A few questions from an average student (really average)

Applying to College
1

<p>Hi guys, this is my first post/thread here and first off I would like to say hello to everybody. </p>

<p>I go to school in a very big competitive public school, in Arcadia CA (near LA) ranked one of the top schools in California i think</p>

<p>Ive been in Arcadia since 7th grade, and I got OK grades Freshman year,
4 A's 2 B's</p>

<p>Unfortunately in my Sophomore year, because of job issues, we moved to Manhattan Kansas around August (school starts in august there)</p>

<p>Even more unfortunate, was the fact that around December I had to move back to Arcadia, where I did the worst I have ever done academically.
This was because of several factors:
Although it is against school policy, because of my good transfer grades, they signed my up for Chem H and Physics at the same time, also they signed my up for English (H) and I'm terrible at English
Because of the stress of moving etc. (I know im whining, but trust me it is hard) my grades dropped first semester sophomore year</p>

<p>English H - C
Physics A
Math Analysis(Pre Calc) - B
Chem H - C
Pe - A =)
Spanish 1 B</p>

<p>second semester I pulled it up to
English H B
Physics A
Math Analysis A
Chem H B
Track/field A
Spanish 1 B</p>

<p>First of all, can i write on my college app about moving and how it damaged my GPA quite a bit
I want to go to a good UC school so sophomore year is part of the GPA</p>

<p>Second of all how bad will this hurt me for Uc's especially UCSD</p>

<p>My schedule this year is:
AP Calc AB
AP Physics C
US History H
English regular
Spanish 2
Robotics</p>

<p>Competitive enough?</p>

<p>Thanks for any help =)</p>

2

<p>bumping up</p>

3

<p>I agree moving really sucks and has an impact. Especially due to the different level of classes and the different APs. For example, I already took all the APs my new high school offered at my old school. In retrospect I probably would have gone back and taken different APs.</p>

<p>I'm not sure they are going to cut you much slack because you moved. I'd focus on something else for your essay(I presume that is what you were referring to).</p>

<p>To be honest I don't know anything about the schools in California. But for the essay I'd focus on one of your strengths rather than trying making an excuse for your weaknesses.</p>

4

<p>I think you should mention the move and note how it affected your grades, but also explain how you have worked to improve them. How are your grades going to be for your senior first semester--that number will greatly affect the UC formula for admission. </p>

<p>Also, you might want to glance ahead on the UC application where they have a table and how to calculate your UC "score" (based on GPA, SATs,or ACT, SAT IIs, etc.) The chart will pretty much tell you if you are in range for that school. (Berekely had this--I assume the other UC apps did too?)</p>

5

<p>You may not need to make your essay about moving, but put that in the additional information section or something.</p>

6

<p>
[quote]
To be honest I don't know anything about the schools in California. But for the essay I'd focus on one of your strengths rather than trying making an excuse for your weaknesses.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I agree with this. You are walking a very fine line using your essay to explain poor grades. Take a look around CC and see how many kids plan to do the same thing due to divorce, moving, etc. I'm not saying these aren't valid reasons that your classes were affected, I just have my doubts that excuses go very far in college admissions. Added to this, you are giving up your big chance of showing the AOs something great about yourself in your essay, that's your place to shine and to be memorable. </p>

<p>See if you can have your GC mention a few words about the upheavals in your education and leave it at that.</p>

7

<p>Well Thanks for the responses guys, but actually i wasn't referring to my essay, I have heard about a place where you can put circumstances that affected your grades. And I was wondering how much weight this would have, so far it seems like very little. =(</p>

8

<p>I don't know. I heard they read them and it would never hurt to put it in if you feel like it is a part of you. I would just make sure not to use it as an excuse but rather as an obstacle.</p>

9

<p>You could write it in the "additional comments" box if you want to but I don't think it will cut you as much slack as you'd like because moving is simply not as dramatic as some people think.</p>

10

<p>Yeah Thanks guys, I did lose all of my furniture in the process, but to tell you the truth that didn't effect me that much, I guess I will try very hard for straight A's this year to make my UC GPA higher.</p>