3 Cs second semester sophomore year

Pre-College Topics High School Life
1

Hi,

This past semester, my sophomore year, (Spring 2015) I delivered poor grades. I was wondering if I still had a shot at the colleges I want to go to. Really looking to turn things around my Junior Year.

UCSC
UCI
UCSD
UCLA
UCB
University of Michigan
Cal Poly San Louis Obispo

Reach schools:
UCB
Stanford

Background:
Filipino Male
CA high school, 4,000 students
Track and Field and Cross Country - If I stay on track, I will be a four year varsity letterman in cross country and 3 year varsity letterman in track and field
School Relay for Life program
~200 hours community service hours thus far

SAT/ACT
Took first PSAT this year w/o any preparation whatsoever

Projected Ranges:
Critical Reading - 490-590
Mathematics - 600-700
Writing Skills - 520-630

Taking Kaplan ACT/SAT workshops this summer

Freshman Year
Spanish 1: B/B
Asian American Ethnic Studies (1st sem.): A
Life Skills (2nd sem.): A
Honors English 2: A/A
Honors Biology: B/B
Honors Geometry: A/B
Athletic PE: A/A

Sem. 1
Weighted GPA: 4.166
Unweighted GPA: 3.666

Sem. 2
Weighted GPA: 4.07
Unweighted GPA: 3.5

Sophomore Year:
AP World History: B/C (teacher will raise grade 7% if 5 on AP test, 3% if 4 on AP test; results come July, possibility of A first semester and B second semster)
Honors Algebra 2: B/C
Honors English 2: A/B
Chemistry: B/C
Spanish 2: B/B

Sem. 1
Weighted GPA: 3.13
Unweighted GPA: 3.83

Sem. 2 GPA is not posted yet

Courses I plan on taking Junior Year
AP Environmental Science
AP Physics
U.S. History
Honors Pre-Calculus/College Math
AP Lang
Honors Spanish 3
Athletic PE

Really looking to step it up Junior Year. I’m just wondering whether or not I still have a shot at the aforementioned colleges.

2

@helpmeok you still have a chance under these conditions:

  1. If you work much, much harder next year. You can't let your G.P.A get much lower than it is now. Aim for As and Bs.
  2. If you continue your ACT/SAT prep and aim for scores that are above average. (You seem smart, so you can pull that off.)
  3. If you keep those AP classes in your schedule.

Don’t ever think you don’t have a shot. Apply. You are doing cross country, and that is a great extracurricular activity. If you can prove to colleges that you improved your grades tremendously, they’ll think you are an extremely hard worker, and will probably accept you.

Hope that helped!

3

For the UC’s, Freshman year does not count in the UC GPA calculation, only 10-11th grades. 3 C’s will probably hurt your chances at all but UCSC but you never know unless you apply. There are still many great schools where you have a good chance for an acceptance and you still have another year to turn around your GPA. Continue taking a rigorous course schedule, but make sure you get A’s in these classes. Keep with your EC’s.

End of Junior year, calculate your UC GPA: http://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/ along with SLO GPA (which does include 9th grades), post your test scores and EC’s and you will get a more informed chancing for these schools.

You can also look at the UC or school websites for the average UC GPA/SAT/ACT scores and what you need to be competitive. Averages from last years Freshman Class:

SCHOOL/GPA/ACT/SAT

UCSC: 3.82/1782/26
UCI: 4.05/1867/27
UCSD: 4.13/2018/30
UCLA: 4.17/2067/30
UCB: 4.18/2971/31

SLO: http://admissions.calpoly.edu/prospective/profile.html