Also taking suggestions for other schools, I’m still not totally familiar with a lot of options. I’m considering going into some type of engineering or computer science, I realize these schools are really competitive but I won’t be heartbroken if I don’t make it in. My original idea was to apply to reach schools and then if I don’t make it into any of them, then go to community college, as my mom wants me to go to CC while my dad wants me to go straight to a 4 year. So that’s my compromise.
Male. White. Upper-middle class town with great and competitive public schools.
My #1 would be UC Berkeley, which also is most likely the one I have the least chance of getting into.
My grades from 9th-11th. I realize my C in AP Chem both semesters will not look good. The summer from 10th-11th I took a summer US history course to make room for my physics class. Received a 5 on AP Spanish 4, 3 AP English Language, 4 AP Chemistry, 5 AP Psychology. Senior year I will be taking Athletic PE, AP Computer Science, AP Calculus BC, AP Biology, AP Government/Econ, PLTW Intro to Engineering, and Sr English/Social Justice
SAT: 1870/2400 (Will be taken new one later this year but will actually be studying for once)
SAT Subject tests Math II and Chemistry: Hoping for 700+, already studying for it.
ACT: Also will be taking later this year. Realistically, a 30 but hoping for 32+.
W GPA: 3.93
UW GPA: 3.73
UC GPA: 4.04
Extracurriculars:
Football for 9 years - Captain in high school 9th, 10th, 11th, and most likely this year.
Volunteered 3 separate weekends over a year to building houses in Tijuana
Volunteered spring break 2014 to fix up a church and run a vacation bible school
Volunteered 2 weeks running a vacation bible school in my hometown (Not actually religious anymore, but figured this showed some leadership positions)
Volunteered as a flag football coach for little kids for 10 Sundays and worked for money as one for a week
Was chosen by the school's leadership program to participate (along with around 20 others) in a program that raises awareness for drunk driving for 3 days (basically a realistic simulation of what would happen if we, as students, had been killed by a drunk driver, with a video and graves around the school to make it more realistic)
Peer Advocate (A club) - 12th grade
Engineering Club - 12th grade
Astronomy Club (With the city) 11th-12th grade
Worked as a barista at a coffee shop for 8 months, 16 hrs a week
Worked as a cashier for 5 months, 11 hours a week
Worked alongside my dad on and off doing handyman jobs like moving furniture, installing fans/lights, nailing, sawing wood, etc for around 5 years
And I guess my most unique one is working as a Beekeeper from March - Present. This is my friend's dad's company that he has been starting up and I have been apart of. We started off with a few dozen hives and will be expanding to around 1250 hives by next year and selling honey commercially sometime in the next month or two. I will be taking a sort of management position, leading a group of 4 and training them while my friends manage the other groups of 4. I have helped start/manage the social media page, take pictures/videos for the website and hopefully soon will be able to help with coding for both the website and the app we are developing to keep track of all the hives.
Internship during summer and possibly will continue doing for a couple of months learning C# and helping code for a robot that will climb up a field goal posted and record the football field. Also might help with developing the app for statistics and live feed during the football games and maybe with the servers. Hopefully this will be integrated into my very own school and many others sometime this year. The company is trying to compete with others like Hudl and Gamechanger.
Sorry if everything is a bit cluttered, I appreciate any sort of criticism/advice and will answer any question. Thanks
Your going to need to really bump up your test scores to be competitive for top tier UCs like Berkeley. For Cal Poly Pomona I’d say you’re a match (for comp sci major), but SLO is going to be a reach because your test scores and GPA are well below the average for the major. See for yourself: http://admissions.calpoly.edu/prospective/profile.html
UCM: Safety
UCR/UCSC/CPP: Match
UCD/UCI/UCSB: High Match-Low Reach
UCSD: Low Reach
UCB/UCLA/SLO: Reach
I agree with @uclahopefull that you need to bump up your test scores to have a solid chance at any UC’s other than UCM/UCSC and UCR. CS is probably the most competitive major at these schools and SLO/UCLA and UCB have below 10% acceptance rates.
