UCSC isn’t a safety? I am applying to EA’s as many as I can.
What is your intended major? If it’s CS or engineering, schools like UIUC, U of Washington, GT, etc… are uber competitive, especially for OOS applicants.
I see mostly reaches here too.
Thanks @momofsenior1 - I am going for computational biology where available else CS
CS is going to make it even more competitive, everywhere. UW might admit you without giving you your major (you won’t get direct entry into CS) and charging you full freight> 56K a year. This is where you might need to tread carefully at publics that like OOS money. Why is it you have so many reaches?
Even UCR is not a safety for CS since your UC GPA is below the average for 2019 Freshman which was 3.90. Your SAT is great and your application will be reviewed based on GPA, SAT scores, HS course rigor essays and EC’s but UC’s tend to be very GPA focused. I agree you need better Target and Safety schools.
Appreciate the feedback… though its hard to take. Perhaps I need to shift to OOS public school. Can someone share a safety + target school example. Besides EC, I have work experiences including as a founder where I made real money (~1 year of private tuition). Seems like my GPA miss is going to shadow everything.
How about Arizona State? I know several CS majors that have done well at ASU and post grad.
Thank you @Gumbymom - Will ASU be a Safety school or Target?
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-general/2127392-faq-uc-historical-frosh-admit-rates-by-hs-gpa-2018.html says that admission rate for applicants with 3.80-4.19 GPA was 70% for 2018. Since your GPA of 3.88 is in the lower part of the range, your chances are probably lower. So UCSC is probably at best a match.
https://admission.asu.edu/freshman/apply says that you need one of the following for ASU admission (although some majors may have additional requirements):
- top 25% in high school graduating class
- 3.00 GPA in competency courses (4.00 = "A")
- ACT: 22 (24 nonresidents)
- SAT: 1120 (1180 nonresidents)
For the CS major at ASU, https://webapp4.asu.edu/programs/t5/majorinfo/ASU00/ESCSEBS/undergrad/false says that you need to meet these additional requirements:
- minimum 1210 SAT combined evidence-based reading and writing plus math score or minimum 24 ACT combined score or 3.00 minimum ABOR GPA or class ranking in top 25 percent of high school class, and
- no high school math or science competency deficiencies
You have all the makings of a strong app, except your GPA is a lower than many applicants you will be competing against. Were your B’s spread out or concentrated by subject area and/or time? It might be viewed differently if your B’s were all in FL or the social sciences and you aced all STEM courses, or if most of your B’s occurred in 1 or 2 semesters vs being spread out. The good thing about your reach schools are they are generally holistic, so strong test scores, LoR’s, recognition/awards, EC’s and essays may make up for a less than ideal GPA. A 3.48/top 30% is not by itself preclusive, especially if you come from a known competitive school, but no doubt it will be uphill for your highest reaches. Princeton’s latest CDS shows only about 12% of freshmen entering in 2018 having a gpa of 3.74 or lower and only about 5% with gpa’s lower than a 3.49. On the other hand, your chances are 0 if you don’t apply. I think the people trying to help you on this board are suggesting you recalibrate your reaches, matches and safeties. Applying to a number of EA/rolling admissions programs will give you valuable feedback in time to reset your list by the RD deadline.
With respect to your AP scores, I would just note the you are an AP Scholar.
Just as important as your high school GPA is your class rank. Teacher recs can have a significant impact in your situation.
It is likely that some of the students with high school GPAs in the lower end of the range are “big hook” students (relatives of huge donors, highly important recruited athletes), with many of the rest being “small hook” students (relatives of large but not huge donors, minor recruited athletes, legacies, URMs).
@BKSquared thanks for the comment… not entirely focused on GPA. 
Junior year was a disaster - some of it can be explained by turmoil at home with grandfather falling ill - but its mostly too many AP courses and not doing a good job in balancing EC and Work. Not making excuses - just reality. I am redoing my list based on guidance and increasing the safety/target schools. I had used the prep scholar and Niche’s “chances of you getting in” feature and come up with the list. I noticed that prep scholar is extremely generous in its results. I will focus on Niche which may be more realistic.
Reality is that you took a very rigorous courseload and couldn’t maintain really high grades in them. How will you fare at these very rigorous colleges you want to apply to? This is your main problem. Focusing on Niche and submitting as many EA apps as possible will not change facts.
I’m sorry you had a difficult year, but there are literally thousands of students who have turmoil in their lives but their grades don’t take a nosedive. Those are the people you are competing against.
Your list is not balanced or realistic. Scrap the list, keeping only a very few reaches that MIGHT be within the realm of possibility (probably the legacy colleges.)
ETA: Some of the most selective colleges offer REA, which means you can’t apply to any other private uni’s EA. You can still apply to publics EA though.
Thanks @Lindagaf …
Thanks for the earlier guidance. None of the earlier schools had me at 80%+ chances of getting in, to be deemed safety. How are these for safety schools - UMass Amherst, Penn State, Michigan State
@Lindagaf @ucbalumnus @Publisher @BKSquared @momofsenior1 @Gumbymom