<p>I am looking to go to UCSB as an undergrad (looking at economics/accounting, maybe statistics and economics, something that will help me in the future for the business field).
Freshman year, I had decent grades in all honors. Sophomore year, my grades went to crap. I had 2 B's(classes were all honors and I was also in AP Euro which was one of my only B's) and one A. Everything else was C's, D's, and even a few F's. The second semester of freshman year, I took up some heavy drinking habits partially for fun, but mainly to get my mind off of certain circumstances. By sophomore year, I had established a dependency. Junior year has started and I am relatively well off. I am in IB English, APUSH, IB Physics, am retaking Spanish III and Algebra II, and am in an arts class (for the a-g reqs). I have a 1900 SAT score and I believe I should be able to pull no worse than 4 A's and 2 B's (the B's may actually become A's). I am also in a leadership youth group called DeMolay. I've done almost 300 hours of community service. I am in competitive swimming (club and highschool). I have finally stopped with the drinking and it looks like I am getting back on track. What are my chances of getting accepted if I really maintain good grades? Over summer, I plan to do the Early Start summer program at UCSB (STATS and something for Econ) as well as do Pre-Calc/Trig online Next year, I am taking: AP bio, IB English, AP Calc, AP Gov/Econ, AP Art History online, Swimming, and either AP Pyschology or AP Micro/Macro Econ. I will have fullfilled all a-g requirements and recommendations. Do I have a legitimate chance at being accepted? Should I state my past alcohol problems as an adversity? HELP!</p>
<p>it’s too early to tell, but it looks like youre on track</p>
<p>and go to an AA meeting or seek some counseling, youre probably gonna start drinking again if you dont seek some sort of help…it’s hard to believe you can get rid of a dependency in one year</p>
<p>The UC GPA is calculated using your Sophomore and Junior years’ HS GPA in college type classes (not PE or Health Ed, etc.). Your freshman grades won’t help you. Your senior year schedule is a minor factor, and your grades in your senior year will not help your UC GPA, but can hurt them if they are terrible. Your SAT is fine, but it seems odd that you have a score already when you are just starting your Junior year. Makes me wonder if this is a legitimate post?</p>
<p>The first thing to determine is if you can recover your UC GPA to above 3.0 just to be considered. And anything less than a UC GPA of 3.5 would require some serious special consideration. If I were reading your college app. and you wrote about your drinking, the only way I’d consider that a plus is if you were deeply involved in a recovery effort, and even then I’d hesitate to throw you into the Isla Vista temptations.</p>
<p>If this thread is based on a factual account, I think you are greatly underestimating the problem you have with drinking. It usually doesn’t just go away. The last place you belong is UCSB, and you are a perfect candidate to prove your personal problems are behind you while attending a 2-year college.</p>
<p>my parents were never aware of what I did… an AA meeting isn’t an option. I just bit the bullet during swim season. I’m just hoping that colleges would look at the difficulty level of the classes I take junior year…</p>
<p>It is legitimate. I took the SAT sophmore year and got somewhere around 1930ish. My problem is that my sophmore year GPA was destroyed. Right now I’m taking as many college level courses as I can. I got a 3 on my AP Euro exam. If I pull almost all A’s this year and the next, would they notice the improvement?</p>
<p>Also: alcohol=not a problem for me anymore.</p>
<p>
really?..then you didnt have a dependency, you just binged a lot… o_O</p>
<p>The key is to calculate your Sophomore year UC GPA. Weighted and only college prep classes. Then you can see what getting straight A’s this school year can lift your GPA to. If you think you can get above 3.5, then also retake the SAT. Drinking is a huge college problem and I don’t see how bringing it up in an essay will help your chances.</p>
<p>The last two years there have been plenty of kids denied to UCSB with UC GPA’s of around 4.0 and SAT’s around 1900, and it is getting tougher each year. Most are taking the same strength of schedule as you are and they didn’t make the mistake of excessively abusing alcohol.</p>
<p>What else can I do to raise my GPA? Can I take a bunch of community college classes on top of school?</p>
<p>It’s too late this semester for CC classes, and I doubt you’ll fit in more than one or two next semester. It would have to be done by the end of your Jumior year to help your GPA. </p>
<p>Sometimes you just have to pay for your mistakes. You screwed up, and now you are looking for a way to grab a spot from a student that didn’t screw up. How is that fair?</p>
<p>In this case, you could choose a non-UC college; or if you are dead set on UCSB, go to Santa Barabara Community College and transfer to UCSB. If you go to a CC, your high school mistakes get over-riden by your Community College work and you save money in tuition.</p>
<p>
that’s actually a good choice…go to a top 20 community college and then get a guaranteed transfer. SBCC tends to give out lower grades than UCSB on average though.</p>
<p>there are a lot of people living in IV with SBCC sweatshirts, so i’m sure you will not be alone in that endeavor. but anyways youre on track to get into UCSB directly if you keep getting better.</p>
<p>you have to wonder whether going to a big party school like UCSB will cause any drinking problems to resume though…but then again UCSB is not really a big party school (it doesnt even make the top 20 of most party school rankings) despite people’s perceptions</p>
<p>Taking a couple CC courses might really help you out if you do well (meaning you get all A’s). I would think that if you showed that initiative it would really make up for doing not so well in past semesters.</p>
<p>Other than that, do the best you can at your high school and shoot for a high SAT score. </p>
<p>[Amazon.com:</a> Outsmarting the SAT (9781580089272): Elizabeth King: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Outsmarting-SAT-Elizabeth-King/dp/1580089275]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Outsmarting-SAT-Elizabeth-King/dp/1580089275) - when i was studying for the SAT, this book was really, really, really helpful. The SAT really isn’t very hard to do well on, but you will need to practice, and this book lays out pretty much every kind of question you can expect.</p>
<p>Good luck! </p>
<p>PS: Two years at sbcc is also a really good choice if it doesn’t end up working out. You can live in IV, guaranteed transfer to ucsb, and SBCC is a really good school. It’s also super cheap.</p>
<p>wow thats a tough grind! personally, i would not add that info to your app. if you kick butt this year and get close to 4.0 you should be ok. also, idk if it is wise to go to ucsb being that it is one of the craziest party schools in California. anyways, hope it works out. goodluck!</p>
<p>If i get no more than 2Bs and everything else is an A, I can get anywhere from 4.2-4.5 gpa since my classes are weighted.</p>