You have some very good EC’s and your UC GPA is solid but could be better for CS. EC’s have minimal impact for CPP and SLO.
I appreciate the replies. I’ll definitely take these tests very seriously, thanks. Reading these forums and going on Reddit has made me realize the length at which people put themselves out there in terms of academics and EC’s, and it’s pretty motivating. Sadly only started realizing this end of junior year.
Since your interest is engineering and computer science I assume you’re interested in hardware? At Berkeley, you would be applying to EECS (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science) which is extremely competitive - 2014/15 acceptance rate of 7.85%
If you plan to be a software engineer you could apply to the College of Letters and Science at Berkeley. Although you can indicate an intended major, all applicants to L&S are considered in the same pool by admissions. The 2014/15 acceptance rate for L&S was 24%. To petition to declare the major you will need a 3.3 GPA in the required prerequisites.
On another note, not sure if this is worth another thread or not.
If I end up applying and only ended up being accepted in a college that wasn’t that high on my list, how hard would it be to transfer from that after 2 years into a better school? Basically, my dad has asked me to ask around if it would be easier to be accepted from a community college after 2 years or a less-prestigious UC. And also, if I transferred, would they still be considering my old SAT/ACT scores by then?
Money isn’t too big of an issue but if they are roughly the same chances I would probably stick with a community college.
California community colleges have an excellent transfer program for 6 of the 9 UC’s, using TAG (Transfer Admission Guarantee). CSU to UC or UC to UC transfers are definitely possible but the CCC transfer is the best transfer route and given priority.
UC’s accept Junior level transfers (60 semester/90 quarter units) so your HS GPA and test scores are not considered. GPA is the most important factor in transferring from a CCC.
You can use the following link to determine the average GPA required to transfer by major to each campus:
If you attend a CC in year 1, you should be able to apply to UCs that first Fall as a one year transfer, with all those AP units. But you’ll need to do alot of groundwork now – talk to Admissions at UCB, go to your CC’s transfer center now, read up on one year transfers, http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/uc-transfers/
and analyze Assist.org.
ETA: For CS and some engineering majors, you may find that it will require a very loaded first year at a CC.
However, engineering or CS majors tend to be more selective than the campus overall at most UCs. So the admission rate for engineering or CS applicants in that GPA range was likely significantly lower than that of the campus overall. So if a campus appears to be a match for you based on overall admission stats, it is probably really a reach if you apply for engineering or CS.
If you consider the CC->UC transfer route, use http://www.assist.org to see how well your local CCs cover the courses for your major at your target UCs (or CSUs).
For junior transfers to UCs, high school stuff is generally irrelevant, except for fulfilling some base level requirements.
One thing about going to CC is I don’t want my AP classes to have gone for nothing. Don’t get me wrong, I take them because I like the classes and I like the challenge, but I’m hoping that it can make at least a worthwhile difference at a CC in terms of credits/classes to take.
Be aware that each CC, UC, and CSU may have its own AP credit policy.
For IGETC certification purposes, the CC’s policy on AP credit for IGETC should be consulted.
For fulfilling specific course requirements for your major, or general education requirements if you do not complete IGETC or IGETC is not accepted for the specific major, the AP credit policy of the UC or CSU that you transfer to is the relevant one. Sometimes, the AP credit policy may be specific to a division or major; these may (but not always) be listed on the ASSIST pages.
Assuming you’ve got it right, I think you’ll get into UCM, UCR, UCSC with a competent essay. A very solid application and/or improved test scores will probably get you into UCSB, UCD and UCI while I think UCSD, UCLA and UCB will be a stretch.
In the Cal Polies - I think you’ll make Pomona and not SLO.
I’d encourage you to look at LMU and USD - both privates that may throw some merit money your way.
As for your CC plan - since it sounds like you’d be targeting UCB/LA/SD. you should know that they don’t participate in TAG (transfer guarantee program). Making it in as a CS major will, likely require a 3.7+ GPA - a taller order than you’d think (for CS in particular). I’d encourage you to open your mind to heading straight to a school like UCSC just to avoid the transfer complexity, hassle and risk.