know your chances without UC GPA and test scores.
Averages for In-coming Freshman 2015:
UC GPA:4.18 ACT:31 SAT: 2064
@Gumbymom If I am able to get a 2064 or above on the SAT, will I be considered by UCLA or USC including with what I said up there?
http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/infocenter
the UC Info Center (which replaced the old UC Stat Finder) shows admission to each UC campus breaking it down by various factors (i.e. school, ethnicity, GPA, etc.) and showing the number of applicants vs the number of admits.
This can show you the avg GPA of kids admitted to UCLA from your high school in previous years and information of the like.
UCLA will consider you if you hit submit on the application. The question isn’t if the activities/time you have are enough, it’s why you did them and what those activities meant to you. what did you learn from them, what did you contribute to them? Did you make the most of all the opportunities given to you…in terms of Ap classes offered, volunteer opportunities presented. And if not much opportunity was given to you, did you go out of your way to create your own opportunities?
Ask yourself these questions and more that will help you reflect on the past four years worth of activities and use them to write a killer essay. You know how many apps UCLA in particular gets (the most) and if you were an admissions officer reading hundreds of apps in a crunch time period, wouldn’t you most likely remember the kid with the essay that caught your attention?
your activities look similar to other high school kids applying (water polo is pretty cool though and potentially a thing that stands out for you), your scores might end up similar, as well as your gpa, but your essay can be the thing to set you apart.
edit: as long as that was I see it may be confusing so I’ll add an example. UCLA pays a lot of attention to GPA (which the UC info center will show) as the kids admitted from each high school have very high GPAs, compared to other UCs, but they’re not going to read your application and go “Wow studentuser1 has a GPA of 4.29, I’m impressed!”. They’re gonna go “his/her school offered 10 ap classes and he took 5…hmm.” (not making the most of the opportunities offered to you academically) OR they could go something like: “his/her school offered 5 ap classes, he took all 5, AND got a group of student together to petition for a 6th ap class… now i’m impressed” (creating your own opportunities).
TLDR—> UCLA wants to know that you’re the kinda kid who makes lemonade when you’re given lemons. Because if UCLA gives you admission (and access to all their lemons thereby), they wanna know that you’re gonna come and paint that shiiit gold.
@Schmosby the essay you usually write for UC’s are the personal statements, correct?
@studentuser1 Sorry my bad for not clarifying but yes exactly! I’m not sure if they’ve changed the prompts but as I remember from last yearnthere were two (1. the world you come from; 2. quality/accomplishment) and those two go to all the UCs you choose to apply to. There’s also an additional comments section but they suggest you don’t add an extra essay there but I know some people who did anyway.
@Gumbymom is that UC GPA capped or uncapped
UC GPA is just grades 10-11 and is capped with 8 semester AP bonus points.