So junior year is about to end for me and looking at this year’s admission stats, I’m a bit scared for the college application process next year. All throughout high school, I have gotten As but this semester I got my first B in AP English Lang(got an A first semester). My current unweighted gpa is a 3.97 and my weighted gpa is a 4.76. Despite my above average gpa, I know that colleges compare you with your peers and the competitive friends that I hangout with have straight As. I’m looking to apply as a business/economics major and I was wondering if it is likely that UCLA will reject/waitlist me since I am not as "competitive"as my fellow classmates due to the B that I had. Oh yeah I’m an Asian American male too so do what you will with that info.
Here are some of my stats/ec
STATS:
SAT: 1530/1600
SAT Math 2: 800
SAT Molecular Bio: 740
SAT Chem: still waiting
AP Computer Science Principle: 5
AP Human Geography: 5
Taking AP Calc AB, AP Chem, APUSH, AP Eng Lang, and AP Comp Sci A this year
EC:
Public Speaking:
1.Toastmaster International President
-Advanced Communicator Gold Award
2.FBLA President
-Top 10 state finalist in public speaking and sales presentation (#2 at regionals)
Tech:
1.AFA Cyberpatriot Co-Captain
-Two year National semifinalist
2. Connect With Tech President/Founder
-Program I founded at my local elementary school which teaches kids coding and 3-D design
3. Data mining research with local state university professor
4. Going to tech/entrepreneurial summer program this summer
Other:
Track and Field Sprints Captain
World Vision MOVE Vice President (humanitarian club)
Piano(10 years and won a couple awards but every asian does piano so what’s new)
Please understand that this isn’t intended to brag in any way, shape, or form and that I would just really like to know my chances of getting into ucla since I’m a socal resident and it’s been my dream to go there since middle school. Many of the seniors from my school this year that had good grades, test scores, and extracurriculars were rejected (I believe their essays were pretty good too since some of them had private college counseling) so I really don’t understand what is it that differentiates those that get in and those that don’t. I would really appreciate any feedback
You need to calculate your UC unweighted, capped weighted and fully weighted GPA: https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/
You are a very competitive applicant and one B will not have a huge impact on your chances, as long as you realize that UCLA should be a considered a Reach school. You have many great things going for you, so definitely apply but please identify some solid Match and two Safety schools.
Best of luck.
2018 Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 4.20 or above capped weighted and not major specific:
UCLA: 41%
2018 UC capped weighted GPA averages:
UCLA: 4.23
2018 Data:
25th - 75th percentiles for SAT:
UCLA: 1340-1540
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My son is a freshman at UCLA and ended with three Bs end of junior year—his first Bs. UW 3.88. I think 4.2 capped. He’s a pre economics major. All are accepted to pre-Econ and not directly into program.
He was top 10% of his class, had routine ECs, and 35 ACT. He wrote essays that really showed his personality and how he would contribute to campus life.
He also made sure that he addressed all “14 factors” the UC admissions website lists.
For example, he felt his essays didn’t include “Outstanding work in one or more special projects in any academic field of study.” So he included information on this in the additional section.
He was waitlisted and rejected from UCSD and waitlisted (opted out of waitlist) at UCDavis. Also accepted to UCB and UCSB.
He had applied to OregonState and University of Colorado, Boulder and was accepted early to both with merit. I think he received the Oregon acceptance in October.
Really took the pressure off knowing he had a university to attend if the UCs didn’t work out.
Good luck.
One B isn’t going to completely ruin your application. However, this should be a wake up call that you can’t–absolutely can’t–count on UCLA even if you were 100% perfect in every way. In fact, you can’t count on any UC except maybe UC Merced, and that’s only if you are in a high school without a ton of over-achievers so that you end up in the top 9-10%. I’m just trying to be blunt because I think it’s good for you to realize this now. Definitely go for it with the UCs. Do your best and try hard. Rock those applications. But don’t ruin yourself with worry over it, because there are no guarantees. Look at surrounding schools, especially those that have WUE, and at the Cal States.
Two B’s will not throw you in the reject pile. This year my daughter received two B’s in AP Lang and AP World and had a 1500 SAT and ended up getting accepted to UCLA, UCB, UCSD, UCSD, UCD, UCR. UCLA uses full Unweighted GPA, not the capped UC GPA. I think this is important to understand. They calculate the strength of your schedule and look at the competitiveness of your school (are you in-state?). If you look at the first hour of this youtube session targeting alumni, it will give you a great idea of how UCLA will review your application. All that being said, nothing is a certainty. You don’t get to choose who reads your application and there are lots of high stats kids, so make sure you don’t focus solely on being a Bruin.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snNPFl1PJNE