So I’ll start off by saying I’m about to be a senior in high school and I want to know what to be prepared for. I went to a regular high school for my 9th and 10th grade year but my junior year, I went to a continuation school considering I was heavily behind on credits. I’m going back to my main high school for my senior year (this fall) and my gpa overall currently is a 2.9. My SAT is 900 although I may take it again in August to get a higher score. I also played soccer for my high school in 10th grade and I’m planning on playing again my senior year. On top of that, I have about 120 hours of volunteer work. My major in college will be psychology and possibly social work as well. I want to know what my chances are of getting into Chico State, ASU, Northern Arizona, SFSU or Washington State. Although Chico State is my top choice at the moment.
So to sum it up here are the things that will be on my application:
2.9 GPA
900 SAT Score (As of right now)
120 hours volunteer work
2 years of high school soccer
Possible clubs that I will join in senior year
Also I was concerned about how me going to a continuation school for a year would affect my application considering I’m applying to state schools so I can’t write an essay about my experiences. Will they draw the conclusion themselves that I started doing better?
The Cal States admit by eligibility index and major.
So you need to calculate out your CSU GPA. CSU’s only use 10-11th grades for the a-g courses. You get 1 extra honors point for each semester of UC approved Honors/AP/IB or DE courses taken 10-11th grades which is your capped weighted CSU GPA= UC capped weighted GPA.
Cal states and the majority of the UC’s use the capped weighted GPA.
Then calculate your Eligibility index:
If you took the Redesigned SAT:
(CSU capped weighted GPA X 800) + (SAT Evidence Based Reading & Writing (EBRW) + Math Score) = Eligibility Index
You will then be ranked based on EI and major and they accept from the top down until all spots are filled.
You will get priority at your local CSU which you can look up on this link. Local applicants usually require a lower EI to get an acceptance unless the program is highly impacted.
For better or worse, Cal States use just the academic courses in grades 10 and 11 to calculate a CSUGPA.
Here’s a link to a handy CSU GPA calculator https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/
You should also know that, as long as you do it at the same school, you can replace a D/F with a passing grade if you re-take a course.
Assuming your CSUGPA is roughly 2.9, here’s my guess:
Chico State, - probably not
ASU, probably but, will be expensive
Northern Arizona - probably and a WUE participant but. it looks like your GPA is just under the threshold.
SFSU - probably
Washington State. probably not - and you are below their WUE threshold.
A few others to look at are - Sac, San Jose, and maybe Sonoma
@NCalRent Thank you very much. Do you think I could get into chico state if I retook my SAT and got a score of 1050ish?
At the continuation school, I kept up all the classes I needed for the a-g requirements, although some classes that I need, I will be taking my senior year. Including another year of spanish, another year of math, and another year of english. Ill also be taking history and an easy elective.
And also @Gumbymom , I did the calculations and a 2.9 GPA and 900 SAT puts me at 3220. If I retake my SAT and get a higher score, that would put me closer to 3500. I’m going to try that!
If you look at the 2017 Freshman profile, average GPA (CSU) was 3.45 and average SAT was 1032 with an average EI of 3667. It would still be a stretch but worth an application.
@Gumbymom The reason I did so much research and got invested into Chico was because I considered it my match school. I had several different friends this year with an average GPA of 2.7-2.9 and an SAT score of around 1000 that got in… That was with hardly any ECs so I figured I had a decent shot… Although I know every year, the application process is different so it’s hard to say.
With the CSU’s, major makes a huge difference on your chances since they admit by EI and major. You are ranked by major based on your EI so if you are applying to a competitive/popular major, you need to be above the averages while less popular/less competitive majors, your stats could be below the averages.
As more students apply to more colleges, the competition only gets higher so it is always good to identify a couple of solid safety schools where you would be willing to attend no matter what. A solid Match school a couple of years ago, may no longer be a Match now.
I’m looking at Naviance scatter plots from our high school. Nearly everyone got into ASU, however, the lowest SAT listed of kids applying was 920.
For Northern Arizona, everyone got in, but again, lowest who applied was GPA 2.8 and SAT 1030.
For Washington State, one kid with a GPA 2.4 and SAT 960 was waitlisted, and then nearly everyone higher got in, but the next-lowest SAT was 1020.
I’ll skip the Cal States since others are already giving you good advice on those.
Also, those are of course based on previous years and things can change year to year. But overall I’d say your GPA is less of a problem than your SAT score (which is a good thing, since you can study and bring your SAT up).
What safety schools [in california] or surrounding states would you guys recommend?
I know a few schools that were stated were Sacramento, San Jose, and Somona. I looked into those and didn’t really feel like I liked any of them enough, I may apply to Sac as a safety school, but I was wondering if anyone knew any others?
My local Cal State is Dominguez Hills, which I’m not interested considering the school & area in general… Long beach is also close to me but that’s way harder to get into.
If CSUDH is not a school you are interested in attending, then it will not make a good safety. NAU and ASU might be safe schools for you if they are affordable. Since you are looking out of state, you might want to consider some of the WUE schools of which ASU and NAU are participants along with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and Reno.
@Gumbymom Thanks for the advice! I’ll look into those schools as well.
@washugrad community college is currently the absolute worse case scenario if I don’t get into any 4 year… I’m looking to get away from home as well right now which is why community college isn’t a huge option for me. Plus I feel like I would get discouraged at a cc rather than going away from home and doing my own thing.
@NCalRent I’m going to aim for a higher sat score & calculate from there. I’ll apply to the schools above and look into the other ones stated as well. Thanks for the help.
You might want to look at Portland State. (Also a WUE school, like NAU) Portland is a great place to be a college student, and PSU has School of Social Work that offers a BSW as well as a MSW… plus of course they have the usual majors including psychology. https://www.pdx.edu/ssw/bachelors-in-social-work
Basically, you want to put the Khan Academy SAT-prep app on your phone, like, today… and build in at least 20-30 minutes a day using that. (If you’re like most HS students, there are 20-30 minutes that you’re already spending on your phone, using other platforms, that could be re-purposed without having to make any huge lifestyle change!) If you can get your SAT up you will have a lot more options.
I second what @aquapt said, I know someone who got in Portland State with a 2.8-3.0 gpa (don’t remember exactly) and an SAT around 1200, so really all you need is to bring up your SAT scores.
Portland really is an INCREDIBLE city, as long as you can bear gray cloudy days.
