Chance a Californian: Hi SAT - Low GPA

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>White Male
Upper-Middle Class
Los Angeles Area
Pretty good public school. Ranked about 50th in CA & 500th in USA.</p>

<p>GPAs are unweighted:</p>

<p>9th:
3.4 / 3.6
1 Honors Course (Not UC Approved)</p>

<p>10th:
2.8 / 3.0
4 Honors Courses (Killer!) (Only 1 Honors is UC Approved Weighted)</p>

<p>11th:
3.67 / 3.25 (Expected - Trying to bump it)
1 AP & 1 Honors (Eased it up a bit) (Both UC Approved Weighted)</p>

<p>12th:
Planned 2 APs + Leadership</p>

<p>SAT: (Just got today!) My Strength!
CR: 690
M: 710
W: 610</p>

<p>-2010</p>

<p>(Did way better than I expected & than on PSAT!)
I plan to take it 1 or 2 more times so hopefully will do a bit better. I beat all my friends who even took classes and got better GPAs than me so I was pretty happy!</p>

<p>Plan to take SAT Subject Tests but will probably just do decently on them.</p>

<p>Pretty Good ECs:
-Leadership (Commissioner)
-Sports
-Leadership in an Elective Class
-Couple Awards
-Traveled to 10 Countries
-70 Hours of Community Service (40 in Foreign Country Building a House)
-Fairly Active in Church
-2 Clubs
-Plan to do something this summer: Work / Community College Class / Leadership Camp, etc.. (any suggestions?)</p>

<p>Courses:
-Only 3 Years of Math (Adv. Alg, Pre-Calc, & Stats) - No Math Sr. Year (AP Calc is super hard at our school, my friend got an F and we have no other math classes.)
-Only 2 Foreign Language (Teachers sucked & I got bad grades)
-4 Science (2 AP, 1 Honors)
-Lots of Electives
-Everything else is good.</p>

<p>Yeah, so I kind of screwed up during 10th grade. Chance me! I'm nervous with my low GPA!</p>

<p>Planned Major: Business</p>

<p>-Public:
UCs (maybe not the top ones)
Upper Cal States
ASU (Safety)
-Privates:
USD
Santa Clara
Pepperdine
U Miami
USC?
Chapman
LMU
(Maybe some in Florida?)</p>

<p>Can someone suggest me other colleges and what specific UCs & Cal States I should apply to. I'm a little confused about applying to UCs because I want to major in business, and most of the UCs only have Economics W/ Business, which is more math based, and I'm not sure if I want that. So, I would like advice on my selection and other colleges that meet my stats. Basically anywhere sunny! hahaha (CA, AZ, & FL). Any other colleges somewhere on the East or somewhere that also might be a good fit too? Doesn't have to be sunny. :D Also any other tips to improve my chances?? I'm currently a Jr with 3 weeks left this year and going to try to work hard to bring up my GPA.</p>

<p>Thanks!!</p>

<p>P.S. I'm hoping that maybe privates would calculate the GPA weighting all my honors classes and include 9th grade. That would significantly raise my GPA. Do privates do that?? Would that be better for me?</p>

2

<p>I’ll be happy to chance you, but could narrow down the list of schools (you cant possibly plan on applying to the 15-20 you mentioned) and provide your cumulative overall GPA, weighted and unweighted, and your class rank</p>

3

<p>Thanks! I don’t know how to narrow it down… Anyone wanna help with that? haha</p>

<p>I’ll give you my GPAs though! </p>

<p>GPAs:
(None of them include sports, Weighted = All APs + Honors = Additional Point)</p>

<p>9-11 Un-Weighted:
-3.33
9-11 Weighted:
-3.65
10-11 Un-Weighted:
-3.2
10-11 Weighted:
-3.6
UC (& Cal States too?) (10-11 & only some are weighted):
-3.45</p>

<p>haha I gave all 5 because they all sort of vary a bit. :wink: No idea about class rank.</p>

<p>Someone help me out. Thankss!! :smiley: :D</p>

4

<p>The higher your SATs go, the better your chance at the mid tier UCs. I don’t see the top ones which have average UC GPAs of 4.2 and Average SATs of about 2050. For the mid tiers (SB, D, I) your GPA is pretty low (they average about 3.9) but as their average SATs are only about 1860, the more points you get the better to compensate for your GPA.</p>

<p>Next year will be a good year for those who are full pay at schools like Santa Clara, LMU, Chapman and USD, so you should have a shot if your parent’s are willing. Focus on raising those scores to get interest from these schools. USC is a major reach and I also don’t see Pepperdine.</p>

