Yale? UCs? Please?

Chance Me / Match Me
1

I’m entering senior year. My dream school is Yale, also considering UCLA and UC Berkeley among others but I’d like to know my chances for those schools. Thanks so much, I really appreciate it!

Academic:
SAT - 1900 (will improve to at least 2200)
ACT - 31 (will improve to at least 33/34)
Subject tests - haven’t taken yet, do I need to if I’m submitting the ACT only?

APs - Psych (3), Euro (4), Calc AB (4), Art History (5), Language and Comp (5), World History (3), Studio Art (3)
I will have taken 13 APs by the time I graduate. I’ve gotten 3 Bs and the rest As in the past two years.
I took Arabic classes at a Cal State junior year, and am continuing them into senior year.

GPA - 3.83 unweighted, 4.83 weighted
Rank - In top 40 of class, exact rank unknown/unavailable.

Awards - Principals Honor Roll (4 years), teacher award for best student/highest grade (4 times), History Day Competition state competitor (2 times), Mastery of the Arts award at school art show, AP Scholar with Distinction

Extracurriculars:
-Link Crew leader (Freshmen orientation & guidance) (1 yr)
-Attended CSSSA (competitive summer arts intensive at Cal Arts)

Volunteering:
-Volunteered at a selective hospital (3 years/over 200 hours)
-Key Club (over 30 hours)
-CSF (volunteer organization/4 years)
-Global Aid (volunteer organization/3 years)
-Local bookstore that provides resources to prisoners seeking GED (4 years)

Job/Work Experience:
Freelance artist (4 years, 30+ commissions)

State: California
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Arab/Armenian
Gender: Female

2

any insight is appreciated dearly!

3

Even if you can pull your standardized test scores up, your chances at Yale/UCB/UCLA don’t look very good.

All those 3’s on AP scores may send up red flags. In addition, your GPA and rank are low.

However, that doesn’t mean all hope is lost! By all means, apply to these schools, but remember they’re highly selective and you’re competing against some of the most accomplished kids in the world. And of course, make sure to apply to other, safer places.

4

No chance at all for Yale or UCLA in my opinion. UCB is still a strong reach. I would look into the lower UC’s, you’d have a much better shot there.

5

Your standardized testing and ECs are a bit weak, but you have a 3.8+ GPA so at least that might be a little in your favor (keep in mind a lot of kids applying have 3.9 or 4.0s). I’d say Yale is a very high reach, UCB a reach, UCLA low reach. Good luck!

6

shadyconcepts - That sounds about right to me; I know a lot of people less qualified than I am who got into UCLA so I was a little bit disappointed by the other responses. I’ll take everyone’s thoughts into consideration, though (thanks for them).

7

Yale is a Reach for everyone.

Average UC GPA/ACT/SAT scores for:
UCLA: UC GPA:4.18 ACT:31 SAT:2064
UCB: UC GPA:4.19 ACT:31 SAT:2094
Compare your Stats to the averages for comparison. Both are tough admits but also need to figure in EC’s and essays which could give you a boost. Good Luck.

8

Yale is a reach for everyone, but with your GPA and test scores (even at a 2200), it is a high reach.
How many people are in your class?
UCB/UCLA are both reaches, but given their increasingly holistic admissions, they’re not impossible.
I agree with @tigerrocks13, plenty of UC’s besides LA and Berkeley.
You would have much better chances at the rest of the 7 UC’s.

Also, what are you majoring in?

9

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Also, what are you majoring in?

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This is important to discuss. UC is under a mandate to graduate people as quickly as possible, and your application will be stronger if you (1) declare a major, (2) state that you want to do research, and (3) tell people that you will graduate in 4 years.

There are plenty of people with higher marks that throw dice and hope that they’ll be admitted undeclared. Don’t do that.