B average AP student

Applying to College
1

<p>Hi!</p>

<p>Junior year is almost over and my friend, who has a B average in a bunch of APs, is looking for a school. He wanted me to post this for him.</p>

<p>Anyway, his stats are pretty good w/a hint of mediocrity.</p>

<p>School: Top 2% public school, CA.
SAT: 2050
ACT: 31
Extra Curricular Activities: pretty good.
GPA: 3.29/4.2
Ranking: (unweighted, 47.2%) (weighted, 8.2%)</p>

<p>Sophomore Year
-(AP) European History: B/B+
-(AP) Computer Science: B+/A-
-(AP) Biology: B/B
-(AP) Calculus bc: B+/A-
-(H) Spanish III: A-/B+
-(H) English II: B/B</p>

<p>3.25/4.08</p>

<p>Junior Year
-(AP) United States History: A-/A
-(AP) Chemistry: B+/B
-(AP) Statistics: A-/A
-(AP) Spanish Language: B+/B+
-(AP) Physics b: B+/B+
-(AP) English Language: B+/B+</p>

<p>3.33/4.33</p>

<p>UC GPA: 3.29/3.625</p>

<p>AP Tests
-Human Geography: (5)
-European History: (5)
-Biology: (5)
-Calculus bc: (5) ab sub-score (5)
-Environmental Science: (3)
-Art History: (4)</p>

<p>Desired Schools: UMich, Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD, UCSB, UCSD, SDSU, UCSC.</p>

<p>Honestly, if he were to just stick to 3 AP classes sophomore year (Calculus bc, Biology, European History) and take the rest as honors or college prep, and take only four APs his junior year (United States History, Statistics, English Language, Chemistry), he feels as if he could have gotten straight As. He claims he, "tipped the breaking point" with the excess APs.</p>

<p>What's the best UC he could get into? Should he start at a CC?</p>

2

<p>UCSB is probably the best one he’d get into. Is his SAT super scored? Because Michigan won’t super score his exam.</p>

3

<p>Nope! Not superscored!</p>

4

<p>UCSC/SDSU: Match/High Match
UCSB: Low Reach
UCSD/UCLA/UCB/UMICH: Reach</p>

<p>He needs to look at UCR and some of the Cal States. What Major?? His UC GPA will hurt since all the Mid-tier and Upper UC’s average GPA is a 4.0+.<br>
My younger son also took many AP classes which resulted in his UC GPA being low but he was accepted into SDSU/UCR/SJSU/CPP/CSULB/CSUF. Admissions wants to see Rigor in your schedule but they also want you to get A’s. He might want to consider for the Cal States, SJSU/CSU Fullerton/CSULB and CPP depending upon the major.</p>

5

<p>That’s ridiculous. His GPA is 4.2!
And he took AP Calc as a sophomore!</p>

<p>He would rather go to a CC and transfer to a UC.</p>

<p>Major: Statistics</p>

<p>SAT IIs:
Math II (800)
Literature (730)
Spanish Language (770)
United States History (800)
Chemistry (800) </p>

6

<p>@Ucalifornias: His UC GPA is 3.625 since he can only use 4 Yearlong AP (8 Semesters) of extra points in the calculation. They will also look at his unweighted of 3.29. That is low for the UC system. Just check the common data sets for those UC’s. My younger son took 10 AP Classes and his UC GPA was still 3.73 and had more A’s then B’s his 10-11 grade year. UC’s cap the extra points, so yes his weighted non-UC GPA is high.
I plugged in his grades into the CSU/UC GPA calculator and I get 3.62 for the UC GPA and that is what you report on the application. His SATII test results look great but not all UC’s will take them into consideration. I am just stating what I have learned about UC admissions this past 2 years from both my sons applying.<br>
Older Son: UC GPA 4.3 ACT 25 7 AP’s Got into UCR/UCSC/UCI/UCD Rejected: UCSB/UCSD
Younger Son: UC GPA 3.7 ACT 31 10 AP’s Got into the schools listed above Rejected: UCD/UCI/UCSB
You asked for an opinion and that is what you got. Your friend could always do the research himself and form his own opinion. I am not an ADCOM so I really think that the chances threads are a waste of time. Take or leave it.</p>

7

<p>Here’s a UC calculator: <a href=“GPA Calculator for the University of California – RogerHub”>http://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/&lt;/a&gt; </p>

8

<p>Lol. He knows his UC GPA. I even mentioned it in my OP…</p>

<p>How about USC, Claremount McKenna (or however you spell it) and other privates? Like Santa Clara?</p>

9

<p>He is below the 50 percentile in GPA for USC/Claremont McKenna and Santa Clara. Privates are not as focused on STATs so his EC’s and essays will come into play, so he would have a chance at Santa Clara especially. For a Match, he needs to find a school where is GPA is at 50 percentile. His SAT looks good. It is Ok to apply to the UC’s listed, but remember they will probably be reaches except for UCSC. He wants to make sure he is not shut out completely. If he prefers to go to a CC and then transfer, that is always an option and many students do. </p>

10

<p>For his senior schedule, would it be okay, if he wanted to, to only take one AP and still get into lower UCs?</p>

11

<p>Since he did such a rigorous schedule the last 2 years, I would think the ADCOMs would like to see a somewhat challenging schedule unless he has exhausted all the AP’s. 1 AP would be OK and I think he deserves to take it easy, he might want to consider a math course at the local CC, since admissions would like to see him continue with the core courses of Math, English, Science and Language his Senior year.
Starting next year, UCLA will move to a more holistic application review, which would be to his benefit. That being said, he should concentrate on writing some stellar essays and maybe reflect on the overload of AP classes. He would definitely have a better chance with the more holistic schools such as UCB/UCLA. I would love to proved wrong and have him accepted into all the UC’s he applies. Wish him Good Luck.</p>

12

<p>His ranking is 8%, though. Shouldn’t that get him into UCSB and UCSD no problem?</p>

13

<p>And I’m like 90% sure that my school only reports unweighted ranking. Also, on my school profile, a B+ is defined as “any grade from 88-89.5%”. Would schools cut him some slack? I mean, some schools would bump a B to an A with a 5 on the AP test, and some teachers would round a B+ to an A-!</p>

<p>If his grades were bumped an average of 1%, his sophomore year unweighted GPA would be a 3.58, and his junior a 3.917, making his weighted GPA for both years a 4.7!</p>

14

<p>If he is in the top 9% of his class and he doesn’t get into his preferred UC, he will be given the option of attending UCM. There is no guaranteed admission to any other UC unless he applies for the GAP program at UCR. Have him take a look at some of the UC accepted threads for this years freshman class and their STATS. Majority had a UC GPA of 4.0+.<br>
Here is the link to the common data set for UCSB: <a href=“http://bap.ucsb.edu/IR/CommonDataSet.pdf”>http://bap.ucsb.edu/IR/CommonDataSet.pdf&lt;/a&gt;
His UW GPA is 3.29. If you look at the common data set, UCSB accepted on 9% of the applicants in the 3.25-3.49 range with the average unweighted GPA of 3.84. They consider GPA/Test Scores/Class Rigor and Essays important. Class rank is considered but not as important.
Here is the common data set for UCSD: <a href=“Undergraduate Statistics”>Undergraduate Statistics;
They accepted only 3% of the applicants with a unweighted GPA between 3.25-3.49 with an average of 4.0 unweighted.
I am not trying to discourage him from applying, I am trying to give him some realistic expectations so he has a balanced college list where he will have some choices and not get shut out. Many posters have mentioned that the UC acceptances can be a crapshoot.
You do not mention any EC’s. Did he do any volunteer work or sports?? Schools will expect him to have other interests than just academics.</p>

15

<p>@Gumbymom‌ . Not even Harvard has an “average unweighted 4.0” for admitted students, let alone UCSD. Lolol.</p>

<p>Should he take summer classes at our local CC to bump his GPA up? He could, feasibly, jump to a 4.4W with a few courses.</p>

16

<p>Well that is why I gave you the link for the common data sets. My sons and I used them to come up with a reasonable college list and they were pretty much accurate overall. It really depends upon your major. Some majors are extremely competitive eg. ME/BME/CS will others are not.</p>

<p>I would have your friend check with his Guidance Counselor regarding taking classes this summer. You do know that most of the CC summer sessions will be starting in the next 2 weeks? and I do not know if the application period has past for these sessions?</p>

17

<p>The 4.0 was weighted, not unweighted. I just looked at it. It’s not even for enrolled/admitted, just applicants in general.</p>

18

<p>It says that is the GPA is based on a 4.0 scale meaning unweighted. If it was weighted it would be on a 5.0 scale to account for Honors and AP Classes. Yes, the data is for all applicants, but just go on the UC website to see the average STATS for admitted students from last year and the averages are all above 4.0 except for UCSC/UCR/UCM. For example, UC Davis in-coming Freshman GPA for Fall 2014 is a 4.07 with a mean SAT of 1950.
Like I said, this is my opinion based on personal experience and past year’s data. There are students with lower GPA’s that get in and others with high GPA’s that do not. He can apply to any school he wants, he just needs to make sure he has reasonable expectations and a balanced college list that includes some safety schools he is willing to attend. </p>