<p>If you don’t get in anywhere you like I’d seriously consider CC with a real shot at UCB Haas which only starts junior year, USC Marshall or UCLA business econ among others after 2 years. Maybe less with lots of AP credits. School matters for good jobs in business and one of those degrees is worth holding out for instead of going to a lower UC or a CSU IMO.</p>

5

<p>KK Thanks, anyone else wanna help me out??</p>

6

<p>Anyone… ??</p>

7

<p>BTW, if someone chances me, I’ll chance them back if ya’d like. ;D</p>

8

<p>mid-tier UCs will be a reach with that gpa. Look to the 'Zona schools or Pacific.</p>

9

<p>K, thanks. Any point in applying to UC SB, D, & I? I’ll apply to SC. I don’t have much interest at all in R or M.</p>

<p>How am I for Cal States? I was thinking SDSU, Cal Poly Slo, and maybe Long Beach? Any others good for business?</p>

<p>Also, how bout those privates?</p>

<p>Thanks…</p>

<p>Also, a question. I’m taking the SAT IIs in June. Out of the schools I’m looking at, would only UCSC need it? Would I send it to the other schools? I’m not really studying for it, and am only really taking it to apply to UC.</p>

10

<p>Here’s my best advice. I was in your situation: high SAT, low GPA. I used a site called “my chances” and I got into every school that it told me I would (and rejected from everyone it told me I would). So make an account, and check chances for yourself. </p>

<p>Oh, and even if the chances are discouraging, apply where you want to anyway. It’s not like you should be trying any less if your chances are higher and any lower if your chances aren’t.</p>

11

<p>MyChances.com says:</p>

<p>Cal Poly Slo: 61%
SDSU: 83%
LMU: 67%
UCSB: 30%
UCI: 58%
UCSC: 91%
USC: 39%</p>

<p>So… I’m not sure how accurate that is…</p>

12

<p>my chances is very very very inaccurate… Only thing good about it is you can see whether people with similar stats as you got in on the SAT/GPA map thing. Otherwise it’s a waste of time</p>

13

<p>kk, Yeah that makes sense. Thankss!</p>

14

<p>Okay, well here’s my view of your circumstances and chances:</p>

<p>Your UC GPA is right around 3.48 (they only count 10th and 11th year when you apply as a senior, but they add in extra points for the honors and APs)</p>

<p>Therefore:</p>

<p>UC Berkeley/UCLA/UCSD–Big reaches (waste of time applying)
UC Davis/UCSB/UCI–slight reaches, and I’d apply at UCI since they have a new business program and your SAT may possibly get you in
UCSC and UCR–you can get into both of these, but only UCR has a business school. You can major in legal studies at UCSC, though
UC Merced–pretty much guaranteed to get in, and they do have a business school
USC–a big reach in my view, although they like the extracurriculars–and you have a lot, so give it a shot
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo–has a business school–but it will take you about 5-6 years to graduate from here considering they require 180 units, and your lack of a senior level math course will cause a problem in terms of your application
San Diego State–you’ll get in, but unless you plan to do some business major along with a international background or a homeland security degree, this is not the best place for you in my view.
Cal State Long Beach, Cal State Fullerton, and Cal State San Bernardino–all have busines programs, and all would work pretty well for you
ASU (Safety)–yeah, you’ll get in–and it’s a fun school, but the depression is hitting Phoenix pretty hard right now (don’t know what it will be like in 4 years)
-Privates:
USD–you’ll get it, not a bad school, very unknown
Santa Clara–this school has an excellent business program, but it is expensive. Also, I think you’ll have a difficult time getting in here.
Pepperdine-mmm, very tough to know your chances here–a very, very good business program considering how unknown it is–and it’s one of the most beautiful schools in the country.
U Miami–you’ll probably get in here (SAT really helps)–and it’s business program is ranked in the top 30 nationwide.
Chapman–don’t know anything about how good the programs at this school are except for the film school here–don’t know if it has a business program or not
LMU–you’ll get in–but I’d make it one of your safeties.
Florida State–is definitely a possibility–your GPA is low, but the SAT is way high for this school.</p>

<p>Other schools you should consider with great business programs (although some of these are in cold weather spots–which you seem to be avoiding):
Indiana (at Bloomington, Indiana, my son’s school)
Fordham (in New York City)
Boston University (in Boston)
Southern Methodist (in Fort Worth, Texas)</p>

<p>My choices based upon where I think you’ll get in (or possibly could get in)–not counting the last four colleges I listed above:</p>

<p>(1) U Miami
(2) Pepperdine
(3) UC Irvine (if you can get in)
(4) UC Riverside (and if you do well your first two years, a lot of students transfer from here to USC’s business program)
(5) the three Cal States I mentioned
(6) Cal Poly SLO
(7) UC Merced
(8) San Diego State (just too much of a party school lately–and under a cloud because of a recent drug scandal)</p>

