High School with 500 students in the graduating class
Top 100 US Ranked High School
Intended Major(s) : Data Science or Comp Sci (Maybe Applied Mathematics since its not impacted)
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
GPA: UC GPA: Slight below 4.2, UC Fully Weighted GPA: 4.4 W (Taking into account the low # of APs offered in my school, and since I had more than 4 APs my UC Capped Gpa dropped)
Rank: N/A
SAT: 1500 (understand its not used by UCs)
Coursework:
10 AP, 5 College Courses, 1 Honors (Its only possible to take 11 APs in my school)
All 5s on AP Exams
EC’s
125 Volunteer Hours Tutoring
50 Volunteer Hours (Other)
Chess Club President
Data Science Club Vice President
A few small/medium sized unpaid internships, at medium size companies and relatively large/medium non profit orgs, related to STEM and chess)
Non Profit Co-Founder: 100+ Students, helped them win a large tournament (Extremely Passionate: Related to chess)
Smaller Non Profit Co-Founder: Not as significant as above
Chess Competitive Player for 12 years (Top 10 CA my age, Top 30 US my age, Spike)
Research related to Data Science
Part Time Chess Coach
Awards
Chess National Master, 2200+ USCF (Extremely Prestigious)
State Chess Tournament Winner (Qualifying for Nationals)
Top 10 Chess Nationals
State Chess Team Tournament Board 1 Winner
Smaller Chess Tournament Winner
PS: More small Awards and ECs, but I only showcased the most important ones to me which I spent multiple years on.
Essays/LORs/Other
Essay: 9/10
No LOR for UCs
Schools
All UCs (Looking for Chances): Extremely confused with UC Capped GPA as well, because the more APs you take the worse your capped GPA. From what I have heard, some people believe UCs only look at weighted capped, while others think that UCs only use weighted capped for admission purposes, but actually look at UW and Fully W. Would like to know which one is right.
These are for the whole campus. Different divisions or majors may have different levels selectivity (usually, engineering and computer science majors are more selective).
UCLA and UCB specifically state they put more emphasis on the UW UC GPA and Uncapped weighted UC GPA’s but all 3 are considered. The UC campuses will use the Uncapped mainly for statistical purposes.
The weighted capped version probably exists to allow for comparison across high schools without being confounded by mere availability of more honors courses at some high schools compared to others, while still giving some incentive for students to choose honors courses. But it has its own quirks, such as a student with all A grades in all honors courses taking more total courses getting a lower weighted capped GPA than if they took fewer total courses.
Ah ok, that makes sense. But when UC colleges compare me to peers in my school, will they mostly emphasize comparing fully weighted GPAs rather than UW and capped, since everyone in my school would have been offered the same AP classes?
I wanted to chip in to say that IMHO you are on the right track looking at Applied Math as a potential, non-impacted major, particularly if you are aiming for Cal. Just be aware that you won’t exit with a degree in CS (at least not there) - it’s not like it’s a back door, though I believe you could minor in Data Science along with the AM major at Cal.
For a time my student was looking into this possibility. I think you have a very good chance at many excellent UC’s, but a better shot at one of the top ones via the Applied Math route, if that is your genuine interest, particularly if you have taken (and done well in) advanced math courses, better odds than CS or DS. Good luck!
Thanks for the advice, I appreciate the time you took to respond! Just wondering, what do you think I could have improved on or done to have had a better chance at getting into Cal for Data Science or Comp Sci? I feel like I have extremely strong chess awards (specifically Chess National Master, and ranking top 30 US my age), and my ECs are also relatively strong with a spike in chess, and a small spike in computer/data science. In terms of my high school GPA, although it isn’t as high as Cal’s average fully weighted GPA nor a perfect GPA, my school doesn’t offer very many APs compared to other schools, so I should be somewhere near the top in terms of my school’s graduating class, and I have an upward trend in GPA every year. I might be missing a low point about my application and obviously might be slightly biased towards myself though.
I’m not an admissions officer and if were up to me you’d be in!
I don’t think anything is lacking at all - you seem like an excellent candidate!
It is just a matter of available spaces, there are not enough of them!
Please don’t dwell on anything you ‘could/should’ have done - enjoy all of your many accomplishments and all the hard work you have put in and remember that it is not where you go, but who you are that makes you a success! You have a ton to be proud of already! Congratulations!
Don’t underestimate the importance of the PIQs. That is your chance to tell your story and connect the dots between your experiences and who you are and what you can offer the UCs. Take them seriously and put a lot of thought into how you present yourself.
Tagging onto that, don’t leave your 20 A&A for the end. The UC application offer a lot of characters for you to go into detail about what you did, what you learned, and what you gained from your experiences. Your PIQ and A&A should complement each other to tell your story.
Yeah, I totally agree, the essays and descriptions for each activity are very important. In your opinion, how many of the PIQs should be about my extracurriculars, and how many should I have about my experience outside of my ECs?
It is YOUR story. There is no secret formula. Reflect on who you are, how you have grown and changed over the years, and what you want to do in the future. Write about what you did, why you did it, what impact you had on others, and what impact the experiences had on you.
Note that several PIQ have two questions. Make sure you answer both.