Any Chance?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Irvine
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<p>Hey guys, </p>

<p>What do you think my chances are at getting into UCI?
I am a Junior in a rather competitive high school in California.
I am hispanic and I would be the first in my family to go to a University. (My sister is at a community college and does not have plans to transfer)
I have taken mostly CP classes with a B average and I have taken 2 Honors classes.
Next year I will be in 3 AP classes and 1 Honor class and I will have completed French 3 and Spanish 4 by the end of my senior year.
I have not taken the SAT yet, which leads me to my following question:
What SAT range should I aim for?
Thanks in advance</p>

<p>GPA: 3.1 Rank: 207/637
ECS: Student Body President for my senior year
JV Soccer 1 year and Varsity Soccer possibly senior year.
Secretary of French Club and Good Guys Club.</p>

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<p>The Fall 2008 UCI Freshman Admit Profile says for -
GPA - 3.94
First Generation College - 34.5%
SAT Critical Reading and Math - 1229
SAT Writing - 605
SAT Critical Reading, Math, and Writing - 1834</p>

<p>As MaMoose on this forum told me, the above are the averages, so that means people got in who have gotten lower and higher scores. Of course, you should just try your best and try to finish off this year and next year with as many A’s as possible.</p>

<p>As for everything else, I really don’t know since I’m a junior in high school and really want to go to school here too. After reading through the rejected and admitted topics on here, it seems to be really surprising and inconsistent on who gets in and who doesn’t. I think it’s going to look really good that you’ll have done up to French 3 and Spanish 4 by your senior year though.</p>

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<p>I would say get your GPA up a little higher by the end of this semester, as these grades will be the most recent UCI will see (you apply before the end of your first semester senior year, so you don’t put any senior year grades on the app)
You actually might have a better chance at UC San Diego (or other UC’s on the point system), because you will get more points for being first-generation college student, EC’s, community service, etc.) Also, a high SAT can balance out your slightly low GPA.
This is just what I’ve heard, do some research for yourself and good luck! you can never really predict an admission decision.</p>

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<p>UCI emphasized GPA ALOT this year…alot of people getting low GPAs <3.8 with 2000+ gpa got rejected</p>

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<p>seriously!!</p>

<p>getting a 4.0 GPA alone will seriously give u a decent shot at getting accepted</p>

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<p>What about if you have a 3.8?</p>

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<p>A 3.8 is okay, but you’re going to need a 2050+ to make up for it.
I honestly think OP, you should aim for 1900+ for your SAT’s.</p>

<p>Get that GPA up and play soccer your senior year. </p>

<p>I think you have a shot then.</p>

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<p>What’s OP?</p>

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<p>^OP= original poster</p>

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<p>Get that GPA up and some nice SATs. A great essay wouldn’t hurt.</p>

<p>Well i got in with 3.92 and 1670 SATs. So i don’t know if you have to aim that high SAT scores o_o for some people its not possible (like me)</p>

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<p>Jut aim high for your SATs. Study for them and be as well prepared as you can be. Try your best. You should try to get your GPA up a little. I don’t know if you provided your unweighted or weighted GPA (weighted as in, using an extra grade point for any honor/AP classes). You should find out your UC GPA though. I know on the UC website there’s like…a calculator type thing that takes into account your UC GPA, and scores for your SAT reasoning and subject tests (DONT forget to take subject tests – Math II and any other one, because that’ll srsly hurt your chances).</p>

<p>Don’t be too freaked out by statistics for a college – they’re usually averages or from a median sector. Plenty of people who get below those numbers get in.</p>

<p>My biggest advice tho is to write bomb essays. I think a LOT of people really underestimate the importance of application essay. I applied to 6 schools total (3 UCs, 3 private schools) this year, and I wrote really good essays for all but one (The last one, I BS’ed because I hate essays. I can write well, I just hate to write [: ) and that was the only school I didn’t get into. But yeah, my advice: to maintain, if not improve, your GPA, to go ahead and try for more extracurricular if you can, to just do your best on your SAT, and to put a lot of effort into your application essay. Good luck(:</p>

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<p>GPA is more important than SATs apparently…
a lot of people were rejected by their low gpa (even though they had high SATs)</p>

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<p>thats weird that GPA would be worth more. you’d think it would be the other way around, since plenty of people cheat to get good grades, but it a bit harder to cheat on an SAT and come off doing well. i guess it’s to take into account that people might be bad test takers?</p>

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<p>I think ACT would be a better device to measure a student’s academic strength…</p>

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<p>so you’re saying you believe that a test which you take in one three hours sitting is a better predictor of academic success than a gpa which you develop over multiple years?</p>

<p>I think gpa’s clearly a more reliable predictor. One thing the sat doesn’t measure is work ethic, which is arguably far more important than intelligence for sucess in college.</p>

<p>As for cheating, if it’s really that prevalent, than how can you consider gpa at all?</p>

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<p>^^ agree with sndebrosse</p>

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<p>I was talking about admissions, and not necessarily academic success, because while the two are related, they are not the same thing. </p>

<p>GPA is difficult to take into consideration in admissions. In order to give it a lot of weight to GPA and make it a predominant part of an admissions decision, every students<code>GPA would have to be converted to one system. If you think everyone uses the four point system, you</code>re very wrong. Some schools use a five, twelve, or hundred point system, and in some four point system, having a higher number mean you have poor grades. </p>

<p>Also, you mentioned that “a lot of people were rejected by their low GPA (even though they had high SATs)” but please keep in mind that correlation does not mean causation, and while there may have been some pattern between SAT scores, GPA, and admittance, that pattern isn`t necessarily prevalent everywhere. Where, exactly, were there these masses of people you speak of? Such a pattern may exist with people you know, but those that you know are not representative of every high scoring high school senior that was rejected from a school.

I understand that the longevity of a GPA and how that could indicate academic success, but my point was really just that a GPA isnt nearly as helpful or as simple a factor as you make it out to be. Please keep in mind that other factors are taken into account to decide whether or not a student is admitted to a school. Im sorry I misspoke, and that I didnt express myself clearly enough, because I actually dont really believe that GPA or SAT scores are singularly more important than anything else. Its a combination of factors that determine a students admittance, and the way you phrase things makes it seem as if you mean to say that if you have a high GPA, you`re absolutely more likely to get into college, which is never the case, because plenty of people I know are rejected or waitlisted to colleges that, on the basis of GPA (and even SAT scores), they are definitely qualified for.</p>

<p>But hey, I could be completely off-base here because let<code>s face it, it isn</code>t like I`m sitting on an admissions committee anywhere.</p>