Chance a mid-gpa sophomore for UC systems

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Demographics
US Domestic
California suburb
Non-competetive IB high school
Male arab (I’m going to most likely select other as race, I know this shoots me in the foot since white people are more likely to get accepted but I simply don’t think of myself as white)

Intended Major(s)
Currently unknown, I’m probably gonna shoot for something in either Physics or Business

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.3 right now, assuming my growth stays constant, a 3.6-3.8 is possible (UC unweighted is 3.4)
  • Weighted HS GPA* : 3.9 right now, assuming my growth stays constant a 4.5 is possible under both UC system and regular (UC System uncapped a 4.7 is possible). My high school gives an extra point for each Honors, AP, or IB class (except for IB Physics SL and IB Psychology SL). Seeing my future curriculum a 4.7 is more than possible as only 1 of my 12 graded classes is unweighted for this year and junior year.
  • Class Rank: N/A
  • ACT/SAT Scores: N/A, Predicted 1490 on Khan Academy. If I get a 1520 or above I’m keeping it and not doing anything

Coursework
This is where things get funky.
Freshman Year: N/A (Old school doesn’t allow freshman to take AP classes). 2 Honors level courses
Sophomore Year: AP Biology, AP World History. 2 Honors level courses
Junior Year: Currently planning on taking IB Math HL, IB English HL, IB History HL (My school only lets you choose between Math HL or Psych HL for HL classes), IB Business Management, IB Spanish SL, Theory of Knowledge (for some god-forsaken reason this class is weighed at my school), AP Government
Senior Year: Currently I don’t know the full schedule. Most likely going to take IB Math HL, English HL, History HL, Spanish SL (School forces you to take Spanish SL for 2 years). Other than that I’ll probably pick up AP Computer Science and AP Sats or Econ

Awards
N/A, I was never really interested in competitions lmao. I might sign up for Harvard Crimson Essay Competition though!

Extracurriculars
MUN member (9th grade), MUN Founder and President (10th-12th most likely)
Class Council (9th Grade)
Founded a “Business” (I do not have a legal LLC or anything like that as my family wants me to be 18 first. 9th grade)
Wrote 3 Novels (9th-10th grade, Currently not published because I’m a perfectionist. Maybe I will later)
Manage 3 Recording Artists (9th grade and beyond. I am willing to die for these people lmao)
Founder of DECA Club (next year, I already got all the paperwork situated but I have to wait until next year as a person cannot create more than 1 club a year and I already made a club this year)
Recording artist myself (I have 1 album that I have no intention on releasing as it was recorded on a 100-dollar USB microphone that’s not mastered. No I’m not gonna master it cause I’m not Lupe Fiasco over here lmao. I might record another one in a proper studio in the future though)

Cost Constraints / Budget
Can vary wildly, I know though that college costs cannot exceed more than 8 grand a year at the moment

Schools
Current schools I’m interested in:
UCSD, UCLA, UC Berkeley, Brown, USC, Pepperdine, my local community college, CSU Channel Islands.

Notes: Freshman grades were bad because depression lmao, changed schools during sophomore year. I also made this more to see things that I can do to improve my chances in the future. I’m not all that interested in my chances right now, just to see what things I can do in the future to improve my chances in the future to keep it on the back of my mind. Potentially something over the summer

1 Like
2

UCs and CSUs do not consider race or ethnicity in admission.

Obviously, it is early, and you do not have a full set of 10th-11th grade courses and grades, but the following will give you an idea of what recalculated HS GPA will make admission realistic at each campus.

Recalculate your HS GPA with GPA Calculator for the University of California – RogerHub . Use the weighted capped version for the table below.

Fall 2021 admission rates by campus and HS GPA range from Freshman fall admissions summary | University of California :

Campus 4.20+ 3.80-4.19 3.40-3.79 3.00-3.39
Berkeley 30% 11% 2% 1%
Davis 85% 55% 23% 10%
Irvine 60% 31% 14% 1%
Los Angeles 29% 6% 1% 0%
Merced 97% 98% 96% 89%
Riverside 97% 92% 62% 23%
San Diego 75% 35% 5% 1%
Santa Barbara 73% 28% 4% 1%
Santa Cruz 91% 81% 46% 9%

These are for the whole campus. Different divisions or majors may have different levels selectivit

3

You and your parents should try the net price calculator on the various UCs and other colleges of interest to see if financial aid may result in a realistic net price for you.

Note that Pepperdine is a religious school with various conduct rules associated with religious principles. Be sure to check whether that is a plus or minus for you.

4

I know pepperdine is a religious school and while I am agnostic (leaning towards Islam however), I’m completely fine with that as I have some family that’s attended it and it seems like a great fit for me.

The reason why I say this will vary is because my mother’s salary is wildly varying depending on how many commissions she gets. However, recently some businesses have reached out to her with more stable and reasonable salaries. Until she decides if she wants the unstable salaries she has now or if she wants something more stable I won’t know what the net price of the university will be besides a rough estimate.

5

You’ve got one semester in of grades toward UC.

Be the best you that you can be. As a sophomore, it’s a bit early to figure out where you fit. But obviously, short of Merced, you’ll need to improve your grades.

It’s hard work. Focus on that.

And there will be plenty of schools available to you.

Why these schools? What attracts you besides the names and I assume the location of the Cal State campus?

I’m sure - when the time comes, you can find a lot of common schools if for some reason you don’t get into your top choice.

But you’re a bit early.

Control what you can - do as well as you can in class and get involved.

And check back in a year.

Good luck.

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