<p>also, if you can get in–I’d rate USC and Santa Clara above all of the above (except maybe Miami)–and if you decide to go to one of the other 4 colleges mentioned, I tried to list them in my order of preference.</p>

<p>Oh, and two last colleges to consider if you don’t mind cold weather spots out-of-state: Babson and Bentley–both are focused strictly on business–and both are places you could probably get accepted.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

15

<p>LSkaiWalk you have gotten some excellent advice, especially from hmom5 and Calcruzer. </p>

<p>The only other thing I can add is that if you are going into your senior year take one or even two community college classes this summer to bump up your GPA. You don’t need to take them for high school credit. If you want to really challenge yourself and improve your chances at Cal Poly SLO do a transferable math class or an intro to business class (do both!). This will show interest and demonstrate appitude in your chosen area. </p>

<p>You might also see if you can find an internship this summer at a bank or financial institution. At this point I think this would help you more for CPSLO (I think this school is an excellent fit for you) than raising your SAT’s which are already high for CPSLO. They really like high SAT scores there. Go for it and I think you will get in.</p>

<p>Also if you like CPSLO enough go for early decision.</p>

16

<p>Yeah I know! Thanks soo much!</p>

<p>I actually pulled off a 3.33 2nd semester. 5 As (1 volleyball) & 2 Cs, rather than a 3.2, so I was pretty happy. However, I didn’t get the summer community college classes… they were full…</p>

<p>thanks soo much everyone!</p>

17

<p>just got my sat IIs back:</p>

<p>US 540
Chem 560</p>

<p>so pretty terrible… haha. but thats okay cus only UCs need them, and only UCI has business…</p>

18

<p>LUKE SKYWALKER (aka LSkaiWalk :stuck_out_tongue: lol)…</p>

<p>Why don’t you try to tour some of the colleges you listed in the summer (maybe the realistic ones)? perhaps with some friends or family? that’s a beeeeeg list of colleges you got. :stuck_out_tongue: lol</p>

<p>your EC’s are lookin good. Your SAT’s will help recover lost ground of the GPA’s. Cross your fingers for UCB though… :stuck_out_tongue: (just tryin to be humorous, not want to put you down. ;))</p>

<p>good luck. </p>

<p>LEMON</p>

19

<p>im not even going to apply to UCB… thanks though Lemon.</p>

<p>now that everythings in, can i get help narrowing down my list.</p>

<p>I think it will be:
(no specific order)

  1. UCSB - ? (Tiny Reach)
  2. UCD - ? (Tiny Reach)
  3. UCI - Business (Tiny Reach)
  4. UCSC - ? (Safe Match)
    (Not UCR - Business (Safety) cus from all the people I talked to who went there, they all said they really didn’t like the location / environment / and social life - think id rather go to local cc if this is where i would end up)
    (I think I would rather go to local CC that UCM - Business (Safety)…)
  5. SDSU - Business (Safety)
  6. Cal Poly Slo - Business (Small Reach)
    (Maybe LB - Business / or Fullerton for Business (both Safetys)? might as well go to local CC though if that was only where I got accepted…)
  7. U Miami - Business (High Match / Tiny Reach)
  8. Pepperdine - Business (High Match / Tiny Reach)
  9. USD - Business (Match)
  10. LMU (Low Match / High Safety)
  11. Santa Clara - Business (Small Reach)
    ( 12. Chapman - Business? (Low Match / High Safety)</p>

<p>Should I add any more?? Delete some?? any more input would be nice. im also considering some of the other college options in cold weather suggested by calcruzer.</p>

<p>also how well did i do the match / reach / safety??</p>

<p>thanks soo much for helping me though everyone!!!</p>

<p>im getting back to this now cus my final gpa is in / and my final sat scores in (subject tests) … still going to take sat again next year</p>

20

<p>hey, thanks for chancing me.</p>

<p>-UCSB,UCI,UCD- reach, but not as reach as UCLA,UCB,UCSD
-UCSC-Match, for sure
-UCR-Safety
-SDSU-safety-match(because so many people applies)
-Cal Poly Slo-reach-match. The business program at slo have gotten competitive lately. If you apply ED, it might give you an edge.
-CSULB,CSUF- safety-Match, I heard Fullerton and LB were decent in business
-U Miami- Dunno about this place.lol
-Pepperdine- match
-USD-match
-LMU-match
-Santa Clara-match,low reach
-Chapman- match</p>

<p>You have a decent increase in gpa from 10th to 11th, which is looked upon. I’d say try increasing the SAT or SAT II’s.</p>

<p>good luck!</p>