Can I get into a GOOD UC? (the goal is Davis)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Currently a Junior (class of '10)
-Small, competitive private catholic high school
-3.63 uc gpa weighted ~might go down after finals to 3.5 ish
with honors chemistry, honors spanish 3, and AP US history jr. year</p>

<p>-(I took honors algebra 2 and honors spanish 2 sophmore year, but they aren't uc approved so I already took the honors credit from them out of the uc gpa)</p>

<p>-3.81 school gpa (ill explain that in a sec)</p>

<p>-SAT 1890 (plan to bring it up in the fall)</p>

<p>-ACT 28</p>

<p>-taking SATII's this weekend: US history, spanish, and math II</p>

<p>-at least 200 hrs (will be more by the time I apply) over 2 years volunteering at a hospital in my area
-youth supervisor at that hospital on my shift</p>

<p>-Black Belt in an obscure style of martial arts, been training about 6 or 7 years now</p>

<p>-assistant instructor at my dojo (non paying) ~50 hours, but will do alot more this summer</p>

<p>-Member of NHS for 2 years</p>

<p>-Secretary of NHS for 1 year</p>

<p>-Ran cross country for 1 year</p>

<p>-Ran track for 3 years</p>

<p>-won an academic award in religious studies jr. year (when I said school GPA, that's with the A's from all the religion classes I've painstakingly endured) but will UC's even care about an award in this? -_-</p>

<p>-member of model United Nations for 2 years</p>

<p>I have a C in both semesters of Honors algebra 2 (which really annoys me that I do not get UC honors points for it), a C freshman year in honors english 1 (irrelevant for UC gpa), and might end up with a C in honors chem this year depending on how my finals turned out.</p>

<p>If It helps any, although I go to a private catholic high school, I am a minority and raised by a single parent and NOT financially well off. Our school uses a decible system, in which I am in the 2nd rank of.</p>

<p>I would like to know the chances of:</p>

<p>Berkeley (I don't even care, but I'd like to hear opinions)
Davis
Riverside
Irvine
San Diego
Santa Barbara
Merced</p>

<p>I have various csu's that I'm pretty sure I would be safe with (sac, fresno, sf state).</p>

<p>Also, if my SAT doesn't go up by much, is my ACT comparatively better so I should send it in instead of the SATs?</p>

<p>Thank you! I have finals this week and the worrying has gotten in the way of my studying!</p>

2

<p>im a jr too and pretty new to the process so know that im not the expert. but my stats are about the same as yours and based off my knowledge…</p>

<p>i’d say:</p>

<p>Safety: Riverside & Merced
Match: Santa Cruz (even though you didn’t list it, probably the best UC that youd have a really good, i say like 80% of getting into.)
Semi-Reach: Santa Barbara, David, & Irvine (I say you have a good shot at getting into one of them, but it’s been super hard with budget cuts and economic troubles so the UCs are ultra competitive. i’d say 25-30% chance of getting into each one)
Reach: San Diego (I don’t think this is happening.)</p>

<p>take classes at community college to raise your gpa, and it gets boosted</p>

<p>up your sat to 2000+ (or act equivalent) and i think you could get into those semi reaches.</p>

<p>ecs pretty good.</p>

<p>i share your frustation with taking honors courses that werent uc approved. i took 6 that weren’t approved!! so im also going to apply to lots of privates cus they dont use UC weighting, they typically weight all honors. some use 9th too… privates are EXPENSIVE though… so might be a problem.</p>

<p>you should be solid for cal states too. </p>

<p>maybe try some arizonas aswell.</p>

<p>that’s my 2 sense. :wink: goodluck!!</p>

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<p>I intended to take a class at DVC this summer, but they filled up to about ~90% in the first day, and all that was left were courses that had prereqs I did not meet.</p>

<p>In addition, my “special” school WILL list college courses on my transcript… but it will not average them into my GPA -_-</p>

<p>And yes, the cost might force me into a csu anyways. And if I were to go private, it would probably be catholic (such as St. Marys) b/c there’s alot of financial “goodies” if you graduate from a catholic high school</p>

<p>Thanks for the post!</p>

4

<p>yea your welcome.</p>

<p>what do you mean “financial goodies” i was thinkn about some catholic schools too, but what do you mean??</p>

