Chance a Cognitive Sci Major for UC's

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

Background check first. I attended a competitive Asian dominated high school in California from the 9th to the 10th grade. Due to personal issues which took place in my family we were forced to relocate to India. I currently will be applying for college from India to a numerous set of universities which I’ll list below. Here are my stats. (I’m a US citizen so im pretty sure I’m considered an out of state student.)

10th: GPA: 3.73 unweighted, 3.87 weighted.
One AP restriction for all students at my school so I took AP World History like everyone else. Got a 3 on the exam.

11th(India): 82% (doesn’t seem impressive on paper, but our schools top ranked student got 89%. The correction system is extremely harsh.)
8 subjects: English, Math, Bio, Chem, Physics, Information Technology, Environmental Science, Physical Education

GPA doesn’t exist in India, I went to a State Board School. (Rank: Top 5% at school).

Test Scores: SAT: 1480(one attempt)
SAT 2: Will be taking.
TOEFL: 110(I took it just in case)

ECs: On the basketball team, got second place at three tournaments, 100+ hours of volunteering at the local library , Math Club and Programming Club Member.
Founder of the IAC club or the Internationally Applying Club at my school, currently President

Other important things: Letter of recommendations from the Vice Principal, English Teacher, and Mathematics teacher. Proficient in Python and JavaScript, Played Piano for 8 years (achievements are too old can’t put them on the application.) I also plan on addressing this journey on my college app essay, of how I adapted to the things around me, and instead of regret and sadness to take it as a learning lesson towards success in the future.

Here are my list of universities:
Dartmouth(might EA) or University of Michigan(might EA)
UCSD, UCD, UCI, UCSB, UCSC, UCB, UCLA, CalPoly, USC
I’ll be applying for Cognitive Science with specialization in computation/machine learning for all of the UC’s and USC.

2

UCSB and Cal Poly SLO/Pomona do not offer Cognitive science as a major.

3

Totally forgot about that. My bad. I might not apply to any of those then.

4

If 82% extrapolates to a 3.10 average, your combined 10th and 11th grade unweighted GPA would be around 3.40-ish and that would make every school on your list a major reach.

5

@ProfessorPlum168 I asked a counselor regarding this, and for the India State Board, a 75 percent plus is considered a 4.0 gpa, translating my percentage to a 4.0 Unweighted. However Indian schools dont offer APs but the courses are already much more difficult then normal Precalc, or non AP classes, they’re more comparable to Honors and APs.

6

@Gumbymom What would be your take for my chances for UC Davis and Irvine? Im aware that San Diego might be a bit of a reach despite me wanting to attend there so badly :neutral:

7

Depending upon how your grades from India along with your 10th grades are viewed by admissions, your chances above 50%. Your overall application will be taken into consideration so you will still need some solid Safety schools on your list.

You know the stats since I have posted these before but these give a ball park.

2018 Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 3.80-4.19 capped weighted and not major specific:
UCB: 10%
UCLA: 9%
UCSD: 34%
UCSB: 38%
UCD: 41%
UCI: 38%
UCSC: 70%
UCR: 84%
UCM: 95%

2018 UC capped weighted GPA averages:
UCB: 4.23
UCLA: 4.23
UCSD: 4.16
UCSB: 4.13
UCI: 4.13
UCD: 4.11
UCSC: 3.96
UCR: 3.81
UCM: 3.71

2018 Data:
25th - 75th percentiles for SAT:

UCB: 1360-1540

UCLA: 1340-1540
UCSD: 1300-1520
UCSB: 1270-1500
UCD: 1220-1480
UCI: 1230-1490
UCSC: 1210-1450
UCR: 1130-1380
UCM: 1020-1280

8

Thank you. This did release a little stress, the college admission process is stressful indeed