A couple of my dream colleges are UCSD, UCLA, and USC. However first semester of junior year, 3 of my As dropped to Bs because of finals (I had been dealing with heart problems and illness). Here are my grades a follows.
Honors pre calc 87.2
Apush 88.9 (I was mad when I saw it)
AP lang 86.8
AP chemistry 82.4
Will a straight a second semester make up for my terrible first semester?
In what world are those grades terrible? You had health issues. Ask your GC to indicate in the letter of rec that you had x and y medical problems. Work hard to get your grades up. Calm down. You were sick. It’s not like you were ditching class and going to the beach. You are not doomed.
You need to elaborate about your health issues in your essays. Adcoms are not machines. They are humans with hearts!
Im also an asian who is a resident, which greatly hurts my chances. I want to get into USC, but losing 3 A’s to the final exams wrecked my overall gpa which is arguably the most important admission factor. I’ve taken the act twice, and the scores were a 30 with a 9/12 on writing, and a 33 with a 10/12 on writing. Will a good act and essay make up for a mediocre gpa? Also will they really understand if I elaborate my health issues in the application? (heart problems, high blood pressure, had a flu and mono around that time)
dude chill
@jj1999 Your ACT score is more than average for USC (ACT 31 is the average btw) and you needn’t worry about that part of your transcript if you show improvement later and are able to explain your situation clearly through recommendations or some indications from your teachers, counselor in any other form. Maybe you can use this as a narrative for one of your essays, try to add detail to how you managed things in a serious situation such as one concerning your health. You’ll do fine on these grounds if you maintain a positive outlook and better if you divert attention to other important things. Plan this out, up your game! Best of Luck! 
Yea sorry if it sounds like im panicking, when I wrote this post, I was stressed as fuck and was worried sick for myself. Probably because I’ve heard ppl with perfect gpas or high ones get rejected from the schools i wanna get into, when my overall gpa dropped to a 3.5 uw and a 4.01 w from my first semester.
is a 4.1 weighted gpa enough to get into UCLA, UCSD, or UCSB
For 2015;
Freshman admits with UC GPA of 3.80-4.19
UCB: 12%
UCLA: 14%
UCSD: 39%
UCSB: 49%
UCD: 52%
UCI: 57%
UCSC: 83%
UCR: 90%
UCM: 92%
This is just based on GPA. Remember your application is more than GPA/test scores but HS course rigor, essays, EC’s and that all important intended major. Take a look at the decision threads from this year and you will see many qualified applicants shut out of the UC’s. Make sure you have a couple of safety schools on your list that would be willing to attend no matter what happens in the admission process.
Alright thanks! Yeah again, I’m sorry if I was freaking out, but I wrote that around a time when I was stressed out to no end and faced health issues. My grades are better than first semester for sure, so I’m praying that a first to second semester improvement helps my application. Thanks for everyone’s support
Mono and flu are significant but non-recurring health problems that I think that any human with a heart will understand. High blood pressure at your age is a hint that you might be pushing yourself a bit too hard.
You have great grades. From what I have heard 33 on the ACT is really good (we all did the SAT in my family). There are many fine universities. Chill. You will do very well.
And I do expect that a first to second semester improvement will help your chances, particularly when you had mono and flu the first semester.
Alright, thanks for the encouragement. My overall unweighted gpa has stayed the same throughout, but the 33 on the act should help (planning to retake for a 35). My extracurriculars are fine and I could find a way to spin them in my essay. I just think that GPA will be the one factor that screws me over. Will taking SAT subject tests help a lot too?
Sorry for the really late reply but I only said terrible since colleges won’t see the percent. They’ll only see that it was a B, and they were all so close (finals dropped them to Bs) so my 1st semester UW GPA was a 3.0 instead of a 3.75. That I think will ruin my chances of USC or the UCs if anything
Yes you are doomed…to be stressed out by overly focusing on grades.
My son is at any ivy. Admissions told him the gpa and test scores only have to be
over an acceptable threshold, and then they made the decision by recs and essays.
33 or 35 on act wont make a difference in those schools, maybe would impact merit money at
2nd tier schools. Focus on substance in your essays, not “spin”.
All they will see are the B’s which only results in a 3.0 uw first semester.
Update:
2nd semester grades:
H pre cal 92 (A)
AP chem 88 (B+)
AP us history 92 (A)
AP Lang 90 (a)
Junior year gpa:
Uw: 3.38
W: 4.38
UC gpa: 4.04
Overall UW Gpa: 3.46
Looks like I’ll have to go to cc, my GPA dropped junior year, so I don’t think colleges like that.