Chance a rising senior for the UCs and a couple others please...

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Generally pretty difficult public school in SoCal. Blue ribbon if that has any significance. </p>

<p>Courseload:
I took all honors in my freshman and sophomore year as they do not offer any APs during those years.
Junior Year Schedule:AP Biology, AP US, AP Enviro, Precalculus, European Literature, Speech and Debate, Spanish 3, and Choir. Second Semester drop speech and choir and add track and field.</p>

<p>Tentative Senior year schedule: AP Physics, AP English, AP Calc, Honors Spanish 4, ASB, Choir</p>

<p>EC/Leadership:
Board position in JSA club
NYRA Secretary
Mock Trial
Track
ASB
Speech and Debate
Student Rep for Teacher Student Committee
currently interning at a law office
(Don't know if this counts but...) Play guitar and drums</p>

<p>Volunteer:
I volunteered under a doctor
I taught a bible school for kids.</p>

<p>Honors and Awards:
Charter Oak Award</p>

<p>Extra: Took 2 Community College classes in which I earned an A in both</p>

<p>UC/Weighted GPA:3.96 (One of the weaker points of my app...)
SAT: 2000 (first try, planning to retake in November hopefully at least 2150)
SATII:Biology 690 (planning to retake)
US History (710)
I was wondering if I needed any others for UC's and generally other schools as well.
AP tests: Biology 5
US history 5
Psychology 5
Environmental Science 4 </p>

<p>If I forgot anything, jsut tell me.<br>
Schools: UCLA (first choice), UCSD, UCB, UCI, UCD, USC, NYU, BU
Also, are there any other schools that i should consider?</p>

2

<p>Any help would be appreciated please.</p>

3

<p>What is your class rank? I definitely encourage you to retake the SATs(as you intend to) because it will increase your chances. As of right now though, I would say:
UCLA-low reach(because of SATs)
UCSD-high match
UCB-low reach(because of SATs)
UCI-low match
UCD-match
UCS-is this Santa Cruz? low match
NYU-match
BU-low match
If you are able to get your SATs up, I’m sure you will get into all of these, with the exception of maybe UCLA or UCB. However, you never know:) Good luck!</p>

4

<p>You’re flipping coins at LA/Berk. I mean your GPA and SAT are below their averages.</p>

<p>One way to mitigate a lower GPA would be to do really well on the SAT. I think however that more weight is applied to your GPA than SAT. If you are ELC that should help.</p>

<p>If you are good at math, I would take the Math SAT II. It’s very easy. Something like 1/3 of test takers get an 800.</p>

5

<p>I got into all the UCs and into Berkeley and SC twice. (long story)</p>

<p>I would say your chances of getting into UCLA are average, but you are a qualified candidate. UCLA and Berkeley have to turn down thousands of qualified candidates each year who typically deserve to go to either school based on their stats(which really sucks).</p>

<p>I had a 4.2 weighted GPA, bad SAT I scores, great SAT II scores, and got pretty much all 4’s or 5’s on the 8 AP courses I took with the exception of Calculus where I got a 3. I also went to a pretty competitive and well ranked high school. I did bunch of extras, 4 years volunteer service, 2 years biology tutoring, etc.</p>

<p>All of this just made me a qualified candidate like the rest of everyone else.</p>

<p>In my opinion, what the universities are looking for when selecting students from such a huge QUALIFIED candidate pool is essentially: who you are.</p>

<p>The university wants to know what kind of person you are. What you can offer them in their diverse freshman class, why you want to go to college now, what you are passionate about, what YOU are about.</p>

<p>Almost everyone who applies to the UCs are qualified (because why would you want to pay that much money to know that your grades don’t really match up?). So, imo, you really have to show them that little extra stuff. What awards have you won, why do like being in JSA so much? etc… (From your extras, I’m guessing that you might possibly want to study political theory or some kind of theory and enter law school later?)</p>

<p>I took that approach to writing my essays the first time I applied. I wasn’t exactly the best candidate from my class, all who were also applying to the same schools, so I just wrote about myself. And hey! A few months later, I found out I was accepted to all the UCs…</p>

<p>So I guess what I’m saying is that don’t stress out about it too much, and just keep being you and doing what you love because your chances are fair. </p>

<p>And if you don’t get in, transferring in is really easy too. A lot of community colleges down in SoCal have “agreements” with different UCs, especially UCLA. You work hard in community college, save up money, meet that goal requirement they have, and you’re pretty much in. Also, you have now just bypassed your weeder courses aka the hardest effin’ courses that make people cry, and now you’re going onto what you want to study… and you have first choice (behind seniors of course) in your courses. Oh, and you’ve saved a ton of money too. </p>

<p>So don’t fret, write what you know, and good luck! =)</p>

<p>PS. My SAT score was way lower than Berkeley/UCLA’s average SAT scores.</p>