Can I get into University of California: Santa Barbara or Davis or Irvine with a 3.5 GPA?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - GENERAL
1

Hi! I went to a high school in NJ. John P. Stevens to be exact. Thanks!

I took 5 Honors classes

  1. Biology
  2. Chemistry
  3. Geometry
  4. Algebra 2/Trig
  5. Pre Calculus

I took 2 AP classes and currently doing 2 as a senior

  1. Physics A (scored 4)
  2. Computer science A (scored 4)
    Currently as a senior i am taking and AP Physics B, and AP Calculus AB.

1300/1600 on the new SAT.

3.5/4.0 GPA
3.91/4.5 GPA

I was in the programming club at my school from sophomore year to senior and i did my volunteer work. I do Tae kwon do after school and i went to 4 tournaments (got certificates from each tournament) and i got a 3rd degree black belt (have certificate from Kuikiwon). I also do piano, will the after school things i do help me in the application process? I want to major in computer science or software engineering. Thanks

2

I don’t think the UCs will give you a grade
bump on your honors classes as an OOS. For OOS I believe it’s only AP and certain IB classes. They also only consider your 10-11th grades. Google “UC GPA” and calculate your GPA using that criteria. This will give you the GPA used during the admissions process. Does your 3.5 include freshman year?

3

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

OOS honors courses do not get the extra points so calculate your UC GPA.

You want a UC GPA of 4.0 or higher to be competitive.

4

Honors classes that are not UC approved will not give a boost to GPA.
But if you have really good extracurriculars, which can help build strong essays you should have a chance of getting in.
Although apparently UCI is really good for Computer Science, so it may be more competitive there

5

Freshman admit rate for UC GPA of 3.40-3.79 based on 2015 data:
UCB: 2%
UCLA: 3%
UCSD: 6%
UCD: 11%
UCSB: 13%
UCI: 16%
UCSC: 47%
UCR: 64%
UCM: 80%