California Colleges? Why Are They So Tough?!

Applying to College
1

<p>I want to know if I have a chance at these colleges, listed in order of preference, which are:
1. Pepperdine University
2. Pitzer College
3. Occidental College
5. UCLA (Because I'm majoring in Art, will they consider my portfolio more than grades?)
4. UC Santa Barbara (I live in Calfornia, I know that helps a little)
5. Santa Clara University</p>

<p>Here are my statistics:
Ethnicity - Half Indian/Half Chinese
GPA - 3.45 (Unweighted) - 3.85 (Weighted)
SAT - 1860, ACT - 28 (Which looks better?)
SAT IIs: Chemistry - 550, Math Level II - 700
Class Rank: Top Quarter
APs/Honors Courses Taken: 3 APs, 4 Honors
Major: Studio Art (Does that help my chances?)
Essay: I plan to write about how I bring diversity into the college with my passion for art, and how my family was against me being an artist because they wanted me to be a doctor, lawyer, etc.</p>

<p>Extra-Curriculars: (In Order of Most Impressive)
Intern At Stanford Hospital - 1 Year
Community Service Hours - +300 Hours (Forgot the exact number)
Octagon Club Officer - 1 Year
AVID Tutor - 2 Years
Leadership - 2 Years
Art Classes - 7 Years
Track and Field Team - 3 Years
Tennis Team - 5 Years
Dance - 5 Years
Job At TDR Recycling - 3 Years
Assistant At Art School - 1 Year</p>

<p>I want to go to any of the colleges mentioned above! My scores are low, but I plan on majoring in Art because I am very passionate about it, and I hope to have a career involving it. I'm submitting an Art Portfolio to every college. I'm applying to some Jesuit Colleges and am not Christian, but I am Buddhist and Hindu and strongly practice them. Any tips for getting in would also be helpful! Thanks in advance for your imput!</p>

2

<p>“SAT - 1860, ACT - 28 (Which looks better?)” <— Use an SAT-ACT concordance table to determine which is better.</p>

<p>“SAT IIs: Chemistry - 550, Math Level II - 700” <— Either improve your chemistry score, replace it with a different (higher) score, or don’t sent SAT IIs.</p>

<p>“Community Service Hours - +300 Hours (Forgot the exact number)” <— “Yay, I did X number of community service hours” is anything but impressive. A number of hours is useless. They’re only impressive if you can convey that you made a positive impact on your community with them. “Community service” is essentially meaningless.</p>

<p>“Leadership - 2 Years” <— Of what are you a leader?</p>

<p>“Octagon Club Officer - 1 Year” <— You will need to describe what the club did and what your responsibilities were as an officer.</p>

3

<p>You shouldn’t rule out schools like Cal State Long Beach and Cal Poly Slo which have great art programs. Those programs also require portfolios-which should say something about their competitiveness and/or the applicant’s skills.</p>