Can I get in my dream school? *not clickbait*

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hello, guys!

Attached below are my stats throughout high school. I want to know if I can get into my dream college. I am applying to several schools: UCLA, UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara, NYU, Tulane, Pepperdine, and Univ. of Washington. My top 3 schools (in no particular order) are UCLA, Berkeley, and NYU. I want to major in Public Health or any related fields.

AP:
Psychology
Environmental
European History
US History
Calculus
Government
Chemistry
English Lit
English Lang

SAT:
1230- now I know I did not do considerably well on the SAT. The reason behind this is because I forgot I signed up for the SAT until the College Board emailed me about 3 days before the test. I am planning on taking the ACT in hopes of receiving a 30-32, this I will study rigorously for.

GPA:
I made some regretful decisions during freshmen year and sophomore year. All GPAs below will be weighted.
9th (fall semester final): 2.5. I earned a D in a class, but I retook it and got an A
9th (spring semester final): 3.5 (Honor Roll 3.0-3.5 GPA)
10th (fall semester final) 3.5 (Honor Roll 3.0-3.5 GPA)
10th (spring semester final): 4.0 (Honor Roll 4.0+ GPA)
11th (fall semester final): 4.17 (Honor Roll 4.0+ GPA)
11th (spring semester final): 4.33 (Honor Roll 4.0+ GPA)
I took some classes the summer after 11th grade:
AP Psych- A (the class was only worth 1 semester)
Precalc- A (both semesters)
Because I took classes online the summer after 11th grade, how does that weigh in on my UC GPA? A representative from a UC told me that it still counts because the specific definition is “summer before 10th grade through the summer after 11th grade,” but I do not know my total calculated UC GPA. Someone calculate it for me? Thanks!

EC:
I have over 100 community service hours. I volunteer at a local hospital and at a Ronald McDonald Charity House.
I have held or currently holding several titles including 2 vice president titles, committee chair, secretary, cabinet member, head tech crew, and etc.

I am aware that my grades are fairly low, but there is an upward trend. My grades are not perfect, my overall (9th-11th) GPA unweighted is a 3.63, so this tells you I have earned C’s (freshman year), and a considerable amount of B’s, but I still am, for the most part, an A student. I am taking the ACT because my SAT score is pretty low and I am done with the controversial issues of the College Board regarding test materials. Please provide insights and commentaries of what you think. Can I get into UCLA, Berkeley, NYU, Tulane, Pepperdine, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara, or Univ. of Washington?

Thank you!
Stanford AFTER undergrad…maybe? #reach.

2

You should calculate your UC weighted GPA. https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/ Then check on the eligibility index for the major you’re considering at each UC.

Other than those, NYU is a reach, Pepperdine is a match, UW is a reach. Tulane is a reach.

You need safeties.

3

Yes. My safeties are Calstates.

4

@bouders and OP, UC’s do not use eligibility index for admission purposes, the Cal States do.

As stated above, you need to calculate your UC GPA and post your UW UC GPA, Capped weighted UC GPA and Fully Weighed UC GPA. Also your Capped weighted UC GPA= CSU GPA

Also you do not calculate each year separately. You count up all your A’s,B’s,C’s,D’s in your a-g course requirements taken 10-11th grades only. You get 1 extra honors points for any UC approved Honors, AP, IB or DE course taken the summer before 10th grade to the summer after 11th grade.

https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/

Not sure which courses are a-g and will give you extra honors points, then use this link by typing in your HS name?

https://hs-articulation.ucop.edu/agcourselist#/list/search/institution

If your UC GPA is below a 4.0 Capped weighted then all the UC’s will be a tough admit. Also if you are targeting UCLA/UCB, you want an ACT of 32+ to be competitive. Are you a California resident?

Based on your posted information: UCLA/UCB are High Reach schools. UCSD and UCSB are Low Reach schools

Just to give you an idea of admit rates based on the UC capped weighted and not major specific:

Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 3.80-4.19:

UCB: 12.6%
UCLA: 11.7%
UCSD: 38.7%
UCSB: 53.6%
UCD: 56.5%
UCI: 52.1%
UCSC: 75.7%
UCR: 90.1%
UCM: 96.1%

25th - 75th percentiles for ACT:
UCB: 30-35
UCLA: 31-35
UCSD: 28-34
UCSB: 28-34
UCD: 26-33
UCI: 26-33
UCSC: 26-32
UCR: 22-30
UCM: 19-26

What Cal states do you have for safeties? What is your eligibility index and what is your local CSU?

If you took the Redesigned SAT:
(CSU capped weighted GPA X 800) + (SAT Evidence Based Reading & Writing (EBRW) + Math Score) = Eligibility Index

Eligibility index for ACT:
(CSU capped weighted GPA X 200) + (ACT Composite x10)= Eligibility Index

5

Cal State Fullerton, Cal Poly, Cal State LA. I am a CA resident, I live 20 minutes w/o traffic from downtown LA. My UC GPA as calculated is a 4.03.

6

@Gumbymom can you tell us if the UC Admit data is current? Thanks.

7

The UC admit data is from 2017. 2018 data comes out in February so after the application deadline in November. With luck the data may be available sooner. The Freshman profiles on the UC website are updated for Fall 2018 admits.

8

You might think about adding Pitt as a safety. It’s great for public health, and it’s an urban U that has a lot in common with your other OOS choices… but it has rolling admissions, so you can apply early and hopefully have an acceptance under your belt quickly. https://www.publichealth.pitt.edu/accelerated URochester would also be a great school to add to your list (though higher standardized test scores would be helpful there, as with many of your current target schools). https://www.sas.rochester.edu/ph/ If you’re female, look at the public health major at Agnes Scott College in Atlanta, which was developed in collaboration with Emory U and provides an accelerated track into the Emory MPH program. (Emory itself doesn’t have an undergrad public health major and is pretty reachy.) Opportunities at the CDC in Atlanta are a big selling point. https://www.agnesscott.edu/publichealth/

In your area, Occidental has a public health minor https://www.oxy.edu/public-health and could be worth a look.

9

I must say, Chances threads are by definition NEVER “clickbait”.

10

@Gumbymom @aquapt @bouders hello! I don’t know if you remember replying to this thread, but scroll up to see! Since you helped me I felt obligated to tell you that I got into UCSB and UCSD! Did not end up applying to cal states, however. I decided not to commit to neither UCSB nor UCSD and choose the community college path because I did not like the schools when I toured it. The two are very beautiful campuses indeed, but the beauty did not make up for its lack of active social engagement, school spirit, and the typical “college football” experience, at least for me. The only two schools that perfectly balances what I looked for in a school was UCLA and USC. The location of UCLA and USC was ideal since I live in LA county, and I do not want to leave at the moment. The academics of both universities are top-tier and simply unparalleled. Both schools have a great sports team, with a football team, that further enhances the collegiate experience for me.

I am so thankful for the help during the application process! I will keep you guys posted on where I transferred :)) Will I be a “Fight On!” or a “UCLA, Fight, Fight, Fight!” type of student? We’ll see :smile:

(DIDNT END UP APPLYING TO PEPPERDINE, NYU, UW, TULANE)

11

Great results, and great job getting clear on what you want and setting out on the path to get there! Look into the honors programs at the community colleges that are available to you - honors will help a lot on tracking you toward UCLA. Good luck to you and thanks for the update!

12

CA CC is an excellent route to you eventual goal so best of luck.

13

You sound very wise. I have gut feeling from your tone that your going to big places in the near future!
Good luck, and yes, keep us posted.