Even for non-UC like USC, a private college, which is my daughter’s friend dream school, she didn’t get in.
When you first said no one to talk to, no person you know went to an American college, I thought your were an international. Later you refer to living in the US, counselors- and obviously your teachers went to college.
For CS/CE, the most competitive colleges, will see the calc C+ grade. The competition is fierce with kids who didn’t have the pothole. They may wonder if you are too aggressive in taking it in 10th. They also won’t care so much that you ran the robotics web site (or even were president,) as much as what you accomplished with the team (and that doesn’t mean always winning.)
If you’re serious (meaning, this is your goal, not someone else’s for you; no sense driving yourself under if it’s not,) you need a Plan B strategy to make up. It’s not the usual found a club, be a president, get a better grade in BC. Right now, you’ve given us a list of activities. But what does that list translate to? Whats your stretch, your impact, what shows you have some sort of vision (beyond admissions and wanting CS/CE?) Think about it and let us know. You have 2 years to fix this.
And don’t be depressed. The tough colleges like kids with grit, resilience, etc.
UCB will be a reach with your GPA when you consider all the other kids applying with higher GPAs. You don’t need assurances right now, you need to work your butt off if you want to gain admission to a school that looks at GPA and test scores as the primary criterion in its applicants. If you are taking BC next year, you would be wise to review what happened in AB, and not just purely blame it on your homework.
UPDATE:
Well, my GPA is still having an upward trend, which is good? And I scored a B in my first semester of Calculus BC! IF everything goes according to plan, my UC GPA will end up with 3.9 before submitting for colleges.
As for college tuition, my parents and I have saved up enough money so that I can attend a college $70K or lower per year, so I am happy about that.
Also, I got an internship at a major tech company, so that is another boost in my EC, and I am also the administrator of my robotics team.
After going through all the college visits in California, I had a change in heart and I really want to attend USC for Computer Science/ Computer Engineering. Do you know my chances to get into this program - lots of my friends are telling me that I can easily get in, but looking at the stats, I am starting to doubt if this is true or not.
Put a thread in the chances forum.