Ambitious, Smart But Balanced Student Seeking UC (or Similar Priced) Biology/Health related Major

[MrCheapo]

Hi

My daughter is on paper a white non-hispanic (in reality she is a mix of Asian and Middle Eastern).

We have always live in California and she will graduate from a Cali high school.

She would prefer to enroll directly in a UC rather than doing the Community College Route

Her intended Major is biology or something health related

Her current GPA entering into her Junior year is 4.2 (weighted) but her rank is about 100 out of 400. Her unweighted GPA is about 3.9

Her greatest “failing” is that she is balanced. She does well at school but will take only 4 AP classes (already taken 1) because she wants to continue to do her art, hang out with friends play competitive sports.

So a few questions:

a) If she maintains a weighted GPA of around 4 does she have a chance at getting into a UC Bio program?

b) What are other “easier” to get into Bio/Health realted degrees at UC?

c) If she doesn’t get into a UC first time around is the community college transfer route is an option but are their other high quality education options whose cost will be comparable to a UC (about $40K a year including room and board). We have allocated about $200K for her education but the lower the better.

[Gumbymom]

Her weighted GPA is the UC GPA Fully weighted or Capped weighted?
UC’s consider 3 GPA’s: Unweighted, Capped weighed and Fully weighted and using this calculator will give all three GPA’s: GPA Calculator for the University of California – RogerHub

UC’s only use 10-11th grades for the a-g course requirements.

How is her HS rigor? What does she plan to do with a Biology major? Medical School? Dental School?

Biology is impacted at the majority of the UC’s and does not have a great ROI when it comes to post grad jobs if Medical school/Dental school etc… do not happen.

What other areas does she show interest? Public Health, Bioinformatics, Biostats are far more marketable but may require Grad school also.

I have some admit data not major specific for 2020 since 2021 numbers are not out based on the capped weighted UC GPA. Yes, a 4.0 will make her competitive for several UC’s but there is 12 other areas of criteria that the UC’s use in their application review although academics is Very Important.

2020 Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 3.40-3.79 capped weighted and not major specific:

UCB: 2%

UCLA: 1%

UCSD: 8%

UCSB: 9%

UCI: 9%

UCD: 17%

UCSC: 59%

UCR: 65%

UCM: 95%

2020 Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 3.80-4.19 capped weighted and not major specific:

UCB: 14%

UCLA: 8%

UCSD: 39%

UCSB: 40%

UCD: 55%

UCI: 38%

UCSC: 82%

UCR: 90%

UCM: 97%

2020 Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 4.20 or above capped weighted and not major specific:

UCB: 37%

UCLA: 38%

UCSD: 78%

UCSB: 81%

UCD: 86%

UCI: 60%

UCSC: 92%

UCR: 97%

UCM: 98%

2020 UC capped weighted GPA averages along with 25th-75th percentile range:

UCB: 4.22 (4.13-4.30)

UCLA: 4.25 (4.18-4.31)

UCSD: 4.16 (4.04-4.28)

UCSB: 4.15 (4.03-4.27)

UCI: 4.11 (3.96-4.26)

UCD: 4.11 (3.97-4.25)

UCSC: 3.94 (3.71-4.16)

UCR: 3.88 (3.65-4.11)

UCM: 3.68 (3.40-3.96)

https://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/how-to-apply/applying-as-a-freshman/how-applications-are-reviewed.html

Class rank is not a consideration for the UC’s except for ELC eligibility (top 9%) and she will be evaluated in the context of her HS.

There are no “easy” major admits for the UC’s but UC Riverside, Merced and Santa Cruz could be very good target schools.

I would also look into some top Cal states such as San Diego State, CSU Long Beach, Fullerton and the Cal Polys SLO & Pomona.

If graduate/professional school is in her future, keeping Undergrad costs low will be helpful.

Does she have SAT/ACT scores? Private schools of interest might be Occidental, Chapman, University of San Diego, Loyola Marymount, Santa Clara to name a few.

Much will depend upon what she wants to do with her Biology/Health related degree after Undergrad.

[NCalRent]

she looks competitive for most of the UCs. That said, as you can see from the admit rate b GPA band - competitive doesn’t equal admitted.

Apply to all that interest her - I agree -also include several CSUs
I’d add a Chico and Sonoma to consideration list. They are highly likely admits and have great residential 4 year student experience.

Good luck