Flex.
Again, you have to report your 9-11th course grades on the UC application so 9th grades will be considered but not in the UC GPA. Also UCLA does not except LORâs unless an augmented review is requested. Do you have $65K/ year to attend a school like UCLA which would be a Reach regardless?
In less than a month, Iâd have to study for the ACT to get a score of 34 or above. That would be a very challenging feat, but more importantly: would it even help my app that much?
I definitely have $65k to attend a school like UCLA. Even though Iâm OOS, that actually sounds cheap considering base tuition at many of my choices is higher.
Connecticut College (private LAC, does give merit money). If youâre going to be in-state for CT, definitely UConn. You might also consider ECSU - itâs the most LAC-like of the Connecticut State colleges. Theyâll probably give you some merit money.
You do need to figure out where youâre going to be in-state, unless your parents have 80K/yr that theyâre happy to spend on college for you. NYS has a huge variety of good state colleges. UConn is very highly ranked these days.
I forgot Trinity College. Bad neighborhood, good school. Achievable reach for you.
UCLA is very competitive for OOS applicants. So if you look at the avg stats of those they accept, assume the OOS kids were higher.
Regarding rank of Wes vs Emory, rank doesnât always correspond to difficulty of getting in. Wes gets a ton of applications from NY and CT. Thatâs gonna work against you there.
YES! It would help your application TREMENDOUSLY, because it is a standardized measure that would tell schools that youâre smart and capable of doing well at their school, more than any recommendation letter.
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Will you have foreign language on your transcript?
It will read that Iâve studied Spanish at a high level for four years, so yes.
It is conspicuous that you are embracing a supposed âmitigantâ that would require no work on your part (LOR) yet dismissing a potentially meaningful validation of your academic abilities that would require you to work hard (ACT).
I would strongly recommend you not convince yourself that there are shortcuts.
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I might look at this differently.
You are not going to be admitted because you are an exceptional student, but tbh, few students are admitted solely for their academic prowess. So your challenge will be making it past an initial screen based on stats. Schools have their own systems for doing this and have their own way of assessing rigor. I would guess â but Iâm no pro AO â that good grades without lots of rigor will let you slip by the screen in some places and wonât in others. I would also guess that you would be one of those applicants who would benefit from having very good test scores to add to the âstats screenâ. So you may still want to consider that. Maybe the ACT is a better test for you. My point is that on their own, your grades â with the rigor - may not be telling the best possible story about you. Anything else you can do to signal that you can handle the work will behoove you.
At the schools where you pass the screen, you may indeed have a chance based on the picture your essays and LOR present coupled with how strong your ECs are. If your accomplishments are as stellar as you suggest, they could certainly differentiate you. I donât think that your whole application will get a thorough enough review for your LOR to âoffsetâ lack of rigor. But if your ECs make for a compelling case and an AO wants to argue for you, then the context they provide matters.
Does that make sense? You sound like you could create an interesting application, and if that makes you desirable, you have the same slim chance as every other good candidate to pull it off. In any case, it sounds like thereâs not a lot you can change (except testing). If you have good matches and safeties and a realistic understanding of the true odds, thereâs no harm in adding reaches to the mix.
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You need to add transportation costs and incidentals to the $65K. UCLA had around a 11% overall acceptance rate for 2021 and as stated, more competitive for OOS applicants with higher GPAâs required. OOS applicants do not get extra weighting for the UC GPA calculation for HS designated Honors classes, only AP/IB and UC transferable CC/DE courses. UCLA will also not consider Senior grades in their application review.
Average Unweighted UC GPA for admitted students 2020 was 3.96.
I do not think you need any more Reaches on your list.
I am generally all for the cost discussion, but I think the OP already said that they are full pay. If they are full pay at their current HS, the cost may actually go down.
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OP should read Jeff Selingoâs articles or book about the time he spent embedded in Emoryâs admissions office.
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What does that mean?
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According to the UC website, in 2020, UCLA took 38% of students who applied with weighted GPAs above 4.20. UCLA took 8% of students who applied with weighted GPAs between 3.8-4.19; 1% of students with weighted GPAs between 3.40-3.79; 1% between 3.0-3.39. The UC system has its own particular weighting system (8 max bonus points for honors/APs taken in the 10th and 11th grade) and I think itâs pretty much impossible to get a GPA above 4.5
Non California residents have to have a GPA over 3.4
The UC system does not use LORs.
UCLA might not be your best choice.
Does that mean that 4 years of high school foreign language with accompanying grades will be on your transcript? The way you phrase it sounds like you may have studied independently? The reason I asked in the first place is the overwhelming majority of kids Wes accepts have 4 yrs of foreign language in high school. And as stated before Calculus. So if you have neither, itâs gonna make it tougher. And probably not the best use of ED.
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Does that mean that 4 years of high school foreign language with accompanying grades will be on your transcript? The way you phrase it sounds like you may have studied independently? The reason I asked in the first place is the overwhelming majority of kids Wes accepts have 4 yrs of foreign language in high school. And as stated before Calculus. So if you have neither, itâs gonna make it tougher. And probably not the best use of ED.
Yes. Iâve had four years of Spanish at the highest possible level (school doesnât have honors or AP lang). My Spanish GPA is a 4.0 even with freshman year included.
I donât have calculus because, again, I wasnât on track to take it. My school offered a pre-calc course this summer to get me into calculus by next year, except it cost thousands of dollars which my family refused to pay on account of me intending to study literature. Friends of mine agreed with them, perhaps surprisingly. I didnât think much of it.
Ok- so very good on the foreign language front!
Since they donât look at freshman year, my GPA is a 4.0 UW, and presumably theyâd still see my coursework for junior and senior years.
Not really considering UCLA, especially because of how far it is. Wesleyan or a similar school would be much preferred.