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<p>Many private Catholic colleges have unique scholarships/financial aid for students comming from private Catholic high schools, as they are feeders.</p>

6

<p>Berkeley-GPA/test scores are low for that. sorry =(
Good chance at Davis and San Diego
Santa Barbara & Santa Cruz would be good safety schools, and so would Merced (I think, dont know much about that school)
I dont know much about Irvine, Riverside so cant say about those.
CSUs you should get into all.</p>

<p>You said you might go to CSU because of cost, but I think that if theres a UC you really want to go to, you should apply and try for financial aid</p>

7

<p>SF State is an amazing school. You should think about applying there :smiley:
I understand that Catholic schools are really competitive, because my brother got a C in regular bio his freshman year (well, they say it’s reg bio. But they use AP Bio materials, so…) and a B in his Pre-cal class (they were teaching AP Calc BC stuff). But he still got good SATs, 2100 on reasoning and 800 on chem/math2c, and got into UCSD this year. </p>

<p>I say work hard over summer, if it hasn’t started yet. :] </p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/724051-am-i-doing-too-much.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/724051-am-i-doing-too-much.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>I really did not want to stay within the immediate Bay Area, in response to jenni0z. And not to sound arrogant, but I really do not want to go to a CSU unless I am forced to b/c of cost or lack of acceptance to even UC merced.</p>

<p>Um, yeah ACT is actually a 27, I dont know where I got 28 from</p>

9

<p>Trust me, I live in Davis and you seem more qualified than most people living here going to the University. You should definitely apply here, nice small town and mostly really nice people. Plus outdoor college parties, indoor college parties, and a pretty damn good school.
Good chances</p>

10

<p>Yeah, i think that you have a good chance at davis. My friend, she got 1490 SAT I 570 on Math2 and 590 on Bio-E and 3.676 and got in. so i think you are more than qualified.</p>

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<p>According to the UC concordance chart for ACT/SAT your 27/1890 are roughly equivalent, so retake the one you think you can do better on. (remember, SAT=strategy/reasoning; ACT=fact regurgitation. Write as much as you can on the writing part cuz there’s a high correllation between volume and high scores–what you write doesn’t even have to be true, just well written.)</p>

<p>The thing with CC classes is that you can weight them (even if your high school doesn’t) when you use the UC gpa calculator when you are completing the application. As long as your hs transcript ultimately confirms that you took the classes, and you send your CC transcript too, you’re good.</p>

<p>The UC’s are not supposed to consider your race, but if you can subtley inject it into your essay or a short answer I don’t think it can hurt. I’m not sure about your single parent upbringing or poverty, but if you are a first generation college student that will help.</p>

<p>I agree with LSkaiWalk’s assessment of your chances and I would add that even Berkeley is possible if your essays are stellar and make you sound like a fit.</p>

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<p>@ vosamim - what major did your friend get in on and what ec’s did he/she have? You don’t have to answer… but it would help to know ^^</p>

<p>@ Paintwaster02 - I do have a friend (my dentist’s wife) in the Berkeley admissions department who said blantantly that although they aren’t supposed to, its an unspoken rule among the veterans in the office to at least look at race/economic factors. She said that its the new people working in admissions that usually don’t. </p>

<p>And, if my father received an AA taking enough corses over the courses of many years, would that still make me a “first generation college student”?</p>

<p>If Irvine is as much a reach as Davis, what about Riverside? I’ve always considered Riverside on the about the same acceptance rate as Irvine, but I suppose that’s changed?</p>

<p>Thanks if you can answer these! And thanks for all the chances thus far!</p>

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<p>For a pretty strong applicant like you, I’d say Riverside (mentioned in the above post) is a definite safety. you are above UCR’s average rate of SAT’s/gpa, etc…</p>

<p>But, say, what is your dream school?</p>

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<p>Right now the dream is Davis, cost aside.</p>

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<p>Santa Barbara & Santa Cruz would be good safety schools, and so would Merced (I think, dont know much about that school)</p>

<p>How can you say UCSB is a safety when the average GPA of accepted applicants for Fall 2009 was 4.01 and the average SAT was 1877